Cheap Train Fares guide discussion

wallofbeans

miller wrote: »

I tried it; I can get the Greater Anglia website to off me a super off-peak single on Monday if travelling on the 11:12 from Colchester or later.

But it won't offer a super off peak day return... Very sneaky and mean train company...

miller

I could get a return offered if putting in a return time that matches the other half of the restriction:

RETURN TRAVEL

Not valid on trains timed to
depart:

after 04:29 and before 12:00
and;

London Liverpool Street after
15:58 until 19:02 or;

Stratford (London) after 16:05
until 19:09

miller

I find it easier to use a WebTIS-powered* site, such as Southern (which sells tickets for any journey); you can select the fare you want and a list of valid departures is then shown rather than the "button selecting" style of Trainline-powered* backends such as Greater Anglia which hides their visibility.

*the 2 technologies behind most train booking websites (personally I would avoid the Trainline itself).

wallofbeans

miller wrote: »

I could get a return offered if putting in a return time that matches the other half of the restriction:

RETURN TRAVEL

Not valid on trains timed to
depart:

after 04:29 and before 12:00
and;

London Liverpool Street after
15:58 until 19:02 or;

Stratford (London) after 16:05
until 19:09

Ah.. that's interesting.. I didn't specify a return time beyond 'after 5pm' or something and so I'd have to have scrolled through a few hours to find a return... The same ticket going the other way doesn't have a restriction on the return times so that might have thrown me..

Thanks for that. I'll try and be specific next time!

wallofbeans

miller wrote: »

I find it easier to use a WebTIS-powered* site, such as Southern (which sells tickets for any journey); you can select the fare you want and a list of valid departures is then shown rather than the "button selecting" style of Trainline-powered* backends such as Greater Anglia which hides their visibility.

*the 2 technologies behind most train booking websites (personally I would avoid the Trainline itself).

I never use trainline for buying tickets as they have a booking fee.. only use it for looking up train times.. but now I have another reason to not use it.. thanks!

iggy12a

Without any publicity South West Trains have introduced some very reduced fares out of Portsmouth: e.g. Off Peak Day Return to Southampton Central for £5 but only on SWTrains (normally £11) and one way advance tickets to Waterloo from £9. It seems really odd that they are not advertising them.

jcrockf

I'm going to watch cricket at Edgbaston, Birmingham later this week and I was checking prices from my closest stations to home in Kent (Meopham and Gravesend). Return prices were huge and I know from booking train tickets for my daughter to attend uni interviews around the country that there are good deals to be had for advance single tickets.

I found that I could get a single to Birmingham from Meopham for £10.50 leaving on a peak time train out of Meopham. This ticket included underground from Victoria to Euston and fast service Virgin train to Birmingham. Normal single fare from Meopham to Victoria is £14 and return is £25.40. Have managed to get the same price ticket coming back too. So in total cost is £21 to Birmingham and back which is cheaper than my normal commute (I work 3 days a week in London so buy day returns). From now on I'll be looking at buying tickets to Brum as cheaper than just to London.

Having found this out I thought I'd look at the price from Dover Priory and this is even more astounding. Dover to London Victoria return £78 or 2 singles £56.90. By buying advance singles from Dover to Birmingham you can reduce this to £30! This is based on a train leaving Dover at 0702 - a peak commuter service. Also the ticket includes LU travel so you'd save on that if you need to get the tube to work.

yorkie2

Not sure it's wise to publish that; if the company realises what you're up to they could easily put a stop* to it, especially if loads of people start doing it. It is against the terms & conditions.

Given you are tied to travelling at particular times, is a saving of £3-4 worth it anyway?

In my experience, if a "loophole" is published, the train companies will try to put a stop to it, if they can (sometimes they can't, but in this case it would be very easy for them!)

(* There are many ways they can do this, such as blocking the Advance quota on those trains, refusing to participate entirely in Virgin's Advance fares, block the cheapest quotas from being used, etc)

miller

iggy12a wrote: »

Without any publicity South West Trains have introduced some very reduced fares out of Portsmouth: e.g. Off Peak Day Return to Southampton Central for £5 but only on SWTrains (normally £11) and one way advance tickets to Waterloo from £9. It seems really odd that they are not advertising them.

Intriguing, I would guess the advance fares were added just after 15 May. From what I can work out Fratton/Hilsea/Cosham are in the same £9 bucket and Havant has its own £9 bucket (to London).

staffsuk

Hi all

I frequently travel from Stoke > Manchester > Stoke. Well I say frequently - around 2 - 3 times / month. I always travel off-peak and often at the weekend but rarely return the same day. Also I am never sure exactly what times I will be returning so I am averse to having to book a specific time train.

I wondered what would help me save on the journeys? A Railcard? Any Apps / sites that perhaps offer last minute trains at a good price? Any other money saving tricks?

Thanks!