Online train tickets

Shelle

I am due to book some tickets from Newcastle to London in September, I have been waiting until they are available, which should be at the end of this week (I think!).

I had planned reserving seats and also wondered about upgrading to first class if there was a good deal. However, I suddenly thought are these available if I book online? If I rang the station (Newcastle) would I still get the £10 fares (which is the whole point of watching on a daily basis for them to be released!), plus reserved seats?

Anybody tried this online?

Mishy

Have you tried on here

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

greyster

Virgin let you upgrade to 1st class ON the train if there are free seats. Its £10-15 to upgrade, weekend and bank holiday only.

if you do this, you need to regular ticket whether its a £10 deal or a standard.

gingerdad

https://www.thetrainline.co.uk, but its also worth checking on the phone, as last year we saved about 90.00 for four of us as the cheapest fare wasn't advertised on the website i think it was a 21day super saver (or somthing like that) the only reason I phoned at the time was beacuse I wanted the first class upgrades. so worth checking with both methods.

GD

alanrowell

Don't book with thetrainline as they charge a Credit Card fee.

Use nationalrail to get the times & prices, then follow one of their links to the train company - in this case GNER - instead.

Given that the cheapest ticket is about £10 one way from Newcastle to London, I doubt if anything cheaper is available either by phone or at a booking office

isasmurf

The £10 tickets are available online (you need to go to the singles ticket page when it presents you with the prices). Goto GNER.co.uk and there is an option on the front page to submit your email address so they can let you know when the tickets for the dates you wish to travel become available. (currently booking until 1 September).

Note that you cannot upgrade to first class with the £10 tickets. There are first class equivalents of the £10 ticket though, which I think start from around £29.

Shelle

Thanks isasmurf. Do you know if you can reserve seats with the £10 tickets (or the first class ones)? We are 3 adults, and thought it might be difficult to guarantee getting 3 seats together without reserving. In the past we have always reserved, but then again we have always paid money too! Just trying to work out our best options.

pompeyrich

You can reserve seats, free of charge, somewhere during the booking process, either before or after you are asked for your payment details. We travel, in a group of 3, a couple of times a year on GNER and always get allocated table seats, 2 seats each side of a table, which i prefer as these seats seem roomier than the standard aircraft, fold down tray, type of seat.

isasmurf

I think seat reservations are compulsory with all GNER advance tickets.

pompeyrich wrote:

We travel, in a group of 3, a couple of times a year on GNER and always get allocated table seats, 2 seats each side of a table, which i prefer as these seats seem roomier than the standard aircraft, fold down tray, type of seat.

Do you think? Personally I find the table seats rather cramped when you have somebody sitting on the other side of the table. Although, I think both the table seats and airline seats have generous leg room on the refurbished 'Mallard' trains.

pompeyrich

isasmurf wrote:

Personally I find the table seats rather cramped when you have somebody sitting on the other side of the table. Although, I think both the table seats and airline seats have generous leg room on the refurbished 'Mallard' trains.

Suppose it's down to personal preference, like the op, we travel as a group of 3, myself and 2 teenage sons, so the one opposite sits sideways, stick a couple of cans of beer on the table, this usually ensures no-one chooses to join us, so a nice relaxed trip. Selfish I know but half the airline seats are occupied by single travellers sitting on the aisle side to discourage others from sitting next to them and of course we would rearrange our seating plan if the train was packed

Shelle

GOT IT!!!!!!! :j Yeaahhhh! Booked 3 adults for £10 single, £20 return, £60 in total cost! Fab holiday before we have even started thanks to those on this forum! Travelodge - rooms at £26 per night booked for 4 nights - cost £208. Train return cost £60. Total cost for travel, 2 rooms, 4 nights in LONDON £268:beer: