Cheap Train Fares guide discussion 5 October 2010 at 9:09AM edited 8 March 2013 at 2:11PM in Public Transport & Cycling 1.1K replies 231.5K views

yorkie2

danielledisco123 wrote: »

Hi all,

I have looked into splitting my tickets for a journey London to Manchester and have been able to do this, however, for the splits I remain on the same train but have been given different seats? Is this the norm and would I need to switch to the other seat for the 2nd leg (Stoke to Manchester)? - Virgin Trains

Thank you

Did you book manually or through Trainsplit? Trainsplit tries to get the same seat, but is not always successful. Taking your tickets to a booking office may see a possibility of the seats being changed, though this is not guaranteed.

Technically you have to switch seats, however in practice you are OK to sit in the same seat subject to the seat not being required by other passengers.

miller wrote: »

I was able to pester Virgin via their live chat and get some seats booked a while back. They gave me a booking reference and it spat out a zero fare ticket with the reservation I wanted. You could ask for the same seat(s) as one of your existing reservations.

If you give them the details of the tickets, including the ticket numbers and reservation details, they may be prepared to issue replacement reservations. (they would not be happy issuing additional reservations in addition to the existing ones)

miller

yorkie2 wrote: »

If you give them the details of the tickets, including the ticket numbers and reservation details, they may be prepared to issue replacement reservations. (they would not be happy issuing additional reservations in addition to the existing ones)

Maybe I was just lucky then, because I got them issued without question (I quoted my existing advance ticket which already had a reservation)

Benno963258

just a word of warning, Thetrainline use misleading wording about selling your data on, that could be easy to miss if you were in a hurry:

"thetrainline would like to send you information relevant to your booking, cheap train fares and other special offers. If you would prefer not to receive this information,
please uncheck this box.

Selected partners may want to send you special offers and exclusive discounts or information about their products and services. If you would like to receive this information,
please check this box.

Selected partners may want to send you special offers and exclusive discounts or information about their products and services. If you would like to receive this information,
please check this box.

View our privacy policy and terms and conditions

View our privacy policy and terms and conditions
Please tick this box to confirm that you accept our terms and conditions".

Obviously interchanging "check this box", "uncheck this box" and "tick this box" to be intentionally confusing.
So annoying that companies will effectively steal your data to sell on to cold calling companies.

If nuisance phone calls annoy you, you should get annoyed with the companies that sell your data

dekkard

Expedia are now selling train tickets.

Visa Debit seems the only way to pay without a card charge. But 3% cashback available through Topcashback and Quidco.

This isn't mentioned in MSE's Cheap Train Fares guide though.

JohnTheGuard

If you are travelling out and back on the same day to a destination over 50 miles away check day return fares to intermediate stations. Day returns can usually be purchased for stations up to 50 miles away and are usually only a few pence more than the single fare. Multiple day returns can be much, much cheaper than one return to a distant destination. For instance, my wife often travels from Derby to Bristol and back for work. An Anytime return is £151, but this price can be more than halved by purchasing Derby to Birmingham, Birmingham to Cheltenham and Cheltenham to Bristol day returns. The latter is particularly cheap, especially as an off-peak ticket is valid by the time she gets there. The same is true for Derby to Cardiff, Oxford, Peterborough and presumably many other destinations.

miller

...and flipping to the reverse side of that if you wanted to stay overnight during the week using a Network Card e.g. Southampton to Bournemouth 2 x Off Peak Day Single = 2 x £12.30 (can't use Network Card as £13 minimum during the week) = £24.60. Extend to Poole for a Network Card discounted Off Peak Return £18.70 and finish short/start short at Bournemouth.

Stoke

I'm still waiting for the compensation for my utterly shambolic journey in December and have since refused to pay. I've been getting very cheap fares ever since.

As soon as I get my compensation (only £16), I'll be a good citizen and pay again.

surfsister

Hiya wanting to travel to Arnside lake district on sat 23rd Dec for a family holiday. any help with travel would be great as it seems to be a nightmare due to closed rails for repair.

I would prefer no to go via London as so many bits are closed then

thanks

Kite2010

surfsister wrote: »

Hiya wanting to travel to Arnside lake district on sat 23rd Dec for a family holiday. any help with travel would be great as it seems to be a nightmare due to closed rails for repair.

I would prefer no to go via London as so many bits are closed then

thanks

Where from?

KeithP

Kite2010 wrote: »

Where from?

As the poster wrote in the post title: Ipswich.