GWR Advance ticket Rises £££

Matth84

Hi, so I travel once a week from Swindon to London by train, to keep the cost down I book 12 weeks in advance and off peak, the last ticket I purchased was for the 23rd May at £33.40 return. 

Looking today to book for the 6th June and I am utterly shocked to see the same journey is now going to cost me £68.30.

I know that prices were going up which and it has already gone from £32 early in the month. I can’t be the only person who has noticed/effected by a 50%+ increase? 

Does anyone have helpful advice on how to  try and get this back down or let me know if I have gone crazy and not booking correctly all of a sudden as this is going to cost me another £1800 annually for the same journey on top of all the other rises hitting us now.

thanks in advance!

MSE_James

6 June is the first working day after the Jubilee long weekend, so GWR may not have released cheaper tiers of ticket for that date (due to anticipated higher demand) or they may have sold out. 

martindow

I see you are leaving at 07.10 - that is going to be a popular train with few advance tickets available.  You mention travelling off peak and I imagine tickets on later trains could be considerably cheaper.

daveyjp

"Advance" is a ticket type, not a single price point.

Matth84

@MSE_James I checked this and seems all dates are the same there is nothing under £68 now, even for the following week of 13th June I can’t believe that all the advance tickets have been bought already or they have reduced the amount on offer 

Little_Gem

I've noticed this as well, I travel once a week from Salisbury to London and used to pay £31 for a return, it's now £43.50 and there are some random dates that I can't get it below £60 (it seems there are just no advance tickets available on some days?!). Have you found a reason or work around for yours?