Find the cheapest train ticket for ANY date (not having to search every available date) 11 October 2021 at 7:55PM in Public transport & cycling 4 replies 152 views

Account

Hi there,

Good advice on MSE for cheap train tickets but one thing that baffles me.... when searching for a train ticket, why do you have to search for a specific date?

I could go and visit family on any day.
I could go sightseeing on any day
I could go on a shopping trip on any day

I just want to find the cheapest day to travel.

Basically, every app MUST be able to provide details of the fares for every available journey over a given time period (which I believe is the next 12 weeks)

So....

A simple piece of genius would be able to search for the cheapest ticket without having to manually change the date 84 times. Just how you would simply sort the price column from low to high if this data was on a spreadsheet.

Can any train ticket apps or booking sites do this?

I am on the verge of sending an email and copying them all in so that one of them will use a bit of common sense here!

JGB1955

The price of train tickets is dynamic so no app would be able to keep up with something like "only 20 advance tickets available on the Plymouth to Nottingham train at 12:30 on 1st November '. 

If you want to pay full fare you'll find they are consistent(ly high).

Account

Train tickets are indeed dynamic, however it takes a computer a few spilt seconds to search for them.

So, the idea is.... give me the prices of these dynamic train tickets at this immediate moment and I will take my pick.

Otherwise I will simply have to search 84 different dates and then take my pick.

Account

Ps it just took me less than 5 minutes to manually compile a spreadsheet for the next 7 days' tickets from London to Birmingham and sort the price column from low to high. And all of the prices are still valid.... does anybody get the gist of this....?

martindow

Eurostar let you do this.  Here's an example