Trainline Advance ticket help!

stormbreaker

Apologies in advance but I'm beginning to think I'm missing something.

I am looking to travel Edinburgh to London in September.

So more than 12 weeks away.

I can already purchase these from the trainline, not that cheap. I looked the other day and signed up for their alert for which I got 2 emails the following morning, a minute apart at 530am. Which I missed and they again were not so cheap.

What I can't understand is that I'm sure it is Virgin trains who run the service, but if I try and go through Virgin or Scotrail, tickets for September have not been released?

Further, we are considering getting the 'two together' railcard which does appear to be worth purchasing.

Any help and advice to get the best price would be much appreciated.

wealdroam

stormbreaker wrote: »

Apologies in advance but I'm beginning to think I'm missing something.

I am looking to travel Edinburgh to London in September.

So more than 12 weeks away.

I can already purchase these from the trainline, not that cheap. I looked the other day and signed up for their alert for which I got 2 emails the following morning, a minute apart at 530am. Which I missed and they again were not so cheap.

What I can't understand is that I'm sure it is Virgin trains who run the service, but if I try and go through Virgin or Scotrail, tickets for September have not been released?

Further, we are considering getting the 'two together' railcard which does appear to be worth purchasing.

Any help and advice to get the best price would be much appreciated.

Have a look for tickets for the same journey, but within twelve weeks of travel.

Are the September tickets you have found as cheap as that?
If not, wait a while.

dzug1

Remember that if the ticket type is not 'advance' then it's a walkon ticket that could be bought for the same price on the day.


It could be a couple of months before tickets become available for September - Virgin East Coast are showing 10 July as the latest available at the moment, though they do sell some tickets further ahead than that


http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/44703.aspx could be useful


You don't need to have purchased the two together railcard when you buy tickets online - but you must have it by the time you board the train.

daveyjp

London to Edinburgh tickets are available now for travel in September. A quick search on a random date gives a total cost of £33 for two with a Two together railcard on the 11am service.

I doubt you will beat this so you could buy the return now and wait until the Edinburgh London tickets are available which will probably be at 12 weeks out.

Browntoa

Why use train line ? You pay extra for the privilege , same tickets from ANY of the train companies are free to collect and no extra fee

yorkie2

stormbreaker wrote: »

I am looking to travel Edinburgh to London in September.

What date?

stormbreaker wrote: »

What I can't understand is that I'm sure it is Virgin trains who run the service, but if I try and go through Virgin or Scotrail, tickets for September have not been released?

Rather confusingly, the company called Virgin Trains does not operate the London King's Cross to Edinburgh route. Their sister company, Virgin Trains East Coast does. Bizarrely, the companies won't accept that this is confusing for customers.

I chose to look on a random date, 15 September, and found there are £25 fares available, and that's without a Railcard discount, which is very cheap for a journey of approximately 400 miles!

Thetrainline will charge you more, due to its fees.

daveyjp

The £25 will be the fare I found. 2 at £25 is £50 less third is more or less £33.

The_Groat_Counter

OP - research and book your tickets direct with the operator, Virgin Trains East Coast:
www.virgintrainseastcoast.com

As stated in other replies, despite sharing the brand name this is a different company and different operation from Virgin Trains on the West Coast mainline.

Virgin Trains East Coast now offers 24 week booking horizon "only available between our stations north of, and including York, to and from London". However it's worth noting they say "We can't promise we'll always be able to offer this extended booking period, but we can always let you know when the cheapest tickets do become available with our ticket alerts".

It's explained on their 24 week booking page. This extended booking horizon isn't something that any other train company offers, at least not yet.