Not something I regularly purchase, but I know a lot on here will do. How do I go about getting cheaper ones? 12 weeks today, we're off to Edinburgh (from Sheffield), Thursday to Sunday. I've been checking train prices, they came down slightly at the weekend, but they're still about £230 for 2 of us. Am I naive in thinking I'll get them cheaper than that? Or will they come down again on Sunday when it's 12 weeks until the return journey? Thanks in advance.
You're best looking on the LNER.co.uk website, and setting your departure station as either Doncaster or York. The 11.10 Doncaster - Edinburgh service is currently £25.20 for a single. Looks like the Sunday fares aren't scheduled yet though. The earliest Sunday available is 24 October, with prices around £32.60, or £19.20 if you travel after 7pm. When I used to travel to Inverness there was always one service a day that was dirt cheap compared to the others, though that was a few years ago now.
LNER have a sale announced next week - I think its on the 1st, so you might get a bargain that way if you are lucky (check the dates though!) Other than that, Trainpal will work out how to split the tickets for the best fares - sometimes its cheaper to book Doncaster->Newcastle and Newcastle->Edinburgh on the same train than it is to book Doncaster->Edinburgh. Check the times of departure too. Outside peak hours is cheaper than "rush hour" - 9:30 - 14:00 and after 19:00 usually...
I once went to Coventry breaking my journey up. Got there and back for £38 we lost 5-0. Most expensive leg was the £12 between Wakefield Westgate and Sheffield because there isn't a Mainline station in between and you pay to cross the border.
Trainline tend to split your journey up for you now if that works out cheaper, making some of the journey splitting websites redundant. Fares are only released x amount of weeks in advance so it isn't always a case of the earlier the better. I think it might be six weeks but someone could correct me on that? If I'm right then you're best looking out for a sale (as someone has mentioned) or setting a reminder for day one of the fares being released. If you're flexible you can get some great train deals.
I used to use train line regular and found it was around 4 weeks (but might have been 6), it was cheaper. Obviously big savings if you can go off peak. I used to go to London and could go for around £19 e/w as opposed to sometimes £80 on peak.
It's mad isn't it. I once went to Dublin, and the cost of parking the car at Leeds Bradford Airport, was 3 times the price of the return plane ticket.
I need to go to London with work next week (erm, woo hoo or something!), and just looking at tickets on the LNER site. Doncaster->London is £40 leaving on the 8:31. The cheapest Swinton->London ticket is £59 (and gets there an hour later)!! I am really, really sure it doesn't normally cost £19 to travel from Swinton to Doncaster! I can also apparently (TheTrainline) get home 1st class with Grand Central for £62 on the 19:32 to Doncaster, which is cheaper than any standard fare, but I'm not allowed to travel first class... I hate booking train tickets.
look at a two together railcard, £27 for a year (with code), it can cover the cost in just 1 long journey
