Trains to Edinburgh 11 May 2019 at 8:50PM in Public transport & cycling 6 replies 1.2K views

EllenfromBrighton

I'm buying Advance tickets to Edinburgh for a small group of people, going up on Aug 3 and returning on Aug 11. It seems that the Advance tickets to Edinburgh on Aug 3 go on sale tomorrow, but I apparently can't get return tickets. Last year, someone else got the tickets and they cost about £50 each, but just the singles are on sale for that price. Is there a way to get Advance returns even though they're apparently not yet on sale?
To make matters difficult, I can't ring National Rail as I am currently on holiday in Turkey with a poor internet connection. They don't appear to have a live help service either.

daveyjp

Buy advanced singles for each leg as soon as they are released.

Hasbeen

EllenfromBrighton wrote: »

I'm buying Advance tickets to Edinburgh for a small group of people, going up on Aug 3 and returning on Aug 11. It seems that the Advance tickets to Edinburgh on Aug 3 go on sale tomorrow, but I apparently can't get return tickets. Last year, someone else got the tickets and they cost about £50 each, but just the singles are on sale for that price. Is there a way to get Advance returns even though they're apparently not yet on sale?
To make matters difficult, I can't ring National Rail as I am currently on holiday in Turkey with a poor internet connection. They don't appear to have a live help service either.

You do not get advance returns, only singles. Buy one there and one back.

agrinnall

The problem you face is that the tickets for the return journey probably won't be available for another week, so you just have to hope you can get one at an acceptable price. Given that your travel is on Saturdays at the most popular time of year you need to make sure you're poised ready to buy before they're all gone.

Voyager2002

agrinnall wrote: »

The problem you face is that the tickets for the return journey probably won't be available for another week, so you just have to hope you can get one at an acceptable price. Given that your travel is on Saturdays at the most popular time of year you need to make sure you're poised ready to buy before they're all gone.

Several of the websites allow you to sign up for alerts so that you know when tickets for a specific date go on sale.

surreysaver

Edinburgh in August? Good luck getting cheap tickets! Enjoy the Fringe. Last year it coincided with Euston being shut for engineering works, so was the only route open between London and Scotland. Don't forget you can upgrade to Weekend First if there aren't any standard class seats left.

Owain_Moneysaver

You either [1] buy the going-away singles now, and hope the coming-back singles aren't too expensive, or [2] wait until the coming-back singles have been released and hope the going-away singles haven't gone up too much.

If you are definately going, then [1] will be cheaper, but the total cost won't be known before you commit to buying the going-away tickets.

"Advance" tickets are only sold as singles.

Also worth checking the split ticketing websites as Advance quotas on different parts of the journey may be different. A route via Preston might get you onto Virgin instead of LNER which will have different quotas.