I'm trying to help out some Canadian relatives who are going to a wedding in Exeter in July.
Their plane is due to land at Gatwick at 8.25am on Friday 14th July and having had a look at Nationalrail.com I saw that the cost of the super off-peak return via Reading was £86.40 (or £84.30 to Dawlish). As there are two of them, I was going to suggest that they bought a Two Together Railcard to reduce the fare by 34%.
I've had a look at Splitticketing.co. and bizarrely that quote is the best fare as being over £150!
The furthest date for buying advance tickets that I can see is 7th July, and what with it being a weekend (out Friday and back Sunday) there doesn't seem to be anything much cheaper travel on dates that are available. However, my sister-in-law is just message me to say that she has received an email from Trainline.com offering outward tickets at £14.20, so I don't know how she has managed that!
Before I tell her to go ahead and book them and then hope she can get something economical for the return leg in a couple of days, as anybody know if any leniency might be shown if her plane was delayed. I don't know what departure time she has been offered for £14,20 but I assume that it is the 10.03 to Reading, which seems to be one of the cheaper options generally, and which would work well if their plane is reasonably on time. Should I tell her though not to buy it as they will lose their money if they can't get to Gatwick Airport on time, and that it woiuld be unlikely that she would be able to buy tickets anywhere near as cheap for the return leg on Sunday lunchtime?
Any help from anybody in the know would be much appreciated!
Their plane is due to land at Gatwick at 8.25am on Friday 14th July and having had a look at Nationalrail.com I saw that the cost of the super off-peak return via Reading was £86.40 (or £84.30 to Dawlish). As there are two of them, I was going to suggest that they bought a Two Together Railcard to reduce the fare by 34%.
I've had a look at Splitticketing.co. and bizarrely that quote is the best fare as being over £150!
The furthest date for buying advance tickets that I can see is 7th July, and what with it being a weekend (out Friday and back Sunday) there doesn't seem to be anything much cheaper travel on dates that are available. However, my sister-in-law is just message me to say that she has received an email from Trainline.com offering outward tickets at £14.20, so I don't know how she has managed that!
Before I tell her to go ahead and book them and then hope she can get something economical for the return leg in a couple of days, as anybody know if any leniency might be shown if her plane was delayed. I don't know what departure time she has been offered for £14,20 but I assume that it is the 10.03 to Reading, which seems to be one of the cheaper options generally, and which would work well if their plane is reasonably on time. Should I tell her though not to buy it as they will lose their money if they can't get to Gatwick Airport on time, and that it woiuld be unlikely that she would be able to buy tickets anywhere near as cheap for the return leg on Sunday lunchtime?
Any help from anybody in the know would be much appreciated!