Cheap Train Fares (not)

[G3CWI]

Northern Trains for most of the journey? Northern don't offer any cheap advance tickets

But they are listed here:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/44703.aspx

...which sort of suggested that they might.

 

[Archie_tect]

Only ever used East Coast ticket website so no experience of train line or red spotted hanky or whatever the others are called.

 

[nickyboy]

Only ever used East Coast ticket website so no experience of train line or red spotted hanky or whatever the others are called.

I travel Manchester - London reasonably frequently and have never seen any price difference between Virgin Trains' own website and The Trainline website. They both access the same realtime database it seems.

Regarding the subject of cheap tickets generally, Manchester - London only have cheap tickets at weird times of the day. Off-peak is about £78 return, similar for the cheaper Advance tickets. They seem to have their pricing model a bit wrong however; usually I go on a train that gets into London at around 11.30, this is Off peak and is usually packed. I had to go last week on a train that got into London at 10.00 and the cheapest one way Advanced was £160. It was barely 20% full.

I wonder if I wait until the very last minute on Manchester - London would there be great deals? Never done this so any info would be appreciated

 

[Archie_tect]

I suspect last minute journeys would be the most expensive tickets to buy because by then you have no alternative so they can charge what they like... hope I'm wrong!

 

[vernon]

But they are listed here:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/44703.aspx

...which sort of suggested that they might.

'Sort of suggested' is not the same as stating that they do.

Your issue is that you are unable to find discounted fares for the routes that you want to use. It has been pointed out to you that no all routes have discounted fares. No web site specifically promises to deliver discounted fares to all routes. I've taken the time look deeper into the matter and have found this:

Advance fares are Single (one-way) tickets offering great value for money on many longer distance journeys.You must book in advance and fares are sold in limited numbers and so subject to availability. In general, the further ahead you book, the cheaper the Advance fare will be. You can mix and match Advance fares for a return journey.

What are Off-Peak tickets?
Off-Peak fares are cheaper tickets for travelling on trains that are less busy.

Offering good value for money, these tickets may require you to travel at specific times of day, days of the week or on a specific route. Where there is more than one Off-Peak fare for a journey, the cheaper fare with more restrictions will be called Super Off-Peak.

You can buy Off-Peak tickets any time before you travel. The travel restrictions for your Off-Peak ticket will depend on the journey you are making and will be advised when you buy your ticket.

When can I use an Off-Peak ticket?
The trains that you can catch and the times that you can travel with an Off-Peak ticket vary considerably depending on the journey being made, the day/date of travel and the train company that you are travelling with. Please use the Journey Planner to choose your desired time of travel and click ‘check ticket availability and prices’ to display the complete range of fares available for your journey.

Having already established that Northern Rail don't discount and, looking at your journey to Chester which involves two changes and three journeys each of them with a different Train Operating Company none of them qualifying as a longer journey, it's simply a matter of sucking it up and pay for the inconvenience of having to change trains twice for a sixty mile journey or jumping into your car and driving at an estimated cost of £31 using AA provided data - visit their web site and see what the true running costs of running a car are for yourself - I';m not doing all of your work for you.

At the end of the day it's your choice. And from now on it's an informed choice.

 

[G3CWI]

" looking at your journey to Chester which involves two changes and three journeys each of them with a different Train Operating Company"

Looking at the quality of your research I will go elsewhere for advice - thanks.

 

[vernon]

" looking at your journey to Chester which involves two changes and three journeys each of them with a different Train Operating Company"

Looking at the quality of your research I will go elsewhere for advice - thanks.

Feel free and may all your rail fares be discount free and that your petrol/diesel costs £8 per gallon.

 

[ColinJ]

I have to resurrect this thread to tell you about the crazy nonsense I just encountered when trying to book a ticket from Manchester Piccadilly to Coventry via Birmingham New Street ...

Manchester to Brum, change at Brum, Brum to Coventry = £16.00
Manchester to Brum ON THE SAME TRAIN = £17.60

WTF!!! Why do they refund £1.60 for catching an extra train?

 

[dellzeqq]

ha! Try this.

Call up Rail Europe. Ask for a price for two returns London to Rome. Much discussion about times and so on and so forth. Price.....£343 - bargain! Flash plastic.

Two days later tickets arrive. Price changed to £951. As in that's what's gone from my account.

Emoticons don't quite sum it up.

 

[StuAff]

ha! Try this.

Call up Rail Europe. Ask for a price for two returns London to Rome. Much discussion about times and so on and so forth. Price.....£343 - bargain! Flash plastic.

Two days later tickets arrive. Price changed to £951. As in that's what's gone from my account.

Emoticons don't quite sum it up.

Horrifiying.

 

[ColinJ]

ha! Try this.

Call up Rail Europe. Ask for a price for two returns London to Rome. Much discussion about times and so on and so forth. Price.....£343 - bargain! Flash plastic.

Two days later tickets arrive. Price changed to £951. As in that's what's gone from my account.

Emoticons don't quite sum it up.

How can they possibly get away with that!

What did they do - move you to First Class and book you Champagne for breakfast?

 

[dellzeqq]

no champagne, but we did get this....

 

[brand]

Transpennine and Aviva often have specials on. Instead of returns you buy two singles. Can be half price. If changing onto one of their trains break the journey where you change.
Went Grimsby Manchester (transpennine), Manchester Hereford (Aviva)and in reverse cost £52. £110 if I had booked Grimsby to Hereford return even though I am using the same trains. AND an extra 30% of because I'm disabled!! So actually £36 leaving me more money to spend on Cider.
You must book in advance and collect tickets from machine in train station or delivered free by 1st class post.

 

[neil_merseyside]

Try: www.brfares.com
You'll see all the possible fares on any chosen route, just scroll through the list of ticket types/operators to find best price, in my experience this will be in the 8-10 week window and not at 12 weeks when the tickets become available.
Respottedhanky are the same as any ticket service with perhaps one benefit in that tesco club card points can be used for a further discount.

 

[mjr]

I've had a quick skim and here's two more tips I don't think have been mentioned yet: www.traintimes.org.uk has a splitter that considers at least some multiple splits (just checked with KLN-MAN at peak which it suggested two splits - sure I've done 3 before though) and www.megatrain.com offers a few very cheap tickets on a few rail routes operated by Stagecoach (Virgin, EMT, SWT) which don't follow the main fares. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatrain is probably an easier listing than on the megatrain website but may be out-of-date sometimes - only good for folding/no bike travel because there's no way to book a bike ticket that way, as far as I know.