train ticket help

snagglepuss16

hi, just wanting a bit of advice/confirmation regarding this train fare. we are off on a little family jolly on august 6th 2012, returning on august 10th 2012, we are travelling from carlisle to blackpool south.
when booking our adult tickets the 1207 train offers a price of £42.10, it says this can only be purchase as part of a return on a train that passes through lancaster, my question is, does this pass through lancaster?(i think it does but not 100%), and will it be valid with a return at either 0844 or 0944?
sorry if this sounds daft, but not used to this sort of rail travel!
any help would be brilliant!!:j

Livingthedream

Yes the 12:07 passes through Lancaster, but that is the Off Peak fare, if you wait a week or two, cheap Advance singles will be on sale. A quick search shows the 12:07 on a random date in July for £16 and 08:44 for £8.50 so possible return for £24.50 per person.

The £42.10 fare will be the same now and on the day of travel, so there no harm in waiting to see if you can get some cheap tickets, but with Advance tickets you must travel on the booked train.

snagglepuss16

i was swithering about waiting as the i have been checking other weeks too and have seen the really good prices, those are the times we would need as we are meeting the bus as well, thanks for your advice, its been really helpful!!

Livingthedream

As the Advance tickets are released by Virgin trains use the Virgin trains website to see when cheap advance tickets are released. The weeks change normally on a Friday morning.

Just click on 'find out when to buy advance tickets'

snagglepuss16

so it will be best to buy the cheaper tix from virgin?

Livingthedream

snagglepuss16 wrote: »

so it will be best to buy the cheaper tix from virgin?

Up to you, use Virgin trains to see when advance tickets available and buy from them or buy from East Coast or any other Train company or buy from Redspottedhanky and use the £10 special offer + you can use Tescoclubcard vouchers with them.

But avoid all the other third party vendor ie trainline as they charge extra fees.

HJFrancis

All good suggestions.

Just to add a note about Quidco.com. If you sign up for them and book your tickets through Southern Railway, you'll get a 6% cashback discount.

Obviously that's not as good as the Red Spotted Hanky deal on at the moment, but it's one worth remembering for the future.

snagglepuss16

thanks folks, great advice and really appreciated, i registered with redspottedhanky, but tenner credit not showing and never mentioned it when i registered through the link
will hang fire with the pennies for a week or 2

dzug1

The RSH credit takes 24-48 hours to show up.