Cheap Train Fares guide discussion

N9eav

The whole system is messed up.

Next week we want to go to Plymouth to see the footy (goodness knows why, but loyal fans) anyway;
My town to Plymouth £9 return
My town to Newton Abbot (30 miles further up the line from Plymouth) £8 return.

But we can have a group rate, as long as we are in multiples of 4. There are 10 of us. We can have Buy 4 get 4 free but not buy 5 and get 5 free. 2 have to pay full fare.

Dumb....

dzug1

dampsquib wrote: »

"Oh, Mr Porter, What shall I do? I want to go to Manchester but I need to split at Crewe!":)
Getting the best price these days seems to take as long as the actually journey itself, is this progress?:eek:
This week I need to go to Manchester from Telford.
As I need to be there before 9:30, I can't make use of ArrivaTrainsWales's (excellent) Club 55 £19 offer.
Now if I was in Shrewsbury, I could buy an Anytime Day Return for £25.20, but even though I'm just 15 mins away from Shrewsbury, I can't buy a Day Return from my station. A return from my station is a massive £62.:eek:
To avoid having to go by car, my first idea was to buy a Day Return to Shrewsbury, then buy a return to Manchester. This would reduce the £62 down to a more reasonable £29.40.
I then played with more options and found that if I split my journey at Crewe, I can further reduce the cost down to £26.90.
I wanted to avoid having to buy tickets on the day, but it was too late to get the tickets posted to me. I then wondered if I could order the tickets online via Virgin as I would then be able to collect my tickets from the machine at my local station. Even though, I wasn't planning to travel with Virgin, and they don't even run trains on my line, I was able to order my tickets via their website. Ordering via Virgin also meant I could go to the Virgin site via TopCashBack, so shaved another few pence off the price.
Bottomline is that instead of paying £62 (or going by car), I'm paying £26.36 and I even have seat reservations. By chance, the system has even even allocated me the same seat on the outgoing jouney both to and from Crewe.:)

Doen't matter at all who you buy them from - if there is a ToD machine at the station where you want to pick them up you can do so

They all sell tickets for each others' trains

wealdroam

N9eav wrote: »

The whole system is messed up.

Next week we want to go to Plymouth to see the footy (goodness knows why, but loyal fans) anyway;
My town to Plymouth £9 return
My town to Newton Abbot (30 miles further up the line from Plymouth) £8 return.

But we can have a group rate, as long as we are in multiples of 4. There are 10 of us. We can have Buy 4 get 4 free but not buy 5 and get 5 free. 2 have to pay full fare.

Dumb....

Or to put it another way... ten people travel for the price of six.
What is wrong with that?

I guess you didn't see this on First Great Western's website...

First Great Western offers discounted travel for groups who are travelling together. GroupSave allows three or four adults and children to travel off-peak for the price of two adults.

So groups of three or four can make the saving.


If you then read on a line or two you will see...

Larger groups may be able to save money by making a Group Travel booking – please call 08457 000 125 for details.

Why not give them a ring and see what they can offer for a group of ten?

Who's the dumb one?

smeghead54

Hi Just wondered if anyone could offer any advice on finding the cheapest possible train fare.

I need to travel between Plymouth and Three Bridges (or Gatwick airport if it makes it any cheaper) leaving on the 16 april and coming back on the 20th.

Not sure where would be the best place to split tickets or if it would help much

any help would be greatly appreciated

cheers

dzug1

The cheapest walkon fare is a superoffpeak return at £87.50 to either via Reading/Guildford. You've some flexibility

Advance singles on some trains on those dates total £78 - again to either. You must use the booked train

Whilst I can't be 100% certain that there are no cheaper splits, I think it's unlikely

roamingandy_2

Hi everyone, i have a friends wedding i need to travel to in July and i remember reading about a website where you enter the dates and how much you want to pay (the site suggests previous low prices) and when the tickets are released at that price the site sends you an email.

does anyone know what it is called? i've spent the past hour trying to find it and would be really greatful if someone could help me out.

London to Edinburgh, up July 13th and down15th

just in case if anyone knows any brilliant deals and decides to be really helpful :P

Andy

dzug1

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/booking_horizons.html lists all companies, but doesn't send you e-mails. Also noter that it can be a few days behind in updating

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/ will send you alerts - but only for East Coast trains. They do run your route

terryw

dzug1 wrote: »

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/booking_horizons.html lists all companies, but doesn't send you e-mails. Also noter that it can be a few days behind in updating

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/ will send you alerts - but only for East Coast trains. They do run your route

East Coast do London - Edinburgh

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/travel-information/

Livingthedream

Another website for ticket alerts;
http://www.thetrainline.com/ticketalert/

Very good for all Train Companies' release of Advance tickets, just avoid thetrainline when it comes to buying your tickets.

xdaniellex

Hi,

Wondering if anyone can find me a cheaper fare than the one I have found for around £48.00.

London to Newcastle on the 16th April 2012 - Single

Im flexible with times but would ideally like to arrive into Newcastle around 1pm and don't mind splitting the journey.

Thanks

Danielle