Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

PatR_3

I need to book train tickets from Wolverhampton to London in July.
Does anyone know how soon in advance the cheap Saturday Saver and 7day saver tickets appear on Trainline? Although I want to be sure of getting tickets, I don't want to be ripped off and pay over the odds.
These tickets are shown in May but not July.

This is my first post on the forum although I have been an avid Moneysaver fan for some considerable time.

Do hope someone can help.
Big Thanks.

Nigel1

PatR wrote:

I need to book train tickets from Wolverhampton to London in July.
Does anyone know how soon in advance the cheap Saturday Saver and 7day saver tickets appear on Trainline? Although I want to be sure of getting tickets, I don't want to be ripped off and pay over the odds.
These tickets are shown in May but not July.

This is my first post on the forum although I have been an avid Moneysaver fan for some considerable time.

Do hope someone can help.
Big Thanks.

Pat, take care with the terminology. The book ahead tickets I think you mean are the Virgin 'Value' tickets which are sold in limited numbers. They should be available 12 weeks ahead but as you've probably discovered, at weekends they often are not. Virgin need the train times from Network Rail in order to load them into their computer, and have been blaming NR for not supplying those times until just a few weeks before. NR say its all to do with all the engineering work. Either way, the only way to be certain is to keep trying every day.
Don't be stampeded into buying a 'Saver' ticket. These are walk up tickets that are unlimited in numbers sold and can be bought right up until the last minute. So if all else fails, you could buy a Saver on the day.
Another alternative is to book a separate Chiltern ticket from Birmingham to London. These are generally much cheaper than the equivalent Virgin tickets, especially if you're coming back the same day. It just takes a bit longer to get to Marylebone than to Euston. Check out the National rail Enquiries website http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/planmyjourney/time_table/journey_requirements.asp?&T2ID=3445_2004710171233
Hope this helps.
Nigel1

BigBelly

Nigel1 wrote:

Another alternative is to book a separate Chiltern ticket from Birmingham to London. These are generally much cheaper than the equivalent Virgin tickets, especially if you're coming back the same day. It just takes a bit longer to get to Marylebone than to Euston. Check out the National rail Enquiries website http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/planmyjourney/time_table/journey_requirements.asp?&T2ID=3445_2004710171233
Hope this helps.
Nigel1

Further to that re Chiltern, there is a Just 15 ticket at £15.00 return (from most stations in the West Midlands, including Wolverhampton to London Marylebone), and you need to change at Birmingham New Street then walk to Moor Street to get the train to London.

There is no need to pay separately from Birmingham, a through ticket from Wolverhampton is also £15, as long as you go via Birmingham Moor Street and use Chiltern into Marylebone.

There is no need to book in advance and the Just £15 is available 7 days a week on any train leaving Birmingham Moor Street after 11.00. Return from London Marylebone any time between 11.00 and 15.00 or after 19.30.

Railcard discounts apply too.

Sherise

Help! on a last minute notice,I need to go from stockton-on-tees, somewhere near newcastle, but nearer middlesborough to london this weekend.

And the train fares are exorbitant! I have tried mega bus, but the timings are such that I spend less than 24h of the whole weekend in London before I have to travel back.National express is expensive too, over £30 and timings are about the same as mega bus.

Any help would really, really be appreciated

alanrowell

Cheap and short notice don't go together, so either pay the full whack or take the overnight bus to / from London.

sparkymark_3

See my post in Freebies Freebies Freebies section for details of how to get hold of one which entitles you to 33% off most rail tickets as long as at least 1 child in your group travelling together.

Sherise

Hi,
I have scrolled through the forum posts.does anyone have any idea how do I
1) break this journey?
2) any promotion going on in any place that is part of this leg of the journey

so as to achieve cheap Stockton-on-Tees tickets to Bristol?

Thank you to alanrowell who answered my previous post.

fezza_2

Try different routes eg across to manchester and down to bristol using searches in trainline,national rail enquiries, virgin ,some fairs are available on one site and not others.My dear old mum tried to book a ticket yesterday at the station, from north scotland down to me in cardiff for end of may was told it would be £146 odd.Today by breaking up the journey into 3 chunks and buying super advance returns for each legg of the journey I managed to reduce that down to £96.It took a bit of juggling back and fore for the connections :but it can be done. The super advance only needs 24hr notice.

Mids_Costcutter

A number of people have asked how to go about breaking a rail journey up into shorter legs and thereby reduce the total cost of a fare from A to B.

In my experience this works best for day returns by seeking journey legs where a cheap day return or standard day return fare is available. The ticket clerk at my local station suggested that as a rule of thumb these fares are available on journeys up to 30 - 40 miles, though this depends on the train operator. So try to break a journey up into legs of this length buying separate return tickets (cheap day or standard day returns) for each leg.

An example travelling from Birmingham International to Leeds for the day:

A saver return costs £38.20 (subject to time restrictions and usually doesn't allow travel before 09.00) and an open return £59 (choose any train you like). However the journey could be broken down as follows:

Birmingham International to Derby: £12.10 standard day return
Derby to Sheffield: £7.40 cheap day return
Sheffield to Leeds: £8.80 standard day return

This results in a total fare of £28.30 saving £9.90 on the saver or a £30.70 saving on the standard open return.

Similarly the fare for a Birmingham Oxford day return can be signifcantly reduced by buying separate Birmingham Banbury and Banbury Oxford returns.

For journeys to London though this trick doesn't seem to work - a different fare structure? I'd be interested to hear the experience of others on this.

AP

Mids_Costcutter wrote:

An example travelling from Birmingham International to Leeds for the day:

A saver return costs £38.20 (subject to time restrictions and usually doesn't allow travel before 09.00) and an open return £59 (choose any train you like). However the journey could be broken down as follows:

Birmingham International to Derby: £12.10 standard day return
Derby to Sheffield: £7.40 cheap day return
Sheffield to Leeds: £8.80 standard day return

This results in a total fare of £28.30 saving £9.90 on the saver or a £30.70 saving on the standard open return.

You can actually do better than this by using the Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket which is valid between Sheffield and Burton on Trent on train services scheduled to depart after 9.00am, and you can take a child for free. The tickets would then be as follows:

Assuming that you arrive at Burton on Trent after 9.00am -
Birmingham International to Burton on Trent: £9.10 Standard Day Return
Burton on Trent to Sheffield: £7.50 Derbyshire Wayfarer
Sheffield to Leeds: £7.00 Cheap Day Return (Not via Doncaster) - as it will be after 9.30am by the time you arrive at Sheffield

Total = £23.60 which means even more savings! However, the train must stop at Burton on Trent for this combination of tickets to be valid.