Tickets for later in May not available (yet?)

[Stargull]

I'm trying to travel from Bristol to Lancaster on Saturday 21st May - I'd planned a routing via Birmingham New Street, and Preston, leaving BRI at 15.35 and arriving at 19.20. Various ticket engines are showing that tickets aren't (yet?) available. I'm getting similar messages for a journey I want to do next day, which is Lancaster to Oxford. In both cases routes via Manchester Piccadilly which avoid Avanti West Coast are available.

Before I give up and take this longer route, is there likely to be any way of getting tickets for the former route? Will there likely be open singles released nearer the time, or have I missed my chance?

Thanks.

PS I should add that trainline at leat would sell me a 'Off-peak single' via 'any permitted' route for the Bristol to Lancaster journey, so I wonder if I could get that and then try for the faster route.

 

[Watershed]

I'm trying to travel from Bristol to Lancaster on Saturday 21st May - I'd planned a routing via Birmingham New Street, and Preston, leaving BRI at 15.35 and arriving at 19.20. Various ticket engines are showing that tickets aren't (yet?) available. I'm getting similar messages for a journey I want to do next day, which is Lancaster to Oxford. In both cases routes via Manchester Piccadilly which avoid Avanti West Coast are available.

Before I give up and take this longer route, is there likely to be any way of getting tickets for the former route? Will there likely be open singles released nearer the time, or have I missed my chance?

Thanks.

PS I should add that trainline at leat would sell me a 'Off-peak single' via 'any permitted' route for the Bristol to Lancaster journey, so I wonder if I could get that and then try for the faster route.

Walk-up tickets such as an Off-Peak Single or Return will always be available right up until departure - they cannot sell out.

Unfortunately, operators such as Avanti and XC continue to mark their trains as "reservations compulsory" in the timetable data, even though no such policy exists on the ground. The side effect of this is that if reservations haven't been released yet (e.g. because timetables aren't confirmed yet), or there are no more reservations left, booking methods that involve selecting an itinerary won't offer tickets on itineraries that involve their trains.

Ticket offices and ticket machines are generally able to sell tickets without an itinerary and so in the worst case scenario you would simply buy your ticket there, if you're unable to do so online.

National Rail Enquiries shows that Avanti reservations are closed for 21 May amongst other dates - it's unclear exactly why this is. But I suspect this is the issue you're coming up against.

Sites like TrainSplit will suggest alternative routes and (combinations of) tickets when issues such as this arise, so you may want to have a look on there to see what's available in terms of Advances on other operators. You may find it's quite a bit cheaper than buying a through ticket, albeit likely slower.

 

[Stargull]

Thank you - very clear. And very useful (especially that NRE link). But I've no idea how anyone normal is supposed to know any of this...

 

[Watershed]

Thank you - very clear. And very useful (especially that NRE link). But I've no idea how anyone normal is supposed to know any of this...

I guess that as far as Avanti, XC et al are concerned, they'd rather they drove. Or took the coach. Or just didn't travel at all.

It really is shocking how the industry is carelessly throwing away custom at a time like this. Unfortunately, this is far from the first thread or instance of it that I've seen.