Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

dzug

mrs_lds wrote: »

I need to get to manchester to watford return around the 31st march 2nd april what is the cheapest option

thank you

The cheapest option will be advance singles from Virgin. If they have gone, a saver return.

You might find something cheaper on their e-tickets - but you will HAVE to travel into Euston and get a local train out again (Oyster will be cheapest) or risk having to pay the full open fare if you try to get on or off at Watford Junction:

http://www.mobitix.thetrainline.com/vt/advancePurchase.aspx

moonrakerz

South West Trains - Apex tickets - do they exist ???

I have spent ages grubbing around on the SWT and Nation Rail websites trying to find Apex tickets.
According to the SWT site they do exist, there is even a wonderful map:

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/262513E6-8437-4279-8A77-B66469D2CD16/0/Apex_map_Dec_07.pdf

showing which routes these tickets are available on - but can I find any ? - can I **** !
Is this a case of one Apex ticket per route, per year, per haps ? just so they can claim they exist.

I have found Mega train tickets on the route I am interested in (Warminster to Bristol segment of W'Loo to Bristol service), but they are not available to/from every station which the Apex purport to be.

Any ideas ? - I've run out.

dzug

moonrakerz wrote: »

South West Trains - Apex tickets - do they exist ???

I have spent ages grubbing around on the SWT and Nation Rail websites trying to find Apex tickets.
According to the SWT site they do exist, there is even a wonderful map:

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/262513E6-8437-4279-8A77-B66469D2CD16/0/Apex_map_Dec_07.pdf

showing which routes these tickets are available on - but can I find any ? - can I **** !
Is this a case of one Apex ticket per route, per year, per haps ? just so they can claim they exist.

I have found Mega train tickets on the route I am interested in (Warminster to Bristol segment of W'Loo to Bristol service), but they are not available to/from every station which the Apex purport to be.

Any ideas ? - I've run out.

Well I've had absolutely no difficulty in finding them from London to several stations on the route on random dates in a couple of weeks time. Where are you actually travelling from/to?

If they don't show up on the first search, there is a link to something like 'other slower services'

moonrakerz

dzug wrote: »

Well I've had absolutely no difficulty in finding them from London to several stations on the route on random dates in a couple of weeks time.

Strange !

I have just put in 4 random trips and have got 3 Apex fares, at £18.60 ret. Earlier today I tried about 6 different dates and the cheapest fare I got was a Saver Ret at £47.
One of the dates I just got an Apex on was definitely one I tried before ! Two weeks today and ret on the next Monday.

Are all these booking sites driven from the same engine (sorry!), just wondering if they were doing something when I was trying earlier ?

dzug

moonrakerz wrote: »

Strange !

I have just put in 4 random trips and have got 3 Apex fares, at £18.60 ret. Earlier today I tried about 6 different dates and the cheapest fare I got was a Saver Ret at £47.
One of the dates I just got an Apex on was definitely one I tried before ! Two weeks today and ret on the next Monday.

Are all these booking sites driven from the same engine (sorry!), just wondering if they were doing something when I was trying earlier ?

They all use the same database of times and fares and availability - but may search it in different ways. It is a puzzle that sometimes you get anomalous results.

Secret_Lady

The cheapest train tickets from London Kings Cross to Bradford (West Yorkshire), that I can find is £67.20 return. I cannot get to Kings Cross before 17:30, the Sunday is more flexible.

This price includes a 10% online discount, as it's Easter I doubt I can do better, can anyone advise?

Kings Cross Thursday March 20th 19:30 (arrive Bradford 22:49)
Bradford Sunday March 23rd 17.23 (arrive Kings Cross 19:51)

Many thanks (fingers crossed)

Spikey_2

Secret_Lady wrote: »

The cheapest train tickets from London Kings Cross to Bradford (West Yorkshire), that I can find is £67.20 return. I cannot get to Kings Cross before 17:30, the Sunday is more flexible.

This price includes a 10% online discount, as it's Easter I doubt I can do better, can anyone advise?

Kings Cross Thursday March 20th 19:30 (arrive Bradford 22:49)
Bradford Sunday March 23rd 17.23 (arrive Kings Cross 19:51)

Many thanks (fingers crossed)

have you tried www.virgintrainsfares.co.uk ? and maybe cheaper to leeds ?

dzug

Try St Pancras via Sheffield rather than Kings Cross

Alun

Hi folks,
I am having difficulty in getting some Saturday single tickets for my return journey - here are my travel details

Depart Chesterfield 15/5/08
Return London 17/5/08 [Saturday].

I can easily get singles for £7 each but on the Saturday there are no cheap singles and there never has been [as far as I can tell as I've been checking for weeks].

Any idea? Have they not been released? If not, when should I expect them?

Thanks

Alun

username

I travel from Portsmouth to Canterbury West about once per month and with a student railcard, I am paying £34.95 for a saver return that enables me to return within 1 calendar month.

I was wondering, is there any way to cut this price further?