Stupid train tickets - so confusing!!!

MORPH3US

Hi everyone,

Myself and GF are visiting friends in London in November and are looking to book train tickets down there from Birmingham.

Just been looking on thetrainline.com and as long as we travel on certain trains we can get some great deals £12.50 each way.

The problem is the stupid amount of tickets that I have to choose from. The £12.50 one is for a "Value Advance Single C" and there are also "Value Advance Single B" and "Value Advance Single A".

I know these tickets will not be able to be changed or be flexible because they are so cheap, but I don't know the difference between "Value Advance Single A, B or C"

When you click the ticket names to get details of what they mean it lists EXACTLY the same details about the ticket i.e. you can't get a refund on them, you have to pay £10 to change them!! That is fine, but why is there no difference between the A B and C tickets except about £2 in price.

Any train boffins know?!?!

M

BTW, Virgin trains SUCK!!!

pompeyrich

Wouldn't call myself a train "boffin" but as you have spotted the only difference is the price, the train companies release so many tickets at the lowest fare,C, then when they sell out, B, and so on. Anomallies occur when all the C fares havent sold out before the Bs are released, so you are shown various prices for the same product. Obvious advice is buy the cheapest available.
Have you clicked on the print at home link on the Virgin home page, top left hand corner, can get a £7 single there but not at weekends and only until 10th Nov at the moment.

djl

they are all the same except for the price i would book the cheapest one possible as long as you stick to the booked trains

alanrowell

The cheapest tickets have fewest available seats on the fewest services.

The next cheapest will be available on more services & they'll be more seats on them.

Etc, etc

Sam_Bee

Or if you can book here, save even more money

https://www.printtraintickets.com/

Altarf

Or if you want to splash out a bit more, but have a more comfortable journey, have a look at "Value Advance 1st Single C" which are 1st class tickets available from £27 for Birmingham to London. With the free food and drink this can work out at almost the same price as a standard class ticket.