Anytime day singles

[Tazilly]

I’m looking at prices for a single from Paddington to Hereford on 31 July on the GWR website. For a flexible anytime day single it offers me 8 seemingly identical tickets ranging from £39.40 to £143.60.
Am I missing something?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

If you drill down on some of the fares offered, are they perhaps split fares, and/or maybe Advance singles for part of the journey, offered together with an Anytime Day Single?

N.B. The £59.70 fare is likely to be the Anytime Day Single routed "via Evesham", the £63.60 fare is the one routed "via Warminster/Salisbury" and the £140.60 fare (rather than £143.60?) is the route "Any Permitted".

 

[Merseysider]

There are 3 different routes available for this journey:
-Any Permitted
-via Evesham
-via Warminster/Salisbury

You are being offered these fares both with and without a railcard discount.

Any differences of £2/£3 may be due to a U1* tube journey being tacked onto the end to cover the journey from the arrival terminus to Paddington.

ETA that if you search to London Terminals / Euston rather than just PAD, you will also be offered the dirt cheap WMR / LNR fares via Brum, eg £22 for a super off peak return.

 

[Tazilly]

Thanks both. I was researching on the GWR website with a view to buying from the forum’s site when tickets become available. The journey is actually from Heathrow (HXX) and there is the potential to split tickets. I prefer the direct train to Hereford from Paddington.

But I’m still puzzled. I can see that half the tickets offered are via Evesham, the other half are “any permitted”.

I’m not a novice to tickets but I’m certainly no expert. When I click on the tickets offered on the GWR site it shows me the same direct train for each one. Its really not clear why someone would pay more for seemingly similar tickets in each range (Evesham / any permitted).

I feel happier with the likely offering that the forum’s site will suggest.

 

[kieron]

I’m not a novice to tickets but I’m certainly no expert. When I click on the tickets offered on the GWR site it shows me the same direct train for each one. Its really not clear why someone would pay more for seemingly similar tickets in each range (Evesham / any permitted).

Who knows, perhaps the traveller would like the option to travel via Newport on the day, but would like to avoid paying an extra fare to do so (maybe because the traveller isn't paying, and having two separate payments for the journey would complicate things too much).

GWR have no idea why you're looking at an itinerary they've found; they just show the tickets which (according to their calculations) are valid on a train, and hide any which are not. Other retailers do other things.

 

[Haywain]

ETA

ETA? I thought that was Expected Time of Arrival.

 

[Merseysider]

ETA? I thought that was Expected Time of Arrival.

Edited to add - perhaps it’s a Redditism

 

[fandroid]

From Heathrow you could head direct to Reading station on the Railair RA1 bus. That will connect with the direct services to Hereford which started at Paddington. You might even get through tickets. I can't remember what the 3 letter code for Heathrow Bus is but no doubt someone else will. If you buy the bus portion separately from First Bus it has the advantage that a Senior Railcard discount is available all day.

*edited to give full name of the Railair bus service