London to Birmingham return by train

fireice

I'm looking to travel to birmingham on 10th march. Looking for cheap tickets on the trainline website, I'll travel with chiltern in the morning and then get an off peak single in the evening on virgin for £21.

However when I try and book these tickets on the chiltern website the virgin off peak single appears at £41, why is this??? (trying to avoid trainline)

(On the other hand trying to book these tickets on the virgin website cannot be done because the chiltern trains that leave london in the morning don't come up)

Lugh_Chronain

Is that New Street or International?

It may be that those tickets are no longer available.

I just checked trains to Birmingham New Street using both the Best Fare Finder on the trainlines website and then Virgins website and notice the fairs mentioned on the trainline weren’t available. There were cheaper fares available at other times though e.g. 10:43 on 10 March.

I doubt this would be of use to you unless you can be flexible that is.

dzug1

Why not book one way on Chiltern's site and the other on Virgin's?

A virgin offpeak single is £41 though (well £40.90 if you are splitting hairs) - don't know why the trainline should get it wrong.

The only thing I can think of is that it was offering you what used to be called a virgin half saver (single ticket for half the price of a saver return). However you can only buy this in conjunction with a virgin advance single on the other leg, and only on Virgin's own site.

simpywimpy

check on www.megabus.com which allows you to look at train journeys too. Depending on time of travel there are sometimes very cheap tickets available

Livingthedream

If your travelling with Chiltern and don't mind the slightly slower journey then try this, using the East coast website do you search London to Birmingham Stations and when you get your train times on the left of the screen click 'show slower routes' then tick 'via High Wycombe' and update. you should get these times;
London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor St dep 07:50 arr 09:49 Advance single £5
Birmingham Moor St to London Marylebone dep 18:15 arr 20:36 Advance single £5

There's lots of other times and price options

fireice

It's new steet. I've just checked on the trainline website and it's still available. The return is half price, can I book it even though the outward journey is with chiltern?

Here are the details I used: From london (all), to Birmingham (all), avoid birmingham snow hill, arrive before 10 am, leave after 1600 hrs

dzug1

I can't reproduce what you have found

But the only way to see if you can book it is to try.

If that is a genuine off peak single price (which I don't believe it is) you can buy it on the day. Check very carefully that it's not an advance ticket (only valid on one train - assuming you are looking for a flexible ticket) or some odd routing.

Lugh_Chronain

fireice wrote: »

It's new steet. I've just checked on the trainline website and it's still available. The return is half price, can I book it even though the outward journey is with chiltern?

Here are the details I used: From london (all), to Birmingham (all), avoid birmingham snow hill, arrive before 10 am, leave after 1600 hrs

Yes, as long as you have a valid ticket. I’m sure someone else could verify this though.

You’ll need to book soon if you want to take advantage of the cheap deals as these tend to go as soon as looking at them, in most case anyway.

fireice

What do you mean by valid ticket?

dzug1 wrote: »

I can't reproduce what you have found

But the only way to see if you can book it is to try.

If that is a genuine off peak single price (which I don't believe it is) you can buy it on the day. Check very carefully that it's not an advance ticket (only valid on one train - assuming you are looking for a flexible ticket) or some odd routing.

The ticket type is off peak single

dzug1

fireice wrote: »

What do you mean by valid ticket?



The ticket type is off peak single

Then the price is a mistake. (There is actually a promotional fare of that amount, but not currently being sold)

You will only be able to buy it (if at all) from the site that has made the mistake of offering it for sale.

Whether what you get is considered a valid ticket, I don't know, probably not. You are buying it in good faith though.

AirlieBird

The £20.95 ticket is the return portion of an off-peak return ticket. Virgin have sold off-peak return tickets as two single tickets at half the price of the return ticket for a while now. These used to be only available through Virgin's website, but now appear to available through thetrainline as well. Unfortunately, you can only purchase this ticket as part of a return trip so you cannot purchase the ticket for the outward journey through Chiltern and the return through Virgin.

I am confused why you have requested tickets 'avoiding Birmingham Snow Hill' and then say you are using Chiltern which goes to Snow Hill.