As early as possible I think.
How does the 00:04 departure, arriving 01:26, sound then
In all seriousness, on a route like this "as early as possible" is always going to be a question of your assessment of price vs value. It's entirely possible to arrive before the morning rush hour even starts, or during it, but it's down to what you're willing to pay!
I understand off-peak is after 10:00 on that route?
Ha, if only things were that simple! The time restrictions applying to Off-Peak tickets between Brighton and London are many and varied, depending on factors including the direction in which you purchase the ticket, as well as the specific type of ticket you hold.
Looking just at Day Returns, there are five of these available, with two different time restrictions. These are (in descending order of price):
1)
Off-Peak Day Return issued to "London Terminals", route "Any Permitted", £31.80. Restriction C0. This is valid on any train from Brighton to any of the permitted London Terminals (Victoria, London Bridge, Blackfriars, City Thameslink, Charing Cross etc.), as long as it arrives at the London Terminal no earlier than 09:50am. It is valid on any train for the return.
2)
Off-Peak Day Return issued to "London Victoria", route "Any Permitted", £30.50. Restriction C0. This is the same as above but restricts you to taking trains to and from Victoria only.
3)
Super Off-Peak Day Return issued to "London Terminals", route "Not Gatwick Express", £19.40. Restriction PB. This is intended for use on services other than those branded Gatwick Express (i.e. those branded Southern or Thameslink), and is valid on trains arriving into London Terminals at or after 10:55am. It is valid on all trains back
except those departing between 16:15 and 19:15 inclusive.
4)
Off-Peak Day Return issued to "London Terminals", route "Thameslink only", £18.70. Restriction C0. This has the same time restriction as ticket nos. 1 and 2 but is intended only for use on services branded Thameslink.
5)
Super Off-Peak Day Return issued to "London Victoria", route "Not Gatwick Express", £16.80. Restriction PB. Same time restrictions as ticket no. 3 but only intended for use on services branded Southern to London Victoria.
They would probably return late afternoon/early evening. Is there a restriction on the time of the return?
It depends on the ticket type bought - see above!
I mentioned advances but they want more flexibility incase they miss one of the services.
Ok, it's unfortunate that on this route there is no way of cost-effectively buying an Advance in one direction and a flexible ticket in the other (as can be done on a number of other routes). It's a shame because Advances can be very good value for money, starting at (in theory) £5 single.
They want to travel together.
This means they are eligible to use GroupSave discounted tickets. As far as I can tell, this is probably the most cost effective way of buying the tickets in terms of the group discount used.
It may still be worthwhile to split tickets depending on the exact time of travel, but sites like
www.trainsplit.com will advise on that. To be frank, the mess of tickets available for this journey as so complex that I think the best thing to do is simply to enter the journey to London Terminals, as well as the number of passengers, and then to play around with different travel times to see which ones provide an acceptable price/time balance.
