New cheap train booking website - MyTrainTicket

MSE_Jenny

Hi there,

There's a new train booking website called MyTrainTicket.

At first glance, its fees seem to be slightly lower than Thetrainline's. Plus there are some useful functions to help you search for cheapest fares. You also get Airmiles for booking.

We are currently researching this to include it in this week's email, but if anyone has used it or has any feedback, that would be fab.

This is what its press office sent us ...


Rail travellers buying tickets through the site will qualify to collect Airmiles on ticket spend – 1 Airmile for every £10 spent
New site ready to work with all new mobile ticket technology
Much more consumer friendly site – recognises the cheapest ticket is not always best…searches include people looking for specific services such as WiFi, meals etc
Users can also buy linking bus tickets in towns (PlusBus) to avoid having to use taxis for ‘the final mile’
Simplifies the ticket buying experience with ‘one-click’ access to the best fares by price as well as by route, showing all available Advance, Off Peak and Anytime fares on one page.




1. MyTrainTicket.co.uk booking fee is 90p, thetrainline.com's is £1.00.

2. My TrainTicket.co.uk’s credit card fee is 2.25%, Trainline’s is a flat £3.50. So, for any transaction below £155 MyTrainTicket.co.uk is cheaper, often by quite a lot. For instance, on a £40 transaction MyTrainTicket.co.uk would charge £0.90 credit card fee, thetrainline.com £3.50. As the average transaction value in the sector is £55, this is quite important and significant.

3. No one charges anything for paying with a debit card, and collection from a Ticket on Departure machine is free for MyTrainTicjmetand Trainline.


Thanks very much!

Simon11

I fail to see the point of MytrainTicket and thetrainline?

Book with your operator you wish to travel with and you won't pay any booking fees:D

MSE_Jenny

Thanks Simon11. If you wouldn't book through it, do you reckon any of the search functions are useful for finding the cheap fares in the first place?

Simon11

London Euston to Manchester Pic, Leaving on 5th May 2010, 1 adult, taking the 10.20am train.

Virgin Trains website Best Fare finder: £22
MyTrainTicket: £22

Easy to find the same price, however booking systems very similar.

However Virgin Train doesn't charge for any bookings nor charge for credit cards.:D

KeithP

Jenny, I am impressed.

I just used it to help answer this query, and it did shave a few pence off my manual search.
Far simpler than manual searches.

That is of course just one example.

I imagine people who find booking train tickets a daunting task will like it.

robt_2

Personally I think the Air Miles is a complete red herring.

You would need to spend £7500 on train tickets for the cheapest Airmiles flight (which is only to Amsterdam/Paris/Brussels). Lets say your average spend on tickets is £55 (as you have stated yourself) - that is £122.50 of booking fees (before you add on any card charges) - which is more than enough to pay for your flights anyway! Not a saving at all.

235 Air Miles gets you a trip on the London Eye. To get 235 Air Miles we need to spend £2350 on rail tickets. At your average £55 spend, that is £38.50 in booking fees (before card charges). The most expensive London Eye ticket is half that!

Not money saving at all in my opinion.

Simon11

I personally think the name of the title should be changed. Getting rid of the "Cheap" part.:money:

All the website does is use the existing Booking Program which is used by many train Companys and uses different colours/ Styles. Then charge customers extra for this:eek: Also its only free collection your tickets at Fast Ticket Machines- same as other train websites.

Having tickets posted to your address costs:
TrainTicket.co.uk’s Charges £7.50 for special delivery
Southern charges £6
East Coast charge £5

There is nothing unique appart from the airmiles scheme and the expensive costs:mad:

bunking_off

Really can't see the point of paying fees. Virgin Trains website doesn't impose a credit card fee, doesn't charge for ticket delivery (assuming it's far enough out that first class post will suffice, £6 if next day is needed), can book tickets for any provider, and appears to give the lowest cost tickets.

No amount of airmile gimicks will compensate for that. Although saying that, NB if you book Virgin Train tickets via Virgin Trains website, you can get Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer points.

robt_2

To be honest I am stunned that they are considering put this in the weekly email. It isn't money saving, as the maths above shows.

They are not cheaper than anyone else, there is only one pool of tickets available. Different quotas are not offered to different ticket agencies - but this one charges a fee.

I think MSE would lose a lot of respect for including it. It is no cheaper and they contacted you to ask to be included!

jamesbrownontheroad

Move along folks, nothing to see here. Cheaper than theTrainLine, but only because their booking fee is cheaper. Still cheaper to book directly with the website of any train operating company.

Remember: every train ticketing service has access to the exact same fares.

KeithP

Anyone who struggles with the complexities of finding the cheapest ticketing, and judging by the queries seen on this board there are many, may well find this new tool of some use.

Those who do understand these things may also find it useful because it takes a lot of the manual work out of the process.

The third point is that having found the answer, you are free to buy the tickets elsewhere. Use a Train Operating Company and save the fee.