East Coast First Class Leeds to London KX

[graham43404]

While sitting in a very rammed First Class on EMT from St Pancras to Leeds and thinking how cheap FC is with EMT if booked at the right time, £21 each in our case, it had me thinking of the price on EC and the £20 fare that you can in theory get between Leeds and London.

The questiong is, does it actually exist? I have been all over EC's site putting different times in on services I know will be very quiet and never once have I seen it even though surely it has to exist for them to include it in the price range.

 

[MikeWh]

Where is LKX? It doesn't exist as a valid code. If you mean Kings Cross then you need to use KGX. It is also helpful if you can use the full name first with the code in brackets so that people who are unsure of the codes can understand.

As to your query, have you tried putting in services where seats have just been released, ie about 12 weeks ahead. That is when really cheap fares are likely to be available.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I agree with MikeWh. I can add that the really cheap 'headline' price tickets sell out very quickly, often within the first hour or so of being released.

Unless you are able to commit to your journey that far in advance then you are unlikely to see many of those priced tickets still available.
The right sidebar of the EC bookings page tells you how for far into the future Advance tickets have been loaded into the system; they are usually, but not always, updated early on a Thursday.

Once the quota of tickets released at the cheapest have been sold for a given service, then the next tier quota of ticket prices appear on the booking system. And once they have all been sold, then the next tier quota appear, and so on. That's why you'll see more expensive tickets for the same service the closer you get to the date of travel.

 

[graham43404]

Where is LKX? It doesn't exist as a valid code. If you mean Kings Cross then you need to use KGX. It is also helpful if you can use the full name first with the code in brackets so that people who are unsure of the codes can understand.

As to your query, have you tried putting in services where seats have just been released, ie about 12 weeks ahead. That is when really cheap fares are likely to be available.

Apologies for taking ages to respond, the wifi on this train like the one this morning is awful.

I also made a huge blunder before with the price, if you check the price range for First Class from Leeds to London Kings Cross in first class it says from £20 to £157. It is the £20 fares I have never seen or anything near it. About £40 being the best so far even on a Thursday am when the seats are released.

Like I said before it must exist even if it is just one seat for the whole week

 

[yorkie]

The £20 will either refer to special promotional fares (I have had similar priced tickets from York to London/Edinburgh in First Class, but only on promotions), or it's simply looking at the cheapest Leeds to London 1st class fare (which happens to be on EMT).

Either way, there isn't a normal £20 1st advance on EC.

 

[theblackwatch]

I personally don't think EMT is particularly cheap in First Class, especially when you compare it with Midland Mainline's First Class AP fares a few years ago. I could quite often get a First Class ticket from Leeds to London (travelling on the 06.16, 07.34 or 08.28 ex Leeds) for around £12/13. Having just checked a random day in January, for which tickets went on sale last week, I find the cheapest fare is £41.

 

[rail-britain]

if you check the price range for First Class from Leeds to London Kings Cross in first class it says from £20 to £157. It is the £20 fares I have never seen or anything near it

I was wondering where you were seeing this, so went to London Midland and performed a basic search
Indeed, listed as £20 to £157
I too was unable to find any service applying the £20 fare
Can anyone else find it?

The cheapest I could find was £33
However, I noted this included walking from Kings Cross to St Pancras
I therefore suspect the £20 fare is travelling with EMT

edit :
Now found £25
Also with EMT, but includes 1 change at Sheffield
I suspect the lower fare is due to travelling on services without First Class (above is 1 hour)

edit :
bingo, found it
Sunday 14 January
06:34 Leeds to St Pancras
16:40 Leeds to St Pancras (change at Sheffield)

 

[yorkie]

I was wondering where you were seeing this, so went to London Midland and performed a basic search
Indeed, listed as £20 to £157
I too was unable to find any service applying the £20 fare
Can anyone else find it?

The cheapest I could find was £33
However, I noted this included walking from Kings Cross to St Pancras
I therefore suspect the £20 fare is travelling with EMT

It is with EMT, and yes I have found it.

Sat 14 Jan, loads of trains are still at £20 (tickets only recently having gone on sale), xx37 or xx05 from Leeds connecting into the xx47 or xx27 from Sheffield to St Pancras.

 

[John @ home]

I was wondering where you were seeing this, so went to London Midland and performed a basic search
Indeed, listed as £20 to £157
I too was unable to find any service applying the £20 fare
Can anyone else find it?

I think the WebTIS sites disply the cheapest and most expensive fares from the fares database between the origin and destination, irrespective of availability on any particular day.

It is with EMT, and yes I have found it.

Agreed.

Sat 14 Jan, loads of trains are still at £20 (tickets only recently having gone on sale), xx37 or xx05 from Leeds connecting into the xx47 or xx27 from Sheffield to St Pancras.

To see (almost) all these £20 fares, ask for Leeds to St Pancras via Barnsley. Some appear if you ask for Leeds to St Pancras via Sheffield (or a point further south on the Midland main line).

On the single remaining through train at 0634, First Class travel may be available even cheaper if you book today (31 October) and use one of EMT's special offers.

Finally, don't buy this £20 First Class Leeds - St Pancras fare on a WebTIS site such as East Coast or London Midland. It is available at £19 from East Midlands Trains.

 

[142094]

Sometimes I've booked tickets very early in the morning to get the best prices. Think the best so far was around £30 for 1st class from Inverness to King's Cross.