Cheapest Train Fares Discussion Area

momack320

If there are 4 persons or more travelling look for a friends and family fare first Scotrail have this unsure about other operators.

Example 7 of us travelling Inverness - Glasgow return standard apex would of cost us well over £200 but as we bought 8 family and friends tickets cost us only £80!!:j

Bryntegsaver

Last week I had to go to Nottingham from Swansea at short notice just for the day - the only fare that National Rail quoted was an open return at an eye watering £65 or so. However by trying different 'sections' - I eventually bought a Supersaver (Swansea - Birmingham @ £37.20) + a cheap day Birmingham - Nottingham at just over £10, saving approx £17 or so. Not bad for 10 mins or so surfing.

I had looked at the 'singles' option but couldn't be tied down to specific trains.

Also Martin's GNER example of buying a saver to Peterborough and then another to London also applies to First Great Western. Here the example is to buy a saver to Swindon and then back to back ordinary singles for Swindon to Didcot and Didcot - london. The only downside is that from Newport / Cardiff / Swansea you have to change in Swindon - but to save over £50 compared to an open return is well worth it - also with this option you are not restricted to which train to take - handy if you cannot commit to using specific trains......

EP10

The reason for the £2 fare being shown on the National Rail site, but it not being available when you try to book it, is because national rail have launched a new site and are having some teething errors with their fares.

EP10

To get the best deals for rail, best to actually avoid Trainline as they charge a fee. Better to book with a train company directly, and if you book online at gner.co.uk you can get 10% off the cheapest fares on their route.

cannyscot_2

EP10 wrote:

The reason for this £2 fare problem is because national rail have launched a new site and are having some teething errors with their fares.

Yes I got quite excited when instead of a familyrailcard fare it said 3 adults for £1 -I thought there was some terrific deal but as above when I clicked through no such fare materialised. !

ncrossland

Midland Mainline are doing a trial of 'print at home' tickets -- just like the budget airlines.

They're trialling a few routes at £6 per single journey for a limited number of tickets - a standard return is £120 (Sheffield - London). When it started there seemed to be plenty of availability, but now they seem to be being bought up quickly! (although you have to book on specific trains).

But it might be worth a shot if you need to go from the Midlands to London!

pegeen

I live in North Wales and often travel to Devon to visit my mother.I've used all booking methods.I always end up going to my friendly helpful local travel agent and without fail get the very cheapest deal.I did try booking in advance over the Internet.It got incredibly complicated as there are several rail companies going from Bangor to Exmouth.

Recently when visiting my sons in Switzerland I booked and paid for several journeys over there well in advance over the Internet. I don't understand why you have to wait for up to 3 months in advance before you even get the times let alone the fares when booking journeys over here. Can anyone give me a logical explanation?

humancoin

It is better to book on the virgin train’s web site, not the trainline. The reason for this is that the cancellation terms and conditions are better. From memory, it is: refund, -£10 booking fee with the trainline, but only refund -£5 booking fee on the virgin web site. The refund varies upon which ticket type you have though, but the booking fee changes. (worked for virgin trains as a part-time job when at school, same call centre etc, but totally different booking fees for booking on a different site)

MarkyMarkD

pegeen wrote:

I live in North Wales and often travel to Devon to visit my mother.I've used all booking methods.I always end up going to my friendly helpful local travel agent and without fail get the very cheapest deal.I did try booking in advance over the Internet.It got incredibly complicated as there are several rail companies going from Bangor to Exmouth.

Recently when visiting my sons in Switzerland I booked and paid for several journeys over there well in advance over the Internet. I don't understand why you have to wait for up to 3 months in advance before you even get the times let alone the fares when booking journeys over here. Can anyone give me a logical explanation?

It's something to do with the track owners having to give the train operators three months' notice of engineering works, and hence the train operators aren't able to commit to their timetables before this point.

EP10 wrote:

To get the best deals for rail, best to actually avoid Trainline as they charge a fee. Better to book with a train company directly, and if you book online at gner.co.uk you can get 10% off the cheapest fares on their route.

The Trainline only charge for credit card purchases, so they are OK for debit card purchases.

BaronBarnehurst

You can now purchase the half price Network Railcard from South West Trains by phone (only since yesterday!) and it doesn't matter where you live.

Call 0845 6000 650 and select option 2.