Booking train fares in advance and coming up more expensive then on the day :S

bell123321

Hi,

Does anyone know if train fares are due to go up in June? I am looking at going by train from Waltham Cross to Cambridge with a family and friends railcard in June (3 adults 1 child) and when I put in to book it comes up about £6 more expensive then if I put in todays date :S Normally its cheaper booking in advance. I have also tried dates in July and again its more expensive then this week or next week or even today.

yangptangkipperbang

Fares are not due to go up in June.

Are the tickets you are comparing identical ? What is the name of the ticket you are looking at: "Advance: Off Peak Return: Anytime" ??

Is there a group travel ticket available when you are traveling ?

If you read some of the rail forums there seems to be more and more examples coming to light where the rail companies are copying the airlines and releasing tickets as and when they feel that the load factor on a route justifies it. In short - the cheapest tickets are NOT released first !

DON'T use the trainline.com !!!!!!!!

dickydonkin

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

Fares are not due to go up in June.

Are the tickets you are comparing identical ? What is the name of the ticket you are looking at: "Advance: Off Peak Return: Anytime" ??

Is there a group travel ticket available when you are traveling ?

If you read some of the rail forums there seems to be more and more examples coming to light where the rail companies are copying the airlines and releasing tickets as and when they feel that the load factor on a route justifies it. In short - the cheapest tickets are NOT released first !

DON'T use the trainline.com !!!!!!!!

I tried to book three tickets to Edinburgh for early July three months in advance and the prices were silly - tried again this morning and the prices have come down a lot.

Durham to Edinburgh return for 3 pax = £52.00 booked directly with East Coast. I'm happy with that.

But it does seem that the best prices were not released early for that trip.

munchpot

:mad:

dickydonkin wrote: »

I tried to book three tickets to Edinburgh for early July three months in advance and the prices were silly - tried again this morning and the prices have come down a lot.

Durham to Edinburgh return for 3 pax = £52.00 booked directly with East Coast. I'm happy with that.

But it does seem that the best prices were not released early for that trip.

I agree - booked tickets for my SIL to visit from Doncaster to London for the Jubilee weekend. Told by East Coast the earliest date I could book in advance for cheap tickets. Booked on that day at £80 return. Two weeks ago they were offering the same tickets on the same train for £36 return.
:mad:

katejo

bell123321 wrote: »

Hi,

Does anyone know if train fares are due to go up in June? I am looking at going by train from Waltham Cross to Cambridge with a family and friends railcard in June (3 adults 1 child) and when I put in to book it comes up about £6 more expensive then if I put in todays date :S Normally its cheaper booking in advance. I have also tried dates in July and again its more expensive then this week or next week or even today.

Are you booking for a specific train time or just a specific date? If you are booking for bank holidays it is likely to be more expensive.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

The 12 week rule is not an absolute rule when it comes to advance purchases with rail tickets. Its a rough guide and they should get released when they have the certified timetable of engineering works from NR. No point selling you a ticket for a train that may not run.

Also some people set their alarms for firts thing and bag the very cheap ticekts early - especially for times like a bank holiday weekend.

The_ICT_Engineer

As unregulated fares are to increase later this month. I checked
some of my usual journeys. For example March-Ely return will
be cheaper to buy a Anytime return (£9.30) than a offpeak return
(£9.80

WelshBluebird

Also just a point, some advance tickets work out more expensive than non advance tickets. Stupid I know, but there you are.