Cheap rail fares on main lines but not on suburban lines

BillLucas

When searching for cheaper fares covering surburban lines into London and main lines (East Coast and Virgin) which is the best web site to look at to get the best combined fare.

yorkie2

BillLucas wrote: »

When searching for cheaper fares covering surburban lines into London and main lines (East Coast and Virgin) which is the best web site to look at to get the best combined fare.

If you want to stick with one site, use East Coast.

The only time you'll be better with Virgin is if you want to have one of their online-only Off Peak Singles in conjunction with an Advance Single, booked as part of a return.

BrianWilliams

BillLucas wrote: »

When searching for cheaper fares covering surburban lines into London and main lines (East Coast and Virgin) which is the best web site to look at to get the best combined fare.

I think the question raised is if you want to get the promotional fare on East Coast line or Vigin together with the surburan train into London is whether you need to book them as seperate entities going on East Coast Line website for the ticket to say York and then book the surban fare some other way. Alternatively can can get the best deal booking the whole lot through someone like RailEasy. I have failed to find a cheaper ticket in the combination for the surburban train fare part. Can anybody clarify. Thank you

dzug1

We've been trying to clarify since the start of this thread:

You can book through tickets from your suburban station to your mainline destination in the north of England or wherever


OR you can book your mainline tickets and suburban tickets separately


If you take the second option then you will pay the normal fares for the suburban leg - you don't get any special reduction for doing it in one booking session


Either option can work out cheaper overall


Not sure how raileasy can help - they offer nothing you can't get at the same price (sometimes lower) elsewhere and they certainly used to add on fees. Whether they do currently - pass.

yorkie2

BrianWilliams wrote: »

I think the question raised is if you want to get the promotional fare on East Coast line or Vigin together with the surburan train into London is whether you need to book them as seperate entities going on East Coast Line website for the ticket to say York and then book the surban fare some other way.

That's not really true, no.

What is true is, as I said above, the lowest 3 tiers on East Coast are not available beyond London.

BrianWilliams wrote: »

Alternatively can can get the best deal booking the whole lot through someone like RailEasy.

RailEasy won't offer a lower fare than the EC or Virgin sites direct, but will add fees.

In the near future, RailEasy will tell you when it is cheaper to split, and you can buy the entire combination in one easy transaction (which is likely to justify the fees), but until then, no.

BrianWilliams wrote: »

I have failed to find a cheaper ticket in the combination for the surburban train fare part. Can anybody clarify. Thank you

I am not sure I follow?

wilko116

It just appears to me from the previous posts on this issue that you can get some excellent deals on the main line part of the journey on East Coast or Virgin, but you still have the pay the "Full Whack" for the journey into London which depending from where you are travelling from in the South East (Kent, Surrey) the fare can be considerable more than the main line part of the journey.

dzug1

wilko116 wrote: »

It just appears to me from the previous posts on this issue that you can get some excellent deals on the main line part of the journey on East Coast or Virgin, but you still have the pay the "Full Whack" for the journey into London which depending from where you are travelling from in the South East (Kent, Surrey) the fare can be considerable more than the main line part of the journey.

Well yes - if you split tickets then you would expect to pay the going rate for each leg of the journey. I don't see why anyone should think otherwise.




But seem to be missing the other point of the thread - which is that you CAN (a lot of the time anyway) get excellent deals by buying a ticket for the through journey - ie by NOT splitting tickets


For any particular trip you need to do your homework to check

BobWells

Why do RailEasy and Train Line state their fares are cheapest if it is not the case and you can buy cheaper direct with the Rail company East Coast Line or Virgin Trains. Something here does not appear to add up.

wealdroam

BobWells wrote: »

Why do RailEasy and Train Line state their fares are cheapest if it is not the case and you can buy cheaper direct with the Rail company East Coast Line or Virgin Trains. Something here does not appear to add up.

You need to listen carfully to the adverts.

For example, in The Train Line sheep advert, the words are:

Are you still paying full price for your ticket at the station on the day?
People buying in advance at the train line dot com saved an average of 43%.
Save on train tickets at the train line dot com.

The big difference in price is due to buying in advance instead of on the day of travel, not whether you buy online or at the station.

yorkie2

BobWells wrote: »

Why do RailEasy and Train Line state their fares are cheapest if it is not the case and you can buy cheaper direct with the Rail company East Coast Line or Virgin Trains. Something here does not appear to add up.

Raileasy will be cheaper when their "split ticketing" engine is launched. Yes, there will still be a small fee to pay, but it will offer through reservations and all the tickets under one booking confirmation.