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Post by Gellico on Nov 9, 2019 0:16:25 GMT
Face value train tickets are very much that in this country, there are many many cheaper ways to do the exact same journey for a fraction of the cost commonly involving split ticketing across old BR boundaries etc. Reading - Birmingham is a well know example. A return between these 2 points is over £10 more than just buying a return from Reading - Banbury then Banbury - Birmingham which means you stay on the exact same train and have no difference in journey at all. Euston to LLandudno is another where a simple split at Crewe saves a considerable amount. Also keep an eye out for advances that overshoot your needed station, you can get a Worcester - Paddington cheaper than Reading to Paddington more often than not, no one will ever know if you decide to bail early... Any other observations please share below
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Post by ThinLizzy on Nov 11, 2019 20:28:04 GMT
Join TfL as an employee and marry someone who works for a TOC. Free travel on all TfL modes, some rail in London and 75% off all tickets on National Rail 👍
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Post by kmkcheng on Nov 19, 2019 12:33:06 GMT
Travelling from London Euston to Northampton on London Northwestern, it’s cheaper to buy a ticket to Rugby and get off early at Northampton.
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Post by YY13VKP on Apr 8, 2020 15:37:21 GMT
Only just stumbled across this thread, but a ticketing hack I've found is with cheap advance tickets. I usually book my tickets to and from uni at least three weeks in advance of travelling, and therefore manage to travel from London to Leeds and back for £19 each way which really isn't bad when its in the region of £100 for an anytime return! On numerous occasions, I have also managed to get a cheap first class ride between Leeds and London, or Manchester and London for under £40 which is an absolute bargain. I've also managed to get between Huddersfield and Newcastle in first class for £18. There was one time where I found first class between London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly was only £3 more expensive than standard so I took it, although I was travelling on a weekend I did get to enjoy one of Virgin Trains's weekend sandwich boxes.
If you're looking to travel first class though, my advice would be to avoid travelling on a Friday where prices are significantly higher than any other weekday. You also get to take advantage of the full meal service that the likes of LNER, Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway and I think GWR still offer. You do have to be careful when booking an advance ticket though. Miss the train you're booked on and you will be forced to buy a new ticket. Because of this I usually ensure that I make it to the train's departure point at least 30 minutes before the train departs. This can be avoided however if you can prove that the reason why you missed the train was because you were delayed on a previous journey with another train operator. It must also be worth noting that advance tickets are generally non-refundable
Another piece of advice to save money is that if you're travelling on a long distance journey, split the ticket, so for example if I was travelling from Croydon to Huddersfield, I would use Oyster up to St Pancras, then purchase an advance single if available between Kings Cross and Leeds. You would then continue on to Huddersfield with an off peak ticket which costs £4. A railcard does help significantly though.
Some operators do offer a major ticket sale, one such example being TransPennine Express, who frequently run a flash sale where they sell a limited number of advance tickets for £1! (yes, that's right!). Although as so many people are trying to book one the website is extremely troublesome at getting bookings processed. With great difficulty me and two friends managed to book tickets to Edinburgh for £1 recently, unfortunately we never made it thanks to the government advising against all non essential travel, and I was unable to get a refund.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Apr 25, 2020 13:03:41 GMT
Only just stumbled across this thread, but a ticketing hack I've found is with cheap advance tickets. I usually book my tickets to and from uni at least three weeks in advance of travelling, and therefore manage to travel from London to Leeds and back for £19 each way which really isn't bad when its in the region of £100 for an anytime return! On numerous occasions, I have also managed to get a cheap first class ride between Leeds and London, or Manchester and London for under £40 which is an absolute bargain. I've also managed to get between Huddersfield and Newcastle in first class for £18. There was one time where I found first class between London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly was only £3 more expensive than standard so I took it, although I was travelling on a weekend I did get to enjoy one of Virgin Trains's weekend sandwich boxes. If you're looking to travel first class though, my advice would be to avoid travelling on a Friday where prices are significantly higher than any other weekday. You also get to take advantage of the full meal service that the likes of LNER, Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway and I think GWR still offer. You do have to be careful when booking an advance ticket though. Miss the train you're booked on and you will be forced to buy a new ticket. Because of this I usually ensure that I make it to the train's departure point at least 30 minutes before the train departs. This can be avoided however if you can prove that the reason why you missed the train was because you were delayed on a previous journey with another train operator. It must also be worth noting that advance tickets are generally non-refundable Another piece of advice to save money is that if you're travelling on a long distance journey, split the ticket, so for example if I was travelling from Croydon to Huddersfield, I would use Oyster up to St Pancras, then purchase an advance single if available between Kings Cross and Leeds. You would then continue on to Huddersfield with an off peak ticket which costs £4. A railcard does help significantly though. Some operators do offer a major ticket sale, one such example being TransPennine Express, who frequently run a flash sale where they sell a limited number of advance tickets for £1! (yes, that's right!). Although as so many people are trying to book one the website is extremely troublesome at getting bookings processed. With great difficulty me and two friends managed to book tickets to Edinburgh for £1 recently, unfortunately we never made it thanks to the government advising against all non essential travel, and I was unable to get a refund. Not only is it worth splitting a ticket when 1 leg has Advance fares, but also when 1 leg has a ticket local to 1 operator. For example, when I went from Stockport to Derby in January, I got an Avanti-only return from Stockport to Stoke and a direct (via Uttoxeter) ticket from Stoke to Derby. It meant sacrificing the Sheffield routing and Cross Country between Stockport and Stoke, but saved me £10 in the process.
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