Airport travel, London - Gatwick, Stansted - London

[Wolfie]

Guys thanks for your help with my recent trip London-Liverpool returning via Telford.

Another one for you if I may. I am going on holiday next month, for various reason flying out of Gatwick and into Stansted., and am North London based. Additional info that may help - I have an Annual Zones 1-2 Travelcard, my other half has a Freedom pass.

We are flying out of Gatwick at crack of dawn (0630!) on a weekday and returning early afternoon into Stansted also on a weekday.

The cheapest obvious fares I can see for the first leg are Boundary Zone 2 to Gatwick for me and London Bridge to Gatwick for my other half (as her Freedom pass will not be valid). London Bridge looks cheaper than Victoria.
Does anyone have any better ideas? Alternatively, is there anywhere past Gatwick that a ticket would be cheaper to where short travelling would be allowed?

On the return leg my initial though is that cahning onto the tube at tottenham Hale is my best bet. The best option I have come up with is a single Stansted to Boundary Zone 6 for my other half and a single Stansted to Tottenham Hale for me, both with the Gold Card discount, and use of Oyster PAYG to cover Zone 3-2. Would it be cheaper to buy a ticket Stansted to Boundary Zone 2 for myself - if so how is this done? Are there any stations further out than Stansted Airport from which tickets are cheaper and if so is late boarding acceptable?

You can see that I have been reading threads on here and have possibly got myself far too confused

Ta in advance.

 

[paul1609]

Hi Wolfie,
The fares on the Brighton line are so competitive that to give the best advice you would need to specify the exact train you want to catch. (there are single advances from Victoria from £3.75 which would be cheaper than any travelcard combination).
I'd suggest Southerns own website for further research:
http://www.southernrailway.com/

 

[hairyhandedfool]

When travelling into London the ticket would always be issued to a station rather than a boundary zone. Because the freedom pass is not a season ticket the train would also have to stop where the tickets change over.

The only way round this would be to have pre-bought a return ticket FROM London for that day which might work out cheaper.

 

[mickey]

Are there any stations further out than Stansted Airport from which tickets are cheaper and if so is late boarding acceptable?

Audley End.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi Wolfie,
The fares on the Brighton line are so competitive that to give the best advice you would need to specify the exact train you want to catch. (there are single advances from Victoria from £3.75 which would be cheaper than any travelcard combination).
I'd suggest Southerns own website for further research:
http://www.southernrailway.com/

Paul

Thanks for the excellent advice - tickets for my journey are not yet on sale but I have seen tickets at £3.75 at the right time. Any idea how long up front these go on offer?

HHF

Thank you.

An interesting comment - I am not questioning your expertise at all but am confused. My other half's Freedom pass has alway been treated as a season ticket on Stansted Expess (except outside valid times for its use) by both onboard and ticket office staff.

Looking at your suggestion Enfield would appear to be the furthest out station I can use to probe ticket prices - is this correct?

Mickey

Is an Audley End to Zone 6 ticket valid on Stansted Express? What sort of saving is likely? Could this be combined with HHF's suggestion?

Once again ta.

 

[paul1609]

Paul

Thanks for the excellent advice - tickets for my journey are not yet on sale but I have seen tickets at £3.75 at the right time. Any idea how long up front these go on offer?
.

You can register to be advised of early release dates here:
http://www.southernrailway.com/tickets-and-fares/advance-tickets-availability/

 

[yorkie]

Paul

Thanks for the excellent advice - tickets for my journey are not yet on sale but I have seen tickets at £3.75 at the right time. Any idea how long up front these go on offer?

According to this Southern are accepting bookings until 3 December...

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/booking_horizons.html

... so either the trains you want are sold out, excluded, or their entry into the system is delayed.

Is an Audley End to Zone 6 ticket valid on Stansted Express? What sort of saving is likely? Could this be combined with HHF's suggestion?

Once again ta.

You can't get Audley End to Boundary Zone 6.

Boundary Zone 6 tickets are Travelcard extensions, and the price from BZ6 to AUD is £11.10 Anytime Day Single, £12.30 Super Off Peak Day Return, £13.50 Off Peak Day Return, £14.10 Anytime Day Return. The tickets are routed Any Permitted, so valid via Stansted Airport. If they wanted them to not be valid via Stansted they'd have to route them "Not Stansted Airport".

 

[Wolfie]

You can't get Audley End to Boundary Zone 6.

Boundary Zone 6 tickets are Travelcard extensions, and the price from BZ6 to AUD is £11.10 Anytime Day Single, £12.30 Super Off Peak Day Return, £13.50 Off Peak Day Return, £14.10 Anytime Day Return. The tickets are routed Any Permitted, so valid via Stansted Airport. If they wanted them to not be valid via Stansted they'd have to route them "Not Stansted Airport".

Ok, many thanks.

I may be wrong here, if so sorry. I believe that what you and others are saying is that when buying a ticket outside tickets from outside the London zones it has to be bought to a specific station. In order to do the price comparsions I need to know which station is the firts on einside the zones on that line.

Ta again.

 

[MikeWh]

The first station with the London Travelcard zones is Enfield Lock (Z6).

 

[button_boxer]

HHF

Thank you.

An interesting comment - I am not questioning your expertise at all but am confused. My other half's Freedom pass has alway been treated as a season ticket on Stansted Expess (except outside valid times for its use) by both onboard and ticket office staff.

There's a specific rule in the national rail conditions of carriage that deals with using a combination of tickets to cover a single journey. According to this rule, if you want to buy a ticket from A-B and another from B-C and use them for an A-C journey, the train must stop at B unless one of the tickets is a season ticket. HHF is pointing out that for the purposes of this rule a freedom pass isn't a season ticket, so the train would have to stop at the changeover station. With Stansted Express this means you'd have to buy a ticket to Tottenham Hale as that's the first stop inside the freedom pass area.

 

[Wolfie]

There's a specific rule in the national rail conditions of carriage that deals with using a combination of tickets to cover a single journey. According to this rule, if you want to buy a ticket from A-B and another from B-C and use them for an A-C journey, the train must stop at B unless one of the tickets is a season ticket. HHF is pointing out that for the purposes of this rule a freedom pass isn't a season ticket, so the train would have to stop at the changeover station. With Stansted Express this means you'd have to buy a ticket to Tottenham Hale as that's the first stop inside the freedom pass area.

button-boxer

I fully understand what was being said and why.

I was merely observing that at the ticket office at Stansted Airport station I have routinely been sold a ticket for my other half (with my Gold Card discount if the timing is right) from Stansted to the first station in Zone 6 and have never had any problems with the onboard ticket inspectors.....

Rtaher suggests either that I have been lucky or that I am not the only one who is confused