Cheapest Train Fares Discussion Area

bf1

Looking for a cheap deal from Leicester to London. Anyone got any codes for Midland Mainline?

Cheers

Brian

p1an0player

bf1 wrote:

Looking for a cheap deal from Leicester to London. Anyone got any codes for Midland Mainline?

Cheers

Brian

Go to thetrainline.com and click on the "print at home" trial for tickets at £6 single.

Otherwise the normal advance purchase tickets start at about £6 single as well. Don't know of any codes.

square-eyes

I use Southern Trains Day saver to travel from Gatwick to Southampton for £10. The saver is available from Southern Trains online a minimum of 7 days in advance. It is off-peak and can be used for multiple trips on the day specified only. You can travel as a group of up to 4 people for £20. Children travel for £1.
I use it for a one way trip from Gatwick to Southampton because ther are no train changes. It is also cheaper than a single. If you want to return on another day just order another for that date. The two day saver tickets are cheaper than an open return and if you return on the same day it is far cheaper than a return.
A great idea from Southern Trains and you can travel all the way from Portsmouth to London and back.
N.B. You can't use Virgin or GW trains on this ticket only Southern.

http://www.southernrailway.com

AngLangS

There is a quirk in the Family Railcard rules which allows a 16 year old to travel as a child on a Family Railcard - if you get the timing of your Railcard purchase right your 16 year old can travel as a child on a Railcard for almost a year

the Family Railcard web site Terms and Conditions states :

Special notes regarding children's tickets:

Children aged under 16 at the time that the Railcard is purchased may still travel at the discounted child's fare throughout the validity period of the Railcard, even though they become 16 years old during that time

tigger_and_george

As a subscriber to GNER's mailings, I've just received notification of 500,000 'bargain' tickets now on sale on their website until Monday 13/11/06.

This is for travel between 01 - 31 January 2007.

Please don't buy them all - I'd like some too!!

Good luck!!


https://www.gner.co.uk

jenny_f

huddersfield to milton keynes any tips on splitting the journary as all the hudds birmingham cheap ones have gone??

cheers guys

Cal_Culater

See http://www.tpexpress.co.uk/mytpe/students.asp for really cheap tickets around the north of England for anyone with a Young Persons' Railcard.

Ts&Cs taken from this page:
As our Student Getaway Tickets are such amazing value we have to add a few conditions to the ticket.

Student Getaway tickets are only valid for travel on TransPennine Express train services.

You will need a young person's railcard when you buy and when you travel.

You will need to buy your student getaway in advance; tickets can be purchased up until 1800 the day before you travel.

Student Getaway tickets are valid on train services departing between 0930 and 1630, and 1830 and 0700 Monday-Friday and anytime on Saturdays and Sundays.

You must travel on the train and date specified on your ticket.

Student Getaway tickets are only available on return journeys.


If you can satisfy all these constraints the savings are well worthwhile. Hope you save some £.

jenny_f

Cal_Culater wrote:

See http://www.tpexpress.co.uk/mytpe/students.asp for really cheap tickets around the north of England for anyone with a Young Persons' Railcard.

Ts&Cs taken from this page:
As our Student Getaway Tickets are such amazing value we have to add a few conditions to the ticket.

Student Getaway tickets are only valid for travel on TransPennine Express train services.

You will need a young person's railcard when you buy and when you travel.

You will need to buy your student getaway in advance; tickets can be purchased up until 1800 the day before you travel.

Student Getaway tickets are valid on train services departing between 0930 and 1630, and 1830 and 0700 Monday-Friday and anytime on Saturdays and Sundays.

You must travel on the train and date specified on your ticket.

Student Getaway tickets are only available on return journeys.


If you can satisfy all these constraints the savings are well worthwhile. Hope you save some £.

Use these all the time and it's great. It works out cheaper to buy a TP student getaway fare than a single, so even better!!!

altaf23

Hi,

I travel to Rugby from Slough every Friday and come back on Sunday night/Monday morning. I have been buying tickets on the day of travel (saver return costing £33.80 via London and £35.00 via Reading). I know if I can get cheaper tickets (£13.50 each way) if I book tickets in advance. So in total I spend about £140 a month.

I was curious to know if there is a way I can get tickets cheaper than this. Any information would be very helpful.

Thanks

caliston

My top recommendation for a site to check ticket prices is: http://www.qjump.trainsfares.co.uk/ When TheTrainLine took over Qjump they produced a Qjump-like interface to its tickets database and this is it. The advantages are that it's quicker to use than NationalRail and you don't have to register (unlike Trainline).

Also of note is when you produce a list of trains there's a link that says:

There may be alternative, slower routes with cheaper tickets. Click here for more information.

This gives you a list of all the tickets available for that route with their conditions. You can then click the button next to the fare to search for trains which have seats available on those tickets.

In the case of Slough to Rugby this shows there's an 'AP Oxford' APEX return at £26.50 which is routed Slough-Oxford-Coventry-Rugby - that's prebooked trains only. I don't think you're going to be able to get much better than £13.50 advance purchase singles. Splitting tickets you can save a few pennies on a Slough-Banbury Network AwayBreak (£20.90, return within 5 days) and a Banbury-Rugby Saver Return (£11.50) but must go through Banbury.

Be careful if you come back on Monday morning that Savers and AwayBreaks aren't valid on some trains in the morning peak. Best way to find out definitely is ring National Rail Enquiries and ask for the 'validity code' for the particular ticket (eg Banbury-Rugby Saver Return). Then look up the two digit code in Section E here:
http://nrekb.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/manuals.html
You can also ask NRE direct, but you might not get a straight answer. The Fares Manual is the 'rule book' which gives the definitive answer.