Northampton to Gatwick (best prices)

batista230_2

OK so if I book my flights I will need to be at Gatwick Airport for thu 19th feb at 10.40 (12.40 flight)
And I land back at gatwick on Fri 6th mar at 16.20
So will be redy to leave the airport about 17.30

I have checked out the cost on virgin trains and an open return is £85.50 about 3 times the cost of driving down in my car

Natinal express coaches are quoting £61.30 return
Which is no good coz for me to arrive at the airport at 10.40 the coach would leave Northampton bus station at 5.30
And the local buses from where I live to the town centre dont start till 6.00am which would mean getting a taxi

Any help please
Thanks

wealdroam

batista230 wrote: »

OK so if I book my flights I will need to be at Gatwick Airport for thu 19th feb at 10.40 (12.40 flight)
And I land back at gatwick on Fri 6th mar at 16.20
So will be redy to leave the airport about 17.30

I have checked out the cost on virgin trains and an open return is £85.50 about 3 times the cost of driving down in my car

Natinal express coaches are quoting £61.30 return
Which is no good coz for me to arrive at the airport at 10.40 the coach would leave Northampton bus station at 5.30
And the local buses from where I live to the town centre dont start till 6.00am which would mean getting a taxi

Any help please
Thanks

I see £60 return using London Midland trains and Southern.
That's an Anytime Return via Kensington Olympia.

E.g. leave Northampton at 07:38, change at Milton Keynes and Clapham Junction, arrive at Gatwick at 10:17.
Leave exactly an hour earlier if you want to be really safe.

For the return leg, leave Gatwick at 17:55 or 18:57 arriving back at Northampton about 2hrs 50mins later.
Same two changes required.

With that ticket you must use that route and cannot go via central London, which I see as a good thing... you don't have to drag luggage across the underground.

agrinnall

Presumably you've ruled out the driving option. I'd guess that if there were cheaper tickets available when you first posted many of them will have gone now you've left it so late.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5160245

batista230_2

wealdroam wrote: »

I see £60 return using London Midland trains and Southern.
That's an Anytime Return via Kensington Olympia.

E.g. leave Northampton at 07:38, change at Milton Keynes and Clapham Junction, arrive at Gatwick at 10:17.
Leave exactly an hour earlier if you want to be really safe.

For the return leg, leave Gatwick at 17:55 or 18:57 arriving back at Northampton about 2hrs 50mins later.
Same two changes required.

With that ticket you must use that route and cannot go via central London, which I see as a good thing... you don't have to drag luggage across the underground.

I have just had a look at the london midland site
http://tickets.londonmidland.com
and I see no mention of that time of train nor the price you mentioned
the price on there site is the same as virgin trians

wealdroam

batista230 wrote: »

I have just had a look at the london midland site
http://tickets.londonmidland.com
and I see no mention of that time of train nor the price you mentioned
the price on there site is the same as virgin trians

Then you must try harder.

I have never used the LondonMidland website.
I used Southern Trains website.

On the LM site, click on show other routes, then tick the box KEN OLYMPIA or Southern & London Midland only and you will see the trains I mention.

All the railway booking sites will show these tickets. I prefer Southern because of their cancellation/refund policy.

martindow

batista230 wrote: »

I have checked out the cost on virgin trains and an open return is £85.50 about 3 times the cost of driving down in my car

What would parking cost? You need to use the total cost to be able to compare the options.

batista230_2

well I cant find the 'show other routes' on the LM site
guess I'm just going to have to spend the 85 quid

WickedWolfie

batista230 wrote: »

well I cant find the 'show other routes' on the LM site
guess I'm just going to have to spend the 85 quid

Go on the LM site and put your journey requirements in. It should bring up a page with "Buy Rail Tickets" on the left hand side and then different fares, as buttons you need to click to the right of it.

Under the "Buy Rail Tickets" box is another which is labelled "Show me" - right at the bottom of that box, in VERY small font, is the "show other routes" tab....

wealdroam

As WickedWolfie says, enter your journey details and down the left hand side of the resulting screen you will see:





Click on show other routes and on the same place on the screen you will see:





Tick the box Southern & London Midland only and click Update.
You should now see the following screen (I have marked the trains I mentioned earlier):

dzug1

To make it clear, if it isn't already, you have to do a search and get the more expensive options on screen and THEN press the show other routes option

batista230_2

Well I can now see why it has not ben working for me!
I dont have the option of southen and London midland ony

London Midland site


southern trains site