Rail Fares - When To Book

GILL635

Hi All

Im hoping for some advice. 

I need to book train tickets from up north to London return for May. Tickets have been out for a few days, but even with the railcards, seem expensive. 

Do train prices go down at all, or are they likely to stay as they are or go up? If it makes a difference, it’s for Thursday to Sunday. 

I’ve tried all the usual googles, fare splitter websites and anything else I can think of!

Thanks in Advance

G

daveyjp

What is the journey, as 'up north' means nothing'?   There are two Bank Holidays in May which can affect tciket availability.

Cheapest tickets are Advance fares.  These are limited in availability.  Once sold you need to look at off peak, super off peak, anytime singles and returns, these are always available with prices increasing with flexibility.

400ixl

Also look at split ticketing to see if breaking the journey up makes it cheaper.

Emmia

What are you seeing as "expensive"? where are you travelling from? 

Are you able/willing to travel very early or late? Are you willing to change, or do you want "direct"

Typically cheapest tickets can come out 12 weeks ahead of travel, but if you're looking at a bank holiday weekend then there will be serious demand on the cheapest tickets - and prices may not go down as much.

GILL635

Thanks everyone. For clarification we are coming from Cheshire, so not way up North on the 15th to 17th May. 

We don’t really mind the times (although it would be nice to have a bit of time there rather than arrive super late and leave super early). 

Have checked fare splitter tickets, but there is no reduction on fares. Cheapest I’ve found so far is around £75 each 

martindow

I had a quick look using Chester to Euston for your dates on this site, which is good at calculating splits

https://tickets-beta.railforums.co.uk/

Using the 10.32 on 15th and 16.43 on 17th it came to £82.90 for two people using a Two Together card, which would be worth buying for this journey alone.  Or maybe you already have railcards?

Have a play using your actual station to see what is on offer.  There is unlikely to be any benefit waiting if you get a reasonable fare now.

Emmia

Crewe to Euston can be done with a two together card for £102.60 for two people, using Avanti West Coast on fixed time singles, on your travel dates. 

8.54 > 10.35 Crewe to Euston 

16.46 > 18.56 Euston to Crewe

alanrowell

The Scotrail website offers split ticketing but even without it, I see a fare of £34.50 on the 7:32am from Chester and £37.50 on the 19:00 from Euston, both are direct

GILL635

Thanks so much everyone, off to have another look now 

MSE_James

Crewe to Euston can be done very cheaply on the direct (but slow) London Northwestern trains

Railcard-discounted Super Off Peak Return is 29.10 and the slightly more flexible Off Peak Return is 36.65

No need to book in advance for those prices and they can't sell out. 

You may have to play around with via points to get those tickets to show up in journey planners, as they typically prioritise the fastest journeys (which are on the more expensive Avanti trains)