Avanti West Coast -release of tickets

IM

Morning all,

Am looking to book a return ticket from Manchester to London for 23rd/24th April - which by my reckoning is now less that 12 weeks away, but they aren't yet showing on the Avanti West Coast website.

In fact, this image would suggest that although weekday tickets are available to book, there are no weekend tickets for any Saturday/Sunday in April.



To save me from staring at my screen, and hitting 'refresh' every two minutes, can anyone with experience suggest when tickets will actually go on sale?

martindow

Weekends are when engineering work takes place so until details are finalised with amended timetables they won't sell advance tickets.

You can set up alerts here for dates you would like to travel

https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/tickets-and-savings/ways-to-save/advance-ticket-alerts

IM

Thanks - have signed up.

I know that I need to be on the ball and get in as early as possible, to avoid having to take out a mortgage for a ticket.

United are due to play Arsenal that weekend, so demand will be high.

The_Unready

IM said:

Thanks - have signed up.

I know that I need to be on the ball and get in as early as possible, to avoid having to take out a mortgage for a ticket.

United are due to play Arsenal that weekend, so demand will be high.

Will it? I thought most of the United fans will be traveling from the Home Counties! 😄

daveyjp

Bang on 12 weeks can always be optimistic, sign up for alerts and check daily.

As regards this route.  Train timetables are still being messed around with due to Covid, possible engineering works, its Easter holiday period so demand may be higher and as you have noted there are events in London.

Don't forget there are other operators, especially Birmingham to London and split ticketing may work out cheaper.

IM

The_Unready said:

IM said:

Thanks - have signed up.

I know that I need to be on the ball and get in as early as possible, to avoid having to take out a mortgage for a ticket.

United are due to play Arsenal that weekend, so demand will be high.

Will it? I thought most of the United fans will be traveling from the Home Counties! 😄

Five minutes for the inevitable response...

That's a shame - I had had three minutes in the sweepstake.

Kite2010

If you don't mind travelling on a slower route, you can get cheaper flexible tickets routed "TfW & LNR" which will make you travel to Crewe on the Transport for Wales service for the Crewe - London semi-fast service [operated by London Northwestern].  £45 for an off-peak return or £35 for a Super Off-peak return [which does come with some time restrictions on Saturdays]

https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=MAN&dest=EUS&rte=371&tkt=SVR

Especially if there will be high demand from the kickball, some of the cheaper tickets might not get released for Avanti.

IM

Kite2010 said:

If you don't mind travelling on a slower route, you can get cheaper flexible tickets routed "TfW & LNR" which will make you travel to Crewe on the Transport for Wales service for the Crewe - London semi-fast service [operated by London Northwestern].  £45 for an off-peak return or £35 for a Super Off-peak return [which does come with some time restrictions on Saturdays]

https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=MAN&dest=EUS&rte=371&tkt=SVR

Especially if there will be high demand from the kickball, some of the cheaper tickets might not get released for Avanti.

Wow! That site blows my mind - definitely need to understand a lot about rail to make the most of it.

How would you actually go about booking those fares?

When I've looked at the National Rail site, they don't come up if you put Manchester-London as the journey. If I do separate searches for Manchester-Crewe then Crewe-London, it's showing £19 return + £45 return.

Still a lot cheaper (albeit for a longer journey time) but not the £45 total BR Fares is finding.

katejo

IM said:

Morning all,

Am looking to book a return ticket from Manchester to London for 23rd/24th April - which by my reckoning is now less that 12 weeks away, but they aren't yet showing on the Avanti West Coast website.

In fact, this image would suggest that although weekday tickets are available to book, there are no weekend tickets for any Saturday/Sunday in April.



To save me from staring at my screen, and hitting 'refresh' every two minutes, can anyone with experience suggest when tickets will actually go on sale?

I considered going on a mini break to Liverpool last summer but, when I looked at booking tickets, they were only being released approx a couple of weeks before. I think it was due to engineering works but I gave up on Liverpool. There were also many complaints against Avanti concerning seat bookings and other issues. 

The_Unready

IM said:

The_Unready said:

IM said:

Thanks - have signed up.

I know that I need to be on the ball and get in as early as possible, to avoid having to take out a mortgage for a ticket.

United are due to play Arsenal that weekend, so demand will be high.

Will it? I thought most of the United fans will be traveling from the Home Counties! 😄

Five minutes for the inevitable response...

That's a shame - I had had three minutes in the sweepstake.

Glad to see you're maintaining your sense of humour! The smiley face was the clue.

Kite2010

IM said:

Kite2010 said:

If you don't mind travelling on a slower route, you can get cheaper flexible tickets routed "TfW & LNR" which will make you travel to Crewe on the Transport for Wales service for the Crewe - London semi-fast service [operated by London Northwestern].  £45 for an off-peak return or £35 for a Super Off-peak return [which does come with some time restrictions on Saturdays]

https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=MAN&dest=EUS&rte=371&tkt=SVR

Especially if there will be high demand from the kickball, some of the cheaper tickets might not get released for Avanti.

Wow! That site blows my mind - definitely need to understand a lot about rail to make the most of it.

How would you actually go about booking those fares?

When I've looked at the National Rail site, they don't come up if you put Manchester-London as the journey. If I do separate searches for Manchester-Crewe then Crewe-London, it's showing £19 return + £45 return.

Still a lot cheaper (albeit for a longer journey time) but not the £45 total BR Fares is finding.

It's a bit of a pain to get the booking websites to offer the £45 fare due to that those trains are overtaken by Avanti [it's similar to the "West Midlands Railways Only" tickets for Liverpool from London]

I tend to use the Mixing Deck option on the GWR website (only because it also gives Nectar points, every little helps!)

https://tickets.gwr.com/gw/en/journeyplanning/mixingdeck [Use a desktop/laptop if possible]

You might need to enter "Via Atherstone" when you search, once it brings it up go to the left (Under "Show Me") to click "Show Slower Routes" and tick "Valid only on TfW Rail and West Midlands Railway services." and with any luck you will get something like the attached photo allowing you to book the tickets:

Although as they are flexible, it might be worth holding back booking until a couple days before (keep checking Avanti in case they release advance fares) or plans change.  It will still be £45 on the 22nd April.  The journey times are slower than using Avanti but the cost saving can be worth it. [although you do have a small risk of getting a pair of 3+2 seated units for the Crewe - London services]