Cheap Train Fares guide discussion

bb21

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

How many days a week does he need to travel?
Does he have a railcard?

Assuming that he needs to travel for 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and has a 16-25 railcard, he can save a few quid over the Weekly Season by buying five individual returns.

Darlington - York
Off-Peak Return
Route Any Permitted
£15.30 Y-P

This is the price with a 16-25 Railcard. Five of these cost a grand total of £76.50, saving £2 on the weekly season, however you lose the benefit of weekend travel between these two points.

The restriction text summary for this ticket is:

Restriction: 8E
MONDAYS-FRIDAYS (By any train on other days).
OUTWARD TRAVEL
Valid on any train, except those timed to depart between 01.15 and 04.00 inclusive.
RETURN TRAVEL
Valid by any train

If any day falls on a weekend or a bank holiday, then the Off-Peak Day Return at £11.55 would apply, saving you more money. Obviously this is still the price with the railcard.

Without the railcard, a Weekly Season does appear to be best value.

harryhound

redspottedhanky.com ,offering cheap on-line Train tickets and advertising via the Tesco Rewards scheme, is overloaded and timing out.

Such is the power of a MSE recommendation.

http://www.redspottedhanky.com/trains/

rich_shot2003

harryhound wrote: »

redspottedhanky.com ,offering cheap on-line Train tickets and advertising via the Tesco Rewards scheme, is overloaded and timing out.

Such is the power of a MSE recommendation.

http://www.redspottedhanky.com/trains/

There is a problem with ATOS which may be the cause of it so all train company's booking sites are having problems due to the problem with ATOS.

duckii

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could PLEASE help.

I am going to be travelling from Glasgow to Birmingham on the 1st July - 3rd or 4th July.

Cheapest I can get it is £64 one way advance single, so total return would be £128!!!

Why so expensive when I am booking way in advance! Megatrain use to have Glasgow - Birmingham route but have stopped that, so annoying. :@

Can anyone please help how I can get this cheaper, wouldn't mind splitting the journey anywhere!

Also, there are 4 adults going if that's any added help.And we can wither come back on 3rd or 4th. Timings do not matter as much.

I would be very grateful for your help!

pmm1981

Same answer as your other post

Fares for Glasgow-Birmingham that i've found are available at
Dep Glasgow C 0428
Arr Preston 0654
Dep Preston 0717
Arr Birmingham 0855
£160 advance single (£40 each)

Dep Glasgow 0630
Arr Carlisle 0743
Dep Carlisle 0807
Arr Birmingham 1055
£160 advance single (£40 each)

RETURN 03 Jul
Dep Birmingham 1303
Arr Glasgow C 2020
(Cross Country service via Newcastle, thats why its + 7 hours trip)
£126 advance single (£31.50 each)

All others are showing as £196 advance single (£49 each)

RETURN 04 Jul
Dep Birmingham 1603
Arr Glasgow C 2227
£164 advance single (£41 each)

Others available at £196 advance single (£49 each).

The trip can therefore be done for £71.50 each using advance singles returning on 3rd July OR £81 returning on 4th July.

Fares from www.eastcoast.co.uk

I haven't looked at any split journeys though.

Livingthedream

duckii wrote: »

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could PLEASE help.

I am going to be travelling from Glasgow to Birmingham on the 1st July - 3rd or 4th July.

I would be very grateful for your help!

Another option to the ones above is to try splitting at Preston, get advance singles and give yourself plenty of time to make you connection at Preston just in case of late running trains. But remember with Advance singles you must travel on booked trains.

yorkie2

duckii wrote: »

Cheapest I can get it is £64 one way advance single, so total return would be £128!!!

I know your post has been answered but I'd like to point out that the ticket booking sites are misleading for suggesting a 'return' is £128.

An Off Peak Return, available immediately before travel (no pre-booking required at all), is priced at £107.70 (routed via Preston) and is valid on any train, apart from it is not valid on Mondays-Fridays before 0415.

Livingthedream

jj645 wrote: »

Help!

Need to get from Manchester to Newcastle on 25th May. I'm a novice with train tickets, I've checked all the usual suspects, thetrainline.com £77, takethetrain.co.uk £65.40 and also tried the operator after reading threads on here which was first pennine express who were £77.

these are all on the 0927 out and 1732 back , can possibly come back later but not keen, does any one know if i can get this cheaper, im looking for £50 ish.

thanks in advance, Katie

Can't get anything cheap on the 17:32 but try this;
09:27 Manchester Pic to Newcastle Advance single £22
17:59 Newcastle to Manchester Pic Advance single £18.50
Total return £40.50

Prices from the FTPExpress website and as these are advance singles you must travel on booked trains.

Livingthedream

jj645 wrote: »

Help!

Need to get from Manchester to Newcastle on 25th May. I'm a novice with train tickets, I've checked all the usual suspects, thetrainline.com £77, takethetrain.co.uk £65.40 and also tried the operator after reading threads on here which was first pennine express who were £77.

these are all on the 0927 out and 1732 back , can possibly come back later but not keen, does any one know if i can get this cheaper, im looking for £50 ish.

thanks in advance, Katie

This is the price of an advance single and a anytime single. This is the price of the Off Peak return which is also valid on the same time trains (09:27 & 17:27) and a lot more that day, but it would be cheaper to buy from FTPExpress website as they charge no booking fees.

It's naughty of the Train Companies/third party websites to allow people the option to buy more expensive tickets, but I suppose it's an easy buck or two.

CockneyBrum

I need to find the cheapest way of going from Birmingham (ideally Selly Oak or New Street) to London (ideally Euston) twice a week, every week until at least the end of this year.

So far I've found I can get from Selly Oak to Euston with London Midland on the 18th May leaving 0622 returning 1454. Total cost is £19.

However, if I try to book this same journey from the 25th May 2011 onwards, I cannot get back to Selly Oak without booking a separate ticket from New St to Selly Oak (at additional cost). Even stranger is that I can book this fare only at thetrainline.com and nowhere else. I can, of course, book it separately, but I'd rather use redspottedhanky.com to avoid a booking fee, collect points and do it as a complete return.

The 1454 train does not show up at all in the search results on other websites and forces you to change at Rugby or Northampton at similar times But it does exist in their new timetable, so that's not the issue either.

My local London Midland ticket office didn't know the answer either, or their customer service people. Any help appreciated.