Special Offers Discussion

[Jamesrob637]

I've managed the following for a quid:

Woodsmoor-Manchester Pic
Manchester Vic-Leeds allowing nearly an hour to cross Manchester
Leeds-Carlisle
Carlisle-Leeds
Manchester Pic-Hazel Grove allowing just over an hour to cross Manchester from the ex-Leeds

and the below for 3 quid 50:
Leeds-Manchester Vic but it goes a slightly longer route via Mirfield then the Calder Valley rather than the Bradford line

8 pound 50 for around 350 miles/just over 500 kilometres, according to Railmiles engine. Bargain!

 

[A S Leib]

I've got TPE secret fare tickets from Carlisle to Edinburgh for £8 same-day return; there's only two TPE services between 07:00 and 11:59 (08:16 and 10:16) and only one southbound between 17:00 and 23:00 (18:11) so I think I can book advance tickets between Newcastle and Carlisle without massive risk (getting two for the northbound journey to account for either).

 

[ServerHoster]

What use is this sale if it is only available in one direction?
This is the same with Altrincham to Cuddington. Meanwhile millions of tickets available from Piccadilly to Cuddington.

I tweeted them about it and of course, got fobbed off with "not being available on all routes/services"

 

[aquae39]

While everyone focuses on the Northern one, GWR has also released their sale today

 

[northwichcat]

What use is this sale if it is only available in one direction?
This is the same with Altrincham to Cuddington. Meanwhile millions of tickets available from Piccadilly to Cuddington.

I tweeted them about it and of course, got fobbed off with "not being available on all routes/services"

You could do Stockport-Piccadilly-Cuddington on 1st Feb for £1.70 if you buy two tickets!

 

[A S Leib]

While everyone focuses on the Northern one, GWR has also released their sale today

Starting from £28 each way for Paddington–Swansea as far as I can tell. I'm assuming that railcards don't apply to the sale, as I can see non-sale advance tickets for the same journey at £21. Fares like £24 for Cardiff–Oxford in the evening under the sale aren't massively attractive either when a super off-peak single's £27 with a railcard.

 

[mikeb42]

Starting from £28 each way for Paddington–Swansea as far as I can tell. I'm assuming that railcards don't apply to the sale, as I can see non-sale advance tickets for the same journey at £21. Fares like £24 for Cardiff–Oxford in the evening under the sale aren't massively attractive either when a super off-peak single's £27 with a railcard.

It's as disappointing as usual, on the core GWML between Bristol/S Wales and London at least. Mostly relatively trivial discounts on advance fares which have sky high minima to start with.

Carmarthen->Swindon one way for £6 is a reasonable deal should you for some reason be one of the three people a month who wish to make that journey. Massive jump however to continue to Didcot at £25, Reading at (perversely?) £24 and Paddington at £28. Obviously there are alternatives.

The route to Worcester and Hereford seems to have some good deals to where people mostly actually want to go. Hereford->Paddington £9, Worcester->Paddington £8.

It's really not that many years since you could routinely get from Bristol->Paddington and back for £20 on advances, no sale required. Now the bargain "Sale" price comes with free 100% inflation in just a few years on top of that. Roughly the same rate of service reliability deflation as a free gift to go with it...

 

[Benjwri]

Carmarthen->Swindon one way for £6 is a reasonable deal should you for some reason be one of the three people a month who wish to make that journey. Massive jump however to continue to Didcot at £25, Reading at (perversely?) £24 and Paddington at £28. Obviously there are alternatives.

To be fair I would just use something like TrainSplit, Carmathen to Didcot at 13.95 through split ticketing.

 

[AlastairFraser]

This round of Northern sale tickets are OK, but they've removed the most valuable services (in comparison to the last sales).
I think this is partly due to overcrowding in the peaks last time, but it does significantly reduce options.

 

[A S Leib]

This round of Northern sale tickets are OK, but they've removed the most valuable services (in comparison to the last sales).
I think this is partly due to overcrowding in the peaks last time, but it does significantly reduce options.

And it looks like it's now gone up; Blackpool North – Leeds at 06:19 on Saturday 3rd February is showing as a January sale fare, but for £2 instead of £1.

Edit: that's just for some routes, as I found a Leeds–Hull return to fit with that for £2 total, so coast-to-coast for £6's doable.

 

[AlastairFraser]

And it looks like it's now gone up; Blackpool North – Leeds at 06:19 on Saturday 3rd February is showing as a January sale fare, but for £2 instead of £1.

Edit: that's just for some routes, as I found a Leeds–Hull return to fit with that for £2 total, so coast-to-coast for £6's doable.

It was like that last time, sale fares were staggered.

 

[supervalkoinen]

Northern don't seem to have realised that February has 29 days this year.

 

[Deerfold]

Northern don't seem to have realised that February has 29 days this year.

In what sense?

 

[supervalkoinen]

In what sense?

The current offer is open for journeys until March 1st but no tickets at all are available on their site for Feb 29.

 

[A S Leib]

Hull Trains is advertising advance Hull–London fares for £25 until 9 February; £17's the lowest normal HT advance fare shown in BR fares.

 

[10-Car-Fan]

Hull Trains is advertising advance Hull–London fares for £25 until 9 February; £17's the lowest normal HT advance fare shown in BR fares.

Looks like you can do a day trip to London on the last two Sundays in January for £50 Return, decent.

 

[supervalkoinen]

The current offer is open for journeys until March 1st but no tickets at all are available on their site for Feb 29.

Now appears to have been fixed.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Looks like you can do a day trip to London on the last two Sundays in January for £50 Return, decent.View attachment 149668

Not too bad for 400 miles return. I guess other days of the week you can split things in Doncaster: Northern Flash sale Hull to Doncaster for either £1 or £2 each way until March then cheap LNER, allowing a fairly generous wait time in Doncaster both ways.

 

[embers25]

Be careful with the GWR sale as it is selling tickets routed 'GWR only' for journeys including SWR sections and I'm certain SWR won't accept them without an argument. Particularly as at least one of the routings offered for sale includes SWR and is comically ridiculous (obviously not posting it here!) and any SWR and GWR guard would query the routing even with a valid itinerary.

 

[Benjwri]

Be careful with the GWR sale as it is selling tickets routed 'GWR only' for journeys including SWR sections and I'm certain SWR won't accept them without an argument. Particularly as at least one of the routings offered for sale includes SWR and is comically ridiculous (obviously not posting it here!) and any SWR and GWR guard would query the routing even with a valid itinerary.

They could query it but with a valid itinerary there is nothing they could do about it. In general I’ve found in these kinds of cases they’ll either have a laugh about it, or at worse lake a photo to report the ticket was sold, but obviously allow you to travel.

 

[embers25]

In general that's what I find, unless it's XC where the guards usually try to force you to buy a new ticket and you really have to hold your ground. However, to the untrained buyer, they may not even be aware of the incorrect routing as GWR offer it without putting anything in to 'encourage' it and so, unlike most 'errors', this one could easily be bought by anyone. Also, does anyone know why GWR sale tickets are purchasable from XC and Trainsplit but not LNER?

 

[Pete 1981]

LM Sale is on again

http://www.londonmidland.com/tickets-and-fares/half-price-rail-sale/?=

Travel between Saturday 9 April and Monday 2 May 2011 and you can save 50% on thousands of Off-Peak Day Return and Off-Peak Return tickets

peter

Strange, I clicked the link and it took me to Southern!

Strange, I clicked the link and it took me to Southern!

Apologies, didn't see the date on the OP.

 

[island]

They could query it but with a valid itinerary there is nothing they could do about it.

That may well be right in a strictly legal sense but on the ground, station and train staff might refuse people travel, charge new tickets, or even issue TIRs, creating a nuisance for the passenger to have to unravel later. So using these tickets this way is not without risk.

 

[Haywain]

train staff might ... even issue TIRs,

If a member of train staff believes a ticket has been incorrectly issued, I believe that issuing a ticket irregularity report would be the appropriate course of action to take, whilst also issuing the customer with an authority to continue their journey. The TIR does not automatically mean the customer is at fault.

 

[tago]

They seem To have removed all the cheapest GWR seat sale fares, or sold them all. I suspect the former.

 

[4COR]

For those working in education, if you are a member of the "Discounts for Teachers" site (not only "teachers" can join this site - the eligibility is slightly more broad esp. in Higher Ed.), Avanti have some offers on fixed fares. From the email:

"Available on Standard Class tickets on selected services across the network
Example fares: London to Manchester for £25 or Liverpool for £18 (one way)
Discount automatically applied & applicable discounted tickets marked as 'Offer'"

This may offer some significant discounts for those able to take advantage of this - searching for a random date in February allows me to book a £25 single fare (Euston -> Man Picc, arriving 08:25am) where the cheapest Advance tier is currently £144.

 

[Sealink]

There is still a banner on their app, which I've just downloaded, about it. However the terms say it's limited to 5000.

I got my 1000 points on 29th December

 

[800Travel]

I got my 5000 points on 29th December

Wasn't the offer for 1000 points?

 

[Sealink]

Wasn't the offer for 1000 points?

Er, yes.

 

[4COR]

They seem To have removed all the cheapest GWR seat sale fares, or sold them all. I suspect the former.

Slightly annoyed I missed the start of this, but did manage to get two Swindon - Cardiff returns today for £10 each for mid March (rugby 6 nations): out on Sat, back Sun. We have to go via Bristol TM, but a good saving even compared to the normal advances available (and a fraction of the walk ups!) so still good value tickets available.