Cheap Train Fares guide discussion

tigerm25

Hello,

I'm based in Hull, East Yorkshire, and I am going to London for the weekend at the end of October. The weekend is about 12 weeks away from now (25th - 27th Oct), so I was looking to book the tickets this week to get the best price.

The price for the journey down on the Friday, for 2 railcard holders, overall came to £13.20. Superb!

The cheapest price I can find for the journey back up on the Sunday, at any time, with 2 railcards, is £97.70.

Why is it so much more expensive on Sunday 27th October? Am I looking at it too early? Is there something going on that day I'm unaware of? It just seems very strange that it is 8 times more expensive to do the journey back up when its exactly the same.

Many thanks for your help in advance!

cosmojohnson

tigerm25 wrote: »

Why is it so much more expensive on Sunday 27th October? Am I looking at it too early? Is there something going on that day I'm unaware of? It just seems very strange that it is 8 times more expensive to do the journey back up when its exactly the same.

Assuming the main leg of your journey is on East Coast, then yes - the cheap Advance tickets haven't yet been released for Sunday yet (their home page currently says up to and including Friday 25th October).

Furthermore, it looks as though there is engineering work at Peterborough and Newark which will affect East Coast and Hull Trains that weekend (up until around midday on Sunday) - so they may need to rejig the timetable for that day, meaning they can't offer advance tickets (and therefore reservations) until that is worked out.

miller

tigerm25 wrote: »

Why is it so much more expensive on Sunday 27th October? Am I looking at it too early? Is there something going on that day I'm unaware of? It just seems very strange that it is 8 times more expensive to do the journey back up when its exactly the same.

Many thanks for your help in advance!

Too early. East Coast are only doing Advance tickets up to 25th October as I write.

Friday seems to be their favourite day for releasing Advance tickets. Use their email tool to be alerted:
http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/travel-information/advanced-ticket-alert/

Hull trains also have a simliar tool:
http://www.hulltrains.co.uk/contact-us/notify-me/

Edit: cosmojohnson beat me to it as I was writing!

tigerm25

Thank you so much! That has helped wonders! I'll leave it for a week and have another look. Regarding, the railway works, I can leave in the afternoon no problem, so yeah that's great. Thanks again!

tigerm25

Thank you miller for your help! I've just signed up to those alerts.

Thanks again!

patricia1066

Apropos the eurostar trip to Venice, I am looking at the first leg of the journey. Bromley South to Ashford Int.CIV (ASI) rather than BMS to St Pancras.

I was reading the seat61 site and came across the CIV eurostar ticket concept. Ticketysplit comes up with a fare of £17.40 walk up which has eurostar CIV as a description of the final part of the journey.

Looking at advance fares I cannot see this code. The fare below is what I will need in November. None of the fares on eastcoastline seem to be less than £21 single searching in October. Are there any discounted fares on this line? I want to go out by train, return by plane.

6.23 Bromley South
7.39 Ashford Int

terryw

patricia1066 wrote: »

Apropos the eurostar trip to Venice, I am looking at the first leg of the journey. Bromley South to Ashford Int.CIV (ASI) rather than BMS to St Pancras.



I was reading the seat61 site and came across the CIV eurostar ticket concept. Ticketysplit comes up with a fare of £17.40 walk up which has eurostar CIV as a description of the final part of the journey.

Looking at advance fares I cannot see this code. The fare below is what I will need in November. None of the fares on eastcoastline seem to be less than £21 single searching in October. Are there any discounted fares on this line? I want to go out by train, return by plane.

6.23 Bromley South
7.39 Ashford Int

You are just a bit early. Bookings are up to 25 October. the new booking dates usually come out each week on Thurs or Fri lunchtime.
Edit

On re-reading i think that I have misunderstood. Sorry don't know about discounts on this line but I am sure that someone else will help.

patricia1066

Its probably not worth following up.

A better option for me is to go to Pancras Int (CIV) £5.70 Euro Std Single no restrictions. BMS - Herne Hill - LNE

06:33 dep. Bromley South Rail Station
06:46 dep. Herne Hill Rail Station (Take First Capital Connect towards Luton Rail Station)
07:08 arr. London St Pancras International Rail Station

Then take the next Eurostar.

I think I have been wrong anyway to believe I could join the eurostar at Ashford - the only eurostar with a stop at Ashford goes on to Brussels, when my route goes via Paris

dzug1

There are no advance fares from Bromley to Ashford - you may be able to buy a through ticket from Bromley to Paris/Brussels on the Eurostar site that effectively gives you a discount but not AFAIK as separate tickets

james2005

Hello I have tried the split ticketing app but still too dear for me its coming out at £81 from Camborne to Littlehampton departing Weds 21st in the afternoon and returning on the Morning of Sunday 1st September but I can be slightly flexible.

I would be so grateful if someone could tell me how to get a cheap ticket or use split ticketing pls.

Thanking you in anticipation