Advance tickets Wolverhampton - Manchester

[Pumperkin]

Hi all,

I am trying to get some advance tickets for a return journey from Wolverhampton to Manchester on February 26th.

I have looked on Crosscountry however it only seems to be offering the standard return - however we are now under the 12 week mark so thought they should be available?

Does anyone know when these should be available and the likely cost of these if I am quick to book? Would be looking at standard class with no railcard.

 

[alistairlees]

Hi all,

I am trying to get some advance tickets for a return journey from Wolverhampton to Manchester on February 26th.

I have looked on Crosscountry however it only seems to be offering the standard return - however we are now under the 12 week mark so thought they should be available?

Does anyone know when these should be available and the likely cost of these if I am quick to book? Would be looking at standard class with no railcard.

Advance tickets have not - for most routes - been available for two years or so now. Network Rail are still only four to eight weeks ahead, generally - and this will vary by route and day of week. Best to look in January I would have thought.

 

[Watershed]

Hi all,

I am trying to get some advance tickets for a return journey from Wolverhampton to Manchester on February 26th.

I have looked on Crosscountry however it only seems to be offering the standard return - however we are now under the 12 week mark so thought they should be available?

Does anyone know when these should be available and the likely cost of these if I am quick to book? Would be looking at standard class with no railcard.

Timetables have been confirmed less than 12 weeks in advance for quite a few years now. It's now back to 8 weeks in advance for most TOCs but, for various reasons, there is no intention of returning to 12 weeks anytime soon.

XC Advances are currently released until 12 February for Saturdays, and if you look for tickets that day, they aren't releasing very cheap Advances. Hence it's barely cheaper than splitting at Stafford with flexible tickets (which costs £34).

There's no harm in setting up an alert with The Trainline to see when tickets do get released, but frankly I wouldn't be holding your breath. Also, when you do book, don't use Trainline as they charge booking fees which you wouldn't pay if you booked elsewhere.

 

[Haywain]

Advance tickets have not - for most routes - been available 12 weeks ahead for two years or so now.

A few words missing?

 

[Pumperkin]

Thanks all - think I will do a split ticket at Stafford in that case, to afford the flexibility on the return leg.

A secondary question if I may - is the first class weekend upgrade still available if I do a split ticket, and (more importantly I suppose), is it worth it at the moment?

 

[Class800]

What words? There is a not in the sentence before the interrupted clause

 

[Watershed]

Thanks all - think I will do a split ticket at Stafford in that case, to afford the flexibility on the return leg.

A secondary question if I may - is the first class weekend upgrade still available if I do a split ticket, and (more importantly I suppose), is it worth it at the moment?

Weekend upgrade is still available. Technically the Train Manager could charge you twice, once for each ticket, but I have never heard of this happening in practice. The cost has, however, gone up and it's now £10 each way between Wolverhampton and Manchester.

I'm not aware of XC cutting back their catering offer due to Omicron - although it's certainly reduced compared to pre-Covid. If you're in the right part of the train (there's usually only 1 First Class Host per double set) you can expect tea/coffee etc., plus light snacks (crisps, biscuits, cake). Very occasionally there is hot food available, but many of the options are often out of stock, or there's nothing loaded onto the train at all.

Whether that's worth it compared to standard is a judgment call for you to make... If a particular train was heavily overcrowded and I didn't have a reservation, I'd probably go for it.

 

[30907]

What words? There is a not in the sentence before the interrupted clause

The words that Haywain has added in bold. The original read as if Advance tickets were not available at all.

 

[alistairlees]

The words that Haywain has added in bold. The original read as if Advance tickets were not available at all.

Indeed!

 

[HughT]

Worth noting that, for more weeks than I care to remember, XC have been claiming that "an update to our internal reservation systems" is the reason that they're running a reduced advance booking window. How much longer can this "update" take, I wonder?

https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/coronavirus-timetable-updates#horizon-timetable

It's a headache for those of us in the Cambridge area trying to head north or west (ie via Peterborough).