£315 return for Tamworth to Birmingham?

[Andy Pacer]

It certainly is at present! But hopefully things will get back to normal. When I lived in Derby, I had easy rail access to a whole range of airports, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Manchester, Birmingham, and of course East Midlands. While East Midlands was easily my favourite, travel options were very limited (particularly after the demise of BMI). Birmingham beat all the others hands down. Large range of destinations, but not the hell holes that Luton, Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester are.

Must admit I flew from Luton to Aberdeen earlier this month and whilst the Luton security was fine, it's the departure lounge area that seems to let it down.

 

[mike57]

You can get an all line 1st class 7 day rover for £905 first class, are we reaching the point where for some journeys that would be the cheaper walk up fare?

 

[Belperpete]

Must admit I flew from Luton to Aberdeen earlier this month and whilst the Luton security was fine, it's the departure lounge area that seems to let it down.

Must admit that I was initially pleasantly surprised when I recently flew from Luton. Front of house is much improved, with the DART instead of queuing in the rain for the bus, and much improved check in. But the closer to the plane you get, the worse it gets. Cattle pens with no seating while you wait to board is unacceptable in this day and age.

 

[jayah]

These fares are never purchased - virtually everyone on CrossCountry and Avanti are using Advance fares. Because of journey planners now tending to show the cheaper Advance fares by default, it's unlikely they are ever seen by prospective customers, except perhaps when a train is set up as mandatory reservation and it is close to/at capacity and a TOC wants to put people off using it.

They still exist primarily for revenue protection and prosecution purposes - either to sting people for the full Anytime fare when they breach various conditions or to claim as costs in a successful prosecution.

Every now and again, XC do reduce the first class fares when they get to a level that means bad publicity - last did it for something involving Kyle of Lochalsh I believe that was over £1000.

If you type EDB-BHM into a journey planner for travel on Monday morning it is £154 Standard Anytime Single or nothing.

There isn't an Off Peak version so this is still the only fare being offered for travel at 3pm.

 

[Tester]

You can get an all line 1st class 7 day rover for £905 first class, are we reaching the point where for some journeys that would be the cheaper walk up fare?

That can easily be 'Adonised'

 

[Merseysider]

If you type EDB-BHM into a journey planner for travel on Monday morning it is £154 Standard Anytime Single or nothing.

There isn't an Off Peak version so this is still the only fare being offered for travel at 3pm.

Eh? There are advances available for pretty much every train that day!

 

[Nottingham59]

Eh? There are advances available for pretty much every train that day!

Those aren't morning trains, though

 

[Haywain]

Those aren't morning trains, though

These are:

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

How much is an Edinburgh - Birmingham Avanti ticket both for singles and returns?

FOR is £469.40, FOS is £234.70.

There are various combinations of fares, and time restrictions, if you choose to split your journey at, say, Preston, bringing TPE into the equation, or at Crewe involving WMT to Birmingham or Tamworth (although you won't find First Class on WMT trains any more).
All this choice and flexibility (at a price) may vanish under Labour's GBR.

 

[Angmering1974]

How much is it for first class?

About £250 return for a Flexi EasyJet ticket which includes 23kg checked luggage, large cabin bag, fast track, extra legroom seat and a meal. Ridiculous that it isn't refundable though. That's EasyJet being very greedy.

 

[Haywain]

Ridiculous that it isn't refundable though.

So more like an Advance ticket?

 

[800001]

About £250 return for a Flexi EasyJet ticket which includes 23kg checked luggage, large cabin bag, fast track, extra legroom seat and a meal. Ridiculous that it isn't refundable though. That's EasyJet being very greedy.

Then getting to the airport, sitting waiting, and getting from airport to where you need to go

 

[Sniffingmoose]

I believe rail is still competative despite the high Crosscountry price. I have a 60 mile round trip to Birmingham Airport plus at Birmingham Airport you have to pay to drop someone off! Plus the clock ticks for every 10 minutes waiting I believe, so if the flight is delayed. What a rip off. The rail industry is not charging to drop someone at the station. I should not give them ideas

 

[jayah]

These are:
View attachment 160592

On Tuesday evening, for Friday morning the 0700, 0704, 0807, 0900, 0907, 1100 and 1107 EDB- BHM are all at £154. It is not correct to say nobody will be paying that amount.

Many of the Advance above are actually more expensive because there has been a Railcard used for your search.

 

[Haywain]

Many of the Advance above are actually more expensive because there has been a Railcard used for your search

I was responding to a claim that Advance tickets were unavailable on that morning; a railcard discount does not alter the fact of availability.