Rail tickets

ecclesto

I am looking for cheap train tickets from Wigan to Gatwick Airport November 20th returning December 4th. Earlier on today, Advance tickets came up for £14 each way. Just been back on to check again and now quoting £73.80 one way! How early is Advance booking please

Livingthedream

The advance tickets are now available for the dates you asked, lots of £19-28 but not many £14, might have been a fault with the reservation system.

One tip if your booking advance tickets for your return flight back into Gatwick, is to give yourself plenty of time for flight delays as if you miss the train that your advance tickets are booked for they become invalid, I personally would prefer to wait around Gatwick for a couple of hours that fork out for a new Single at £73

blued

Cant comment on the acutal operator you're using but First have a set amount of allocated tickets for advance now and when they're gone they're gone. There dont even seem to be that many. I'm pretty sure the old system was advance fairs right up until 48 hours before travel.

P2TKL

ecclesto wrote: »

I am looking for cheap train tickets from Wigan to Gatwick Airport November 20th returning December 4th. Earlier on today, Advance tickets came up for £14 each way. Just been back on to check again and now quoting £73.80 one way! How early is Advance booking please

I always ask for a ticket alert for when the cheap tickets become available. That way you can be quick off the mark to get them. They tend to get snapped up. The alert comes about 12 weeks before departure.
Got one for my trip to London in October..alert came in August..£12 ticket for Preston to London !

Voyager2002

blued wrote: »

Cant comment on the acutal operator you're using but First have a set amount of allocated tickets for advance now and when they're gone they're gone. There dont even seem to be that many. I'm pretty sure the old system was advance fairs right up until 48 hours before travel.

No, there have always been limited numbers available in each price category. And yes, you could book any available advance purchase tickets at short notice, but your chances of picking up a bargain 12 hours before travelling were pretty slim.

alanrowell

Livingthedream wrote: »

One tip if your booking advance tickets for your return flight back into Gatwick, is to give yourself plenty of time for flight delays as if you miss the train that your advance tickets are booked for they become invalid, I personally would prefer to wait around Gatwick for a couple of hours that fork out for a new Single at £73

Or book 2 sets of tickets for differing times - which will be cheaper than one set plus buying on the day

MINTY

Hi guys and girls ... newbie ere I travelled to taunton from darlington in September and back and bought an advance open return in total it cost me £123

I plan to to do the same journey in February and I am wonderin if you lot can help me find it a bit cheaper.

KeithP

alanrowell wrote: »

Or book 2 sets of tickets for differing times - which will be cheaper than one set plus buying on the day

But buying two sets of cheap tickets may not be cheaper than one fully flexible ticket.

Keep the price of the 'buy on the day of travel' ticket in mind when deciding your approach.

HTH

Livingthedream

alanrowell wrote: »

Or book 2 sets of tickets for differing times - which will be cheaper than one set plus buying on the day

Buying advance tickets to meet a flight is always going to be a gamble, you could buy two different time advance tickets but get a massive delay and miss both trains and then have to buy an expensive walk on fare ticket.

As keithP say 'Keep the price of the 'buy on the day of travel' ticket in mind when deciding your approach'

dzug1

MINTY wrote: »

Hi guys and girls ... newbie ere I travelled to taunton from darlington in September and back and bought an advance open return in total it cost me £123

I plan to to do the same journey in February and I am wonderin if you lot can help me find it a bit cheaper.

Yes - but not yet. Cheap advance tickets probably won't be available for another couple of months.

There's actually no such thing as an 'advance open return'. 'Open' and 'advance' are mutually exclusive categories. By the look of what you paid it was actually an off peak return, a fare you can buy on the day.

Looking at prices a couple of months from now, it looks as though with advance singles you could do it for just under £50 each way - still quite a lot, but Cross Country are not very generous with cheap fares these days.
The other thing to look at is travelling via London - cheap fares may be more readily available on the two separate legs.

shaunskankdog

Hiya, I take it you live near Manchester with a name like Eccles...lol
Train from Man Pic seems to have more time options, depending on flight times and delays. Takes about an hour from Euston, and with possible strikes...lol. Coming back around £45 return max £70 I would say. But like everyones says...give yourself time, and maybe buy on the day.

Other options are Megabus for 4.5 hr journey to London Vic for about £5, then train advance at £5 or on day £12, taking about half an hour every 10-15 mins.

Or why not fly direct from Manchester airport to Gatwick with BA...cuts out all travel and trains and shoving etc. max £40 each way...or combination of em all. Ay.....

PS dont forget to check all transport departures on net before you go just to make sure. Not the first time a train fatality has stopped people departing from NW England on hols.

Good luck.