Manchester to Newcastle

copernicium112 · 26 Jun 2017

If I try to book from Manchester to Newcastle, the cheapest tickets I can find are marked AP TPE AND CONNECT. Does this mean that I will be booked on specific train to York, and then a specific to Newcastle, or a booked train to York and then I can get any train to Newcastle?

RailUK Forums

MarlowDonkey · 26 Jun 2017

copernicium112 said:
Does this mean that I will be booked on specific train to York, and then a specific to Newcastle, or a booked train to York and then I can get any train to Newcastle?

I believe the rule is that if there are Advance tickets available on the train from York to Newcastle, then you will be offered one of these. You may have to split your tickets to get flexibility between York and Newcastle.

PermitToTravel · 26 Jun 2017

Pretty much. It's actually whether there are seat reservations available, rather than advance tickets; and every train from York to Newcastle has seat reservations available, so you'd only be able to get the booked train.

Olympian · 26 Jun 2017

MarlowDonkey said:
I believe the rule is that if there are Advance tickets available on the train from York to Newcastle, then you will be offered one of these. You may have to split your tickets to get flexibility between York and Newcastle.

Indeed, there's no point buying Advance tickets if you want flexibility. Between Manchester and Newcastle it's sometimes cheaper splitting advances at York even on a through TPE train but mostly when changing from TPE to XC or VTEC there.

Tetchytyke · 26 Jun 2017

copernicium112 said:
Does this mean that I will be booked on specific train to York, and then a specific to Newcastle

Yes, it will be a specific train all the way through, and it may or may not involve a change at York.

If you need flexibility, you will need a walk-up fare. It will almost certainly be worth your while splitting at York.

There are also TOC specific walk-up tickets available York-Newcastle that are currently extremely good value. These are not fully flexible: you are restricted to one TOC, but you can catch any of their services.

Splitting at York to one of these TOC-specific walk-up tickets may be cheaper than a through advance ticket: it is for me when I travel to Bradford.

30907 · 26 Jun 2017

Just to say that AND CONNECT(IONS ) simply means that part of the journey is (or may be) on a non-TPE service.

Increasingly these "connections", are on reservable trains, meaning you have to use a specific train, but this used to be the exception rather than the rule.
I imagine York-Newcastle was always a specific-train-only "connection" though.

yorkie · 28 Jun 2017

copernicium112 said:
If I try to book from Manchester to Newcastle, the cheapest tickets I can find are marked AP TPE AND CONNECT. Does this mean that I will be booked on specific train to York, and then a specific to Newcastle, or a booked train to York and then I can get any train to Newcastle?

What do you have in mind? It should be possible to get the exact itinerary you want.

ys123 · 28 Jun 2017

The normal off peak return is £74.90.
Whereas splitting at York and buying the York to Newcastle part as a TPE ONLY ticket (basically it means this combination is valid on any direct Manchester to Newcastle train) brings the price down to £46.60.
This may be cheaper than the advance tickets you were looking at...

Manchester to Newcastle

copernicium112

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MarlowDonkey

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PermitToTravel

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Olympian

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Tetchytyke

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30907

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yorkie

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ys123

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