Cheap Train Fares guide discussion

moonrakerz

Snapelover wrote: »

Wanting to travel from Newcastle to London on Friday 24th June. Friday 1st April is the 12 week advance booking date but I won't be able to book my return tickets, for Sunday 26th June, until 3rd April so my question is do I book singles for the outward journey or will the price of the outward journey roughly be the same if I wait a couple of days to book the whole outward/return journey?

If you have plenty of time, as you have, before your planned trip, spend an hour on a TOC's website - NOT the trainline ! and put in a range of trips the same as you are going to do from 12 weeks away to booking on the day. This will give you a much better idea of what sort of prices can be available for your route. Then if, later on, the cheapest one you have seen comes up for your dates, buy ! If the cheapest doesn't come up, you are still left with the "twist or stick" decision !

Livingthedream

Snapelover wrote: »

Wanting to travel from Newcastle to London on Friday 24th June.

For that journey use/sign up for the East Coast Cheap Ticket Alert it will email you when the cheap tickets are released for your dates.

AirlieBird

Snapelover wrote: »

Wanting to travel from Newcastle to London on Friday 24th June. Friday 1st April is the 12 week advance booking date but I won't be able to book my return tickets, for Sunday 26th June, until 3rd April so my question is do I book singles for the outward journey or will the price of the outward journey roughly be the same if I wait a couple of days to book the whole outward/return journey?

Tickets for both days will be released together. If not, then you'll have to wait a week not a couple of days. As a rule of thumb I find East Coast tend to release tickets at 8am on Thursday for the whole week.

MSE_Jenny

We are researching this, but just a heads up that train booking site RedSpottedHanky is now on Tesco Rewards.

mflower_2

Wishing to travel from Cambridge to Bardon Mill in May, the cheapest advance fare I can find is £34. However I can travel Cambridge to Leeds for £9.25 and Leeds to Bardon Mill for £8.60 (total £17.85).
The problem with buying these two is that if the connection at Leeds is missed I would have to buy a new expensive ticket to continue.
Searching for a journey via Leeds gives a price £61.70.
Is there a way I can buy the journey via Leeds I have found as a single ticket so that if a connection is missed I can continue on the next available trains?

Thanks.

bb21

mflower wrote: »

Wishing to travel from Cambridge to Bardon Mill in May, the cheapest advance fare I can find is £34. However I can travel Cambridge to Leeds for £9.25 and Leeds to Bardon Mill for £8.60 (total £17.85).
The problem with buying these two is that if the connection at Leeds is missed I would have to buy a new expensive ticket to continue.
Searching for a journey via Leeds gives a price £61.70.
Is there a way I can buy the journey via Leeds I have found as a single ticket so that if a connection is missed I can continue on the next available trains?

Thanks.

The minimum connection time for Leeds is 10 minutes. As long as you have left this amount of time between the scheduled arrival of your incoming train and the scheduled departure of your outgoing train then it is a valid itinerary. You should be considered to be on 'one journey' and allowed onto the next available service should you miss your connection due to late running of the preceding train.

Should this happen then just jump on the next train. If anyone gives you grief and makes up rules otherwise, do NOT hand over any money as once you've done that, it is very difficult to get it back. Demand an Unpaid Fare Notice (UPFN) instead if you are asked to buy a new ticket, and appeal straight away afterwards. Do make sure that you give your correct name and address though as otherwise you would be breaking the law.

The only time I would be slightly more cautious is when it is the last train of the day. It's a judgement call in those situations. In theory in those situations the railway should endeavour to transport you to your destination via alternative means or put you up for the night. Unfortunately railway ticketing is a minefield and some staff do make up rules as they go along. If you encounter a nasty piece of work who refuses to budge (no matter how wrong they are) then there is nothing much you can do if the last connection for the day has left.

Fortunately the large majority of railway staff are nice people, sympathetic and can use common sense.

snakesam13

I wonder if anyone has any tips on getting a cheap ticket from Darlington to York Return over 2 weeks, my son has just landed a new job and is off on a training course starting Monday and needs to be in York by 9am and will leave after 5pm. Cheapest we've come up with is £78 per week.
Thanks in advance
Sam x

wealdroam

snakesam13 wrote: »

I wonder if anyone has any tips on getting a cheap ticket from Darlington to York Return over 2 weeks, my son has just landed a new job and is off on a training course starting Monday and needs to be in York by 9am and will leave after 5pm. Cheapest we've come up with is £78 per week.
Thanks in advance
Sam x

£78.50 is the price of a seven day season ticket.

That's as cheap as it gets.

May be able to save a pound or so over the fortnight by using Advance Singles, but not worth the effort. And also with Advance Singles you lose all flexibility... must travel on booked trains.

Humphrey10

Have you asked the hotel? When I wanted to do this, the hotel let me leave stuff there after check out for free, they even had a whole cupboard dedicated for this purpose.

wealdroam

Snapelover wrote: »

I know this is not the correct forum...

You are right.

Snapelover wrote: »

...if anyone can redirect me then by all means do so.

At least you could've started your own thread instead on putting your question on a thread entitled Cheap Train Fares guide discussion.

There are left luggage facilities at Victoria Coach Station too.