Cheapest First Class tickets to Cornwall

littlewren

Hi,

I've come on here for advice with cheaper tickets for 2 years running and have received some great help, so I hope you don't mind me asking yet again!

We're going to Cornwall (Falmouth Docks) for a week from the 12th October to 19th October from Sandy and want to travel First Class. This is because it's such a long journey and it's great to be able to stretch your legs out and be more comfortable. I have a problem with leg pain and a history in the family of DVT's so it's even more important for that reason.

The 'cheapest' I can find at the moment is £331.00 for the two of us, first class, which is way above last year's prices & we can't afford that. I realise I might be a bit early, but I don't want to miss out, and I wondered if anyone on here could possibly help with first class advanced fares please?

I should add that we don't want to split the tickets and also don't want to change at Plymouth the journey is tiring enough as it is!). We'd rather do what we usually do - Sandy - Kings X, Kings X - Paddington, Paddington - Truro, Truro - Falmouth Docks.

I'm really concerned, as I say, about not being able to stretch my leg out. When we travelled down there about 4 years ago, I had a lot of trouble with my leg for the rest of the week, even though I got up a lot and stretched it.

Many thanks in advance (no pun intended! lol)

barbiedoll

That's very expensive! Have you thought about flying there? Do you have friends who live there who will be able to pick you up at Newquay airport? That's around an hour's drive (I think) and you won't be in the air for longer than 50 mins, so it's much better for your legs.

You should be able to get cheap flights in October too, the website is saying £78 each way at the moment.

http://www.flybe.com/cheap-flights/newquay/

thefishdude

just had a look on eastcoast.co.uk you can get it for £275 at the moment if you dont mind sentting of at 5:35am going and 7:47 comming back if you travel down the day before its £248.

incidently there website also shows the cheapest prices it can bever be and it would be £190 so thats the lowest it can go no matter what for 1st class. may still be a few weeks to early to get that price.

littlewren

barbiedoll wrote: »

That's very expensive! Have you thought about flying there? Do you have friends who live there who will be able to pick you up at Newquay airport? That's around an hour's drive (I think) and you won't be in the air for longer than 50 mins, so it's much better for your legs.

You should be able to get cheap flights in October too, the website is saying £78 each way at the moment.

http://www.flybe.com/cheap-flights/newquay/

Hi, no we don't know anybody who lives in Cornwall and if we hired a car to take us from Newquay to Falmouth that would work out the same, expense wise, so that's out for us I'm afraid, but thankyou.

littlewren

thefishdude wrote: »

just had a look on eastcoast.co.uk you can get it for £275 at the moment if you dont mind sentting of at 5:35am going and 7:47 comming back if you travel down the day before its £248.

incidently there website also shows the cheapest prices it can bever be and it would be £190 so thats the lowest it can go no matter what for 1st class. may still be a few weeks to early to get that price.

Thankyou for looking fishdude. Unfortunately the times are way out but I'll keep checking that website.

Could you tell me whereabouts on their site that you saw the cheapest price it can be please? Many thanks.

im-lost

£245 if you do the 5.39am and return on the 17.27 bit of a
late return home though, 1.34am..

but is first class really worth an extra £115? the same trains on standard
tickets are £130, and the longest leg of the journey is only 5 hours, its really
not that long, if you bag yourself a table seat it would be a bit more comfortable.

Going by standard class the cheapest fare you also have a choice of leaving
on the 8am train for the same price.

There's also a lot of other later trains that total £158 if you go by standard class.

luckwudaveit

I know your selected dates are Fridays, but if you travelled a day later on Saturdays, you could make use of First Great Western's Weekend First Upgrade: http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Your-journey/On-board/First-class

It would cost you an extra £20 per person per direction, so a total add-on of £80. If you could get a cheap Standard return, it may work out cheaper? Obviously this would only get you First Class Padd - Truro

sunshine2223

luckwudaveit wrote: »

I know your selected dates are Fridays, but if you travelled a day later on Saturdays, you could make use of First Great Western's Weekend First Upgrade: http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Your-journey/On-board/First-class

It would cost you an extra £20 per person per direction, so a total add-on of £80. If you could get a cheap Standard return, it may work out cheaper? Obviously this would only get you First Class Padd - Truro

I'm sure the OP already knows this if they've done the journey previously, but that would be the only leg of their journey that has first class anyway.

First Capital Connect do have a first class section but it's no different to the rest of the seating, just a token gesture! The Truro - Falmouth train is only 2 carriages with no first class or seat reservations. Sounds like your suggestion is a good one if the OP can change their travel dates.

OP, have you considered the night time riviera service? I haven't looked at prices for you but I've gotten cheap fares on it previously and the seats and foot room are the same as first class (certainly bigger than standard). Over night travel isn't for everyone though

littlewren

im-lost wrote: »

£245 if you do the 5.39am and return on the 17.27 bit of a
late return home though, 1.34am..

but is first class really worth an extra £115? the same trains on standard
tickets are £130, and the longest leg of the journey is only 5 hours, its really
not that long, if you bag yourself a table seat it would be a bit more comfortable.

Going by standard class the cheapest fare you also have a choice of leaving
on the 8am train for the same price.

There's also a lot of other later trains that total £158 if you go by standard class.

Thanks but we would need reasonable times for departure and arrival back home, don't fancy hanging around a train station at those times either.

5 hours is a long time to be sitting cramped even if you keep getting up and there's only so many times you can do this before people start tutting. The last time we went to Cornwall in second class, we had a table but the girl opposite had her bags down by her feet which meant I couldn't stretch mine out. There was no room in the overhead luggage rack, nor the main racks, so she had no choice. My legs ached for the whole week I was in Cornwall and at one point I was quite worried and nearly went to the doctors. There's a family history of DVTs in the family as well as PEs - in fact I was in A & E just 2 nights ago - for 5 hours :eek: - as I'd gone to my GP with calf pain and he said my calf was quite swollen and sent me straight to A & E for a blood test. Thankfully it came back negative but that's another reason why I'm keen to travel first class for what is a long journey of 5 hours in a cramped environment.

littlewren

luckwudaveit wrote: »

I know your selected dates are Fridays, but if you travelled a day later on Saturdays, you could make use of First Great Western's Weekend First Upgrade: http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Your-journey/On-board/First-class

It would cost you an extra £20 per person per direction, so a total add-on of £80. If you could get a cheap Standard return, it may work out cheaper? Obviously this would only get you First Class Padd - Truro

No, it would have to be the Friday as our accommodation starts that day so we'd miss a full day if we went on the Saturday - travelling all that way takes up almost all day anyway!

Flugelhorn

littlewren wrote: »

There's a family history of DVTs in the family as well as PEs - in fact I was in A & E just 2 nights ago - for 5 hours :eek: - as I'd gone to my GP with calf pain and he said my calf was quite swollen and sent me straight to A & E for a blood test. Thankfully it came back negative but that's another reason why I'm keen to travel first class for what is a long journey of 5 hours in a cramped environment.

Ask your GP to get the D-Dimer near patient testing sets. We use these in the practice and can get a pos / neg on the D-Dimer test (for Poss DVT) in ten minutes. Patient just has a finger !!!!!. Trouble is the kit looks just like a pregnancy test (!) and we have been teasing some of the blokes :rotfl: saves some trips to hospital etc