Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

beautifullybroken

hiya,
i need to go from glasgow to carlisle for two on the 11th aug returning on 13th aug,
travelling on the 11th would have to be after 1pm as my flight into glasgow doesnt get in til 11:30 am, please could someone help me as were on a tight budget


thanks in advance

ruth

*Adam*

Hi, I need to get from Little Sutton to Luton, date leaving 9th August (arrival must be before 2pm), returning 13th August (leaving hopefully around 1pm.)

Cheapest I can find is Saver Return at £53.xx. Can someone help with regards to cheap singles both ways/split ticketing?

Thanks!

sisyphus_2

i've done quite well previously by splitting journeys or buying singles. i thought i'd book my tickets to Manchester from High Wycombe as close to three months in advance as i could. i can't get any significant improvement over the bog standard 56.90 return fare. Have gaps been closed?

i need to get to Manchester (any city station) Friday evening, returning on Sunday evening. i can't even save much by driving to Aylesbury, Maidenhead, Reading, or Banbury. Going via London is more expensive, but if anyone can suggest a viable alternative split i'd be very grateful.

(i could drive, of course. The journey would cost me £30 in fuel (diesel). If i take three friends (there's a group of us going) then it would cost (you've guessed it) £7.50 each. And it would be quicker. Why would i go by train? Well, i can't be bottomed to drive for three hours, that's why, and i'd rather have a clear environmental conscience. Mind you, what's the consumption/pollution per passenger from a diesel train?)

TIA.

trubster

*Adam* wrote: »

Hi, I need to get from Little Sutton to Luton, date leaving 9th August (arrival must be before 2pm), returning 13th August (leaving hopefully around 1pm.)

Cheapest I can find is Saver Return at £53.xx. Can someone help with regards to cheap singles both ways/split ticketing?

Thanks!

Available from Virgin Trains

VALADV 2 SGL C - VWC & CONNECTNS
1 Adult @£ 16.50 = £ 16.50
Standard Class Single

Thats the cheapest advance single you could get, you would be a lot safer with the saver return as you are not tied onto one train. Also, these tickets are not available on all trains and its first come first served... TBH I would get the saver unless there is a split that saves you money, at the end of the day, The difference is under £20, and it would cost more than that if you missed your train for any reason.


SVR - SAVER RETURN VWC
00700 - NOT LONDON
1 Adult @£ 53.10 = £ 53.10
__________
£ 53.10
Standard Class Return

dzug

sisyphus wrote: »

i've done quite well previously by splitting journeys or buying singles. i thought i'd book my tickets to Manchester from High Wycombe as close to three months in advance as i could. i can't get any significant improvement over the bog standard 56.90 return fare. Have gaps been closed?

i need to get to Manchester (any city station) Friday evening, returning on Sunday evening. i can't even save much by driving to Aylesbury, Maidenhead, Reading, or Banbury. Going via London is more expensive, but if anyone can suggest a viable alternative split i'd be very grateful.

(i could drive, of course. The journey would cost me £30 in fuel (diesel). If i take three friends (there's a group of us going) then it would cost (you've guessed it) £7.50 each. And it would be quicker. Why would i go by train? Well, i can't be bottomed to drive for three hours, that's why, and i'd rather have a clear environmental conscience. Mind you, what's the consumption/pollution per passenger from a diesel train?)

TIA.

I would have thought that splitting in Birmingham was an option, though the timings of the really cheap fares may get you a really late arrival inManchester on Friday evening.

sisyphus_2

dzug,

dzug wrote: »

I would have thought that splitting in Birmingham was an option, though the timings of the really cheap fares may get you a really late arrival inManchester on Friday evening.

Aye, it is an option. i can get the cost down by just under £5. Thanks for the suggestion - i'll keep trying (it takes so long, i'd willingly pay someone that £5 to do it for me ).

seftonsun

saxonrosecliff wrote: »

Can anyone answer my query? Normally I book train tickets on line using the tips read on here. However I have just found out I may have to travel next Monday. With the ongoing postal strikes I am dubious about any posted tickets arriving on time so what I am wondering is: is the price paid if you turn up at the railway station on the day the same as if I purchased it on the internet? The type of ticket is a standard day return and its a fairly local journey so not much moneysaving to be done!

If your station or a convenient station has one, the fast ticket machine will allow you to collect tickets bought online. You just need your booking ref and the card you paid for them. You can collect them at any station where there's a machine not just the station you are travelling to/from. But, you must nominate the station where you want to use the fast ticket machine at the time of booking.

eltonroad

One advantage of doing it that way is that you can get Nectar points on any train ticket.

Go to the Nectar web site, log in and go to Nectar e-stores. TheTrainLine is one of the Nectar e-stores. Just click through and grab some extra points!

You could do this on the day you travel but you need to allow two hours between buying the ticket online and collecting it through the machine at the station.

Hope that's helpful for someone. Apologies if it's been posted before - I'm new to the site.

eltonroad

beautifullybroken wrote: »

hiya,
i need to go from glasgow to carlisle for two on the 11th aug returning on 13th aug,
travelling on the 11th would have to be after 1pm as my flight into glasgow doesnt get in til 11:30 am, please could someone help me as were on a tight budget


thanks in advance

ruth

The cheapest I could find this for was £15.90 each, Saver Return, but you have to travel via Dumfries which adds about 1 hr 10 mins onto the journey. But it's a lot cheaper.

11th August dep Glasgow 1303 arr Carlisle 1528
13th August dep Carlisle 1107 arr Glasgow 1329 or dep 1309 arr 1533

A Saver Return via the direct route is £39.30.

The cheapest Virgin Value single Glasgow to Carlisle is £10.50 (hence return is £21) so the Saver via Dumfries, which doesn't tie you to specific trains, looks like your best bet.

Badger_Lady

I went online today to pick up a 4-day return ticket from Newport (Wales) to Southampton at particular times to meet a ferry, and was shocked when theTrainline returned a cheapest price of £146!

Using my Young Person's Railcard, this still came to nearly £100...

I hopped onto the National Rail website to have a play around, and discovered that I could buy an "open return" ticket for £35-ish, and that the ticket then enabled you to travel at any time.

I then went back to theTrainline and, purely by searching in a different way, found the deal for £25 (including my railcard discount). I then made a decision to catch a marginally later train (although this also meant catching a later ferry), for the bargain price of £21.10.

What a difference!!! :rotfl: