LNER advance tickets

[tel]

Hi all, I am travelling from Peterborough to Berwick-upon-Tweed on Monday 9th June.

I am trying to book on LNER with a senior railcard for the 0748, but I'm finding the tickets are £50.

I've looked at other Mondays just to check, even trying to split the tickets at York and/or Newcastle. I'm pretty sure that LNER advance tickets Peterborough to Edinburgh, I used to be able to get for about £25-30.

I'm just wondering have the fares really gone up that much, or is this something to do with LNER? Just curious.

Tel

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Quite possible that LNER have simply removed the quota of the cheapest tier(s) of advance singles for this particular service. They are not really under any obligation to have to offer them.

 

[Benjwri]

Monday especially is an expensive day on LNER. You can still find singles in the £30ish range Peterborough to Edinburgh, especially at less busy times on weekends.

 

[Silver Cobra]

Hi all, i am travelling from Peterbro to Berwick upon Tweed on Monday 9th June, and trying to book on LNER with a senior railcard for the 0748 I'm finding the tickets are £50. I've looked at other Mondays just to ckeck, even trying to split the tickets at York and/or Newcastle. I'm pretty sure that LNER advance tickets Peterbro to Edinburgh i used to be able to get for about £25-30. I'm just wondering have the fares really gone up that much or is this something to do with LNER? Just curious.

Tel

I also remember there being good availability for cheaper advances on the 0748 from Peterborough to Berwick/Edinburgh, but that seemed to change around 2-3 years ago. I can only assume that LNER found they could charge more for this service and most people would still pay for it. From my recent experience the more affordable advances from Peterborough to stations from Newcastle northwards only seem to appear from the 1018 departure onwards.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Can see a £20.75 fare (after Senior Railcard discount applied) on the 07:49 from Peterborough to Edinburgh on 07JUN2025, but that's a Saturday. And on 14JUN2025, a £18.80 fare is possible.

Mondays and Fridays now seem to be the most expensive day to travel with LNER if using advances on this particular 07:49 train.

 

[tel]

Thanks for all the replies. I shall just have to pay the price.

Tel

 

[yorkie]

Hi all, I am travelling from Peterborough to Berwick-upon-Tweed on Monday 9th June.

I am trying to book on LNER with a senior railcard for the 0748, but I'm finding the tickets are £50.

I've looked at other Mondays just to check, even trying to split the tickets at York and/or Newcastle. I'm pretty sure that LNER advance tickets Peterborough to Edinburgh, I used to be able to get for about £25-30.

I'm just wondering have the fares really gone up that much, or is this something to do with LNER? Just curious.

Tel

Firstly, LNER have been putting up prices lately; their recent fares "reforms" are very much part of an overall drive to increase the average cost that passengers pay.

Secondly, there is no need to manually look at splitting at York, Newcastle, etc; our forum ticketing site will do this automatically. The cost for your journey by booking with us will either be the same price that LNER charge, or it may be cheaper. It won't cost more. We also offer a seat selector.

So yes, sadly you will just have to pay the higher prices, but please do consider booking through us.

LNER do not want people to book through our site, as we may find a cheaper price; LNER don't particularly value your custom, wheras we do

 

[tel]

Firstly, LNER have been putting up prices lately; their recent fares "reforms" are very much part of an overall drive to increase the average cost that passengers pay.

Secondly, there is no need to manually look at splitting at York, Newcastle, etc; our forum ticketing site will do this automatically. The cost for your journey by booking with us will either be the same price that LNER charge, or it may be cheaper. It won't cost more. We also offer a seat selector.

So yes, sadly you will just have to pay the higher prices, but please do consider booking through us.

LNER do not want people to book through our site, as we may find a cheaper price; LNER don't particularly value your custom, wheras we do

Ok thanks, noted for next time

 

[Willie Bee]

LNER don't particularly value your custom, wheras we do

I've booked several tickets using the forum's site

One thing I like on your site, is the ability to add extra time at a changeover station, such as when we travel Glasgow to Edinburgh, then Edinburgh down to Newcastle. Lets us (my wife and I) take our time and maybe have a coffee in the first class lounge at Waverley

 

[DesDobramento]

Travelling - not for the first time recently - to deal with an urgent family emergency, I turned up at Dundee Station yesterday (a Scotrail station) and asked for the cheapest single for immediate travel for an imminent through LNER service to the south. To my surprise, I was sold an Advance Single, saving me at least £20!

I thought Advance tickets were removed from sale the previous evening and not available 'over the counter' for immediate purchase?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Travelling - not for the first time recently - to deal with an urgent family emergency, I turned up at Dundee Station yesterday (a Scotrail station) and asked for the cheapest single for immediate travel for an imminent through LNER service to the south. To my surprise, I was sold an Advance Single, saving me at least £20!

I thought Advance tickets were removed from sale the previous evening and not available 'over the counter' for immediate purchase?

This has not been the case for a very long time for most if not all TOCs. LNER in particular are big fans of Advances so it is rare, aside from the high peak, for them not to be available. Northern similarly, their cut off is 15 minutes before departure.

 

[Deerfold]

Travelling - not for the first time recently - to deal with an urgent family emergency, I turned up at Dundee Station yesterday (a Scotrail station) and asked for the cheapest single for immediate travel for an imminent through LNER service to the south. To my surprise, I was sold an Advance Single, saving me at least £20!

I thought Advance tickets were removed from sale the previous evening and not available 'over the counter' for immediate purchase?

This varies by operator. Most now sell advances on the day, though some, like Northern won't sell them from ticket offices.

 

[Bletchleyite]

This varies by operator. Most now sell advances on the day, though some, like Northern won't sell them from ticket offices.

This has changed and they do now. I believe it was felt to pose an accessibility issue not to do so as it discriminates against those who cannot use a TVM for reasons of their disability.

They have however changed from right up to departure to 15 minutes before, presumably due to issues with people buying them at the last minute, missing the train and getting PFed or threatened with prosecution for taking the next one.

The name Advance is now a misnomer to be honest. Though that does create an issue (which has been the subject of a few threads already I think) as to what you call them. In airline terms they are semi-flexible fares, but that confuses with the different way in which Off Peaks are semi-flexible. But a discussion on a suitable name would be for one of these existing threads.

 

[fandroid]

Travelling - not for the first time recently - to deal with an urgent family emergency, I turned up at Dundee Station yesterday (a Scotrail station) and asked for the cheapest single for immediate travel for an imminent through LNER service to the south. To my surprise, I was sold an Advance Single, saving me at least £20!

I thought Advance tickets were removed from sale the previous evening and not available 'over the counter' for immediate purchase?

As explained by others regarding LNER and Northern, Advance no longer means a ticket that can only be bought "in advance" when compared with any other ticket type. Just another example of the railways garbling the English language and bewildering passengers with ever increasing complexity of purchase of rail tickets here.

 

[Deerfold]

This has changed and they do now. I believe it was felt to pose an accessibility issue not to do so as it discriminates against those who cannot use a TVM for reasons of their disability.

They have however changed from right up to departure to 15 minutes before, presumably due to issues with people buying them at the last minute, missing the train and getting PFed or threatened with prosecution for taking the next one.

That's not what they say on their website, though when buying last minute tickets I usually do it on my phone whilst on the bus towards the station, so I can't confirm.

Save on the Day

Northern | Buy Cheap Train Tickets and Check Train Times

www.northernrailway.co.uk

Advance Purchase tickets are released 12 weeks before travel, and are available for sale until 15 minutes before the train departs on the Northern train tickets & times app and our website. Advance Tickets are available up to the day before in ticket offices. The earlier you buy, the lower the price!

 

[Bletchleyite]

That's not what they say on their website, though when buying last minute tickets I usually do it on my phone whilst on the bus towards the station, so I can't confirm.

Save on the Day

Northern | Buy Cheap Train Tickets and Check Train Times

www.northernrailway.co.uk

There was a discussion on here about it and I'm certain that the change from right up to departure to 15 minutes before coincided with them going back on sale at booking offices with the same deadline. Unless they've changed it again, but I do believe that would be challengeable as discrimination.

 

[Wallsendmag]

APOD (Advance Purchase on the Day )has been around for 7-8 years on LNER/VTEC. They only cut off online 5 minutes before departure Travel Centres can sell them after departure time if the service is running late

 

[Starmill]

There was a discussion on here about it and I'm certain that the change from right up to departure to 15 minutes before coincided with them going back on sale at booking offices with the same deadline. Unless they've changed it again, but I do believe that would be challengeable as discrimination.

I believe this is accurate; ticket offices can see the same availability as online for Northern advance tickets, including sales on the day. @janb will know for certain.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jun 2025 ==

I also remember there being good availability for cheaper advances on the 0748 from Peterborough to Berwick/Edinburgh, but that seemed to change around 2-3 years ago. I can only assume that LNER found they could charge more for this service and most people would still pay for it. From my recent experience the more affordable advances from Peterborough to stations from Newcastle northwards only seem to appear from the 1018 departure onwards.

One of the problems is that LNER often want to preserve the price difference between tickets from Peterborough and tickets from London so it's not more than the same train costs on London to Peterborough. Their own app used to sell the sum of the cheaper prices onto one Advance ticket when this happened. I don't know if it still does that, but I do know that when it falls out this way, Trainsplit and Trainline almost always issues two tickets with a split at Peterborough anyway, so it's a pretty mainstream game. This effect is far more pronounced in the evening than the morning as there are more people going to Peterborough then.

 

[yorkie]

.... Their own app used to sell the sum of the cheaper prices onto one Advance ticket when this happened. I don't know if it still does that, but I do know that when it falls out this way, Trainsplit and Trainline almost always issues two tickets with a split at Peterborough anyway, so it's a pretty mainstream game...

LNER no longer do such combinations, as it undermines their fares trial; they now refer to selling anything other than the through fare "distorting the market" (!) and issued a sternly worded memo to ticket office staff, warning them not to do it.

 

[Wallsendmag]

LNER no longer do such combinations, as it undermines their fares trial; they now refer to selling anything other than the through fare "distorting the market" (!) and issued a sternly worded memo to ticket office staff, warning them not to do it.

Really haven’t seen that. Must talk to pricing when I get back

 

[janb]

I believe this is accurate; ticket offices can see the same availability as online for Northern advance tickets, including sales on the day. @janb will know for certain.

Yes correct.

 

[Deerfold]

Yes correct.

Well, Northern are certainly putting people off buying that at ticket offices by telling them they can't.