Grantham to Edinburgh - GNER - help please

crackers

Hi

I'm going to Edinburgh on the 06/08 till the 10/08 and thought I'd go by train rather than fly due to the imapact on the environment.

I've not booked train tickets before online, but found if I go from Grantham I can go direct (I live in Nottingham) - I've not been able to book the dates I want until now due to the 3mth rule they have.

So I don't understand why when I've gone to book today, the first day I can there are no cheaper prices, they start at £177 each way.

Any ideas of ways to get cheaper tickets??? (If not it may be the plane as I can still book for just less than £50)

Any suggestions much appreciated.

Nic

mcfisco

using thetrainline.com - a 'saver return' is £90.60

Also - a GNER 'standard 1' single is coming up at £13.50

crackers

Not sure what I'm doing wrong but I've just relooked at both GNER and thetrainline.com and got nowhere near those prices for the dates I want. Did you search from Notts or Grantham, did you have a code or look at a particular time??

Thanks for your help its appreciated.

Added - Just worked out the trainline saver return for £90, thought it was per person! Still can't see the GNER standard 1 single though?

mcfisco

When you get the results & a list of the various return options, there a link that says something like 'singles from £13.50' it's just above the saver return on the left hand side

crackers

Okay I see where you mean although on my screen it comes up as singles from £24.00 but when I click on it there are none available at that price, they start at £177

Hintza

I have just had a look and see what you mean.

However I changed your dates by a month to 06/07 -10/07 and there were plenty of options. I would deduce from this that you might be just too early (could be wrong though).

Play with the dates and see when the cheaper singles appear and then wait until the appropriate tome difference has elapsed and try again.

Edinburghlass_2

When I was checking recently I certainly found GNER was cheaper and buying single tickets even cheaper but for sure there is nothing easy about using the website! As Hintza says you need to play about with dates and times.

80B

GNER have not yet released their cheap advance fares for those dates, you can check what dates advance fares are available for all train companies here;

http://www.atoctravelagents.org/

clicking on 'booking horizons' on the menu on the left takes you to a reasonably up to date list.

I'd expect there to be tickets for the journey you need available within a week or two. I also suggest using GNER's website to buy them as they offer 10% off their own advance purchase fares.

crackers

Thanks for the advice, I wasn't sure if I was searching wrong, booking cheap flights seems much easier online but I'd much prefer to go by train and I'm sure once I've mastered it I'll be okay next time.

It seems I may just have been too keen! Thanks also for the link 80B.

isasmurf

If you go to GNER's front page gner.co.uk they tell you up to what date bookings are available. It currently says "Now Booking up to and including Friday 3 August 2007". They also have a useful service where they will email you when tickets for the dates you want to travel are released.