MoneySavingExpert.com Cheap Train Tickets Article Discussion

flynny_2

Hi, you may have covered this earlier. But I travelled first class to London, returning standard class for less than the return fare. £93 in total compared to £154. Being new to this site I could probably have done even better. The first class tickets seem to have been discounted at short notice, perhaps in response to lack of booking, the carriage was pretty empty, standard was packed as usual.

Livingthedream

flynny wrote: »

Hi, you may have covered this earlier. But I travelled first class to London, returning standard class for less than the return fare. £93 in total compared to £154. Being new to this site I could probably have done even better. The first class tickets seem to have been discounted at short notice, perhaps in response to lack of booking, the carriage was pretty empty, standard was packed as usual.

At least you made a saving, that what its all about and yes you could have made a bigger saving if you had found a standard class ticket. But sometimes if all the standard tickets are sold out and if 1st class is all thats left and its cheaper that a off peak return then well done :beer:

tommyjoeybirchie

bobmccluckie wrote: »

for a few days now I haven't been able to access the Virgin Manchester to London self print ticket site. It keeps telling me the site is too busy. Can anyone confirm that they get the same message and it isn't a computer/cookies thing. Much obliged thanks.

i can't get on either, rather frustrating as I want to check it before I book standard advance single anywhere else

bravobeastie

Hi, i was wondering what would be the cheapest way to get tickets for 3 adults and 2 children from Wolverhampton train station to as close to Harrods in London as possible on 10th December? (we're off to see Santa)

KeithP

Get a Family & Friends Railcard. With it you can all travel return to Euston for a total return price of £96.75. Ok, the rail card will cost you £24 but you will save nearly three times that... and it is valid for a whole year.
I'll leave someone else to comment on travel within London.

Livingthedream

bravobeastie wrote: »

Hi, i was wondering what would be the cheapest way to get tickets for 3 adults and 2 children from Wolverhampton train station to as close to Harrods in London as possible on 10th December? (we're off to see Santa)

As KeithP say's get a family and friends railcard but use this discount code to get it for £18 EXPERT18

As to your journey try this;
Wolverhampton to London Euston 10th 10:05 Advance single £24.85
London Euston to Wolverhampton 10th 19:10 Advance single £24.85

These are advance tickets so buy early as they do sell out

Total: £49.70 (+ Railcard but that can be used again for a year)

Knightsbridge is the Underground station for Harrods its on the Piccadilly line so its;
Euston to Kings cross Northern line
Kings cross to Knightbridge Piccadilly line
£1.50 Adult Single
£.050 Child Single

As pointed out by dzug1 below I did copy the wrong fare 4 the underground it should read;
Adult £4 single
Child £2 single
The £1.50 and £0.50 fares are if you have an Oyster card

RHB1965

If you are not doing a journey that is not straight forward but want flexiblity I always make sure I do the following. Make sure you plan your journey in that you go to the furthest point first. Break of journey is permitted on the outward leg of an off-peak return (formerly Saver-note name changes from 07/09/08) but you must complete the outward portion on day 1 !. The return portion is valid for one month and here you can have complete flexibility subject to the route shown on the ticket. If you are not sure what the permitted route is you can ask for a definition from most staffed railway booking offices which should carry a copy of The National Routeing Guide. The National Conditions of Carriage booklet mention it and you have every right to ask about your route. Experienced railway booking clerks should have no problem reading it. Do not be fobbed off! I recently did a journey from Cambridge to Edinburgh returning via Windermere and Nottingham and thought I would have to book singles. The experienced booking clerk I had good fortune te be served by sold me a return to Glasgow with singles from Edinburgh to Carstairs Junction and singles from Oxenholme to Windermere and vice versa. The return portion of the Glasgow ticket was valid automatically via the West Coast Main Line and then to Nottingham via Manchester. I then continued onto Cambridge from Nottingham via Leicester. I knew my dates for the single tickets(if I had not I could have bought them locally) but had flexibility going from Manchester via Nottingham to Cambridge. The whole journey cost around £115-not bad I think! A normal single from Cambridge to Edinburgh is almost £102. Even if I had been very well organised and booked the dates well in advance and stuck ridgidly to the Itinery, I probably wouldn't have saved that much!
The internet is very useful for point to point journeys but any journeys that require flexibility and might be considered off route-the personal human touch from an experienced railway booking clerk who really knows there stuff could save you a fortune!

To all you fellow railway passengers, good luck in saving money!

Livingthedream

RHB1965 I understand what your saying, and yes flexibility is nice but people who come to this website are trying their best to get a train journey they can afford. £115 Cambridge to Edinburgh per person, Ouch, however £31.40 return per person is easily much more acceptable.

dzug1

Livingthedream wrote: »

Euston to Kings cross Northern line
Kings cross to Knightbridge Piccadilly line
£1.50 Adult Single
£.050 Child Single

eerm no - £4 adult single £2 child single. A one day travelcard would be better

You are I think quoting Oyster prices which is a bit of a faff for a day trip

rcgras

hi

anyone can travel for cheap if they have registered and have a WAP enabled phone.

a sub-service of virgin trains allows you to buy tickets usually for within the next 2 weeks (a couple of days in advance is usually needed aswel) for anything between £3 and up.

This is for service specifically between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston. I find this service particually useful as a student in london from manchester.

Once registered all you have to do is follow instructions on how to register mobile phone.

This service does state it is beta and possibly only around a little while. But for now its very useful, have a look
http://www.mobitix.thetrainline.com/vt/

the site often comes back to say 'busy' and quite possibly it is, but keep trying as it will load if you give it a few minutes/hours

love rob