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Great British Rail Sale - what bargains you got
- Thread starter Lee_Again
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RailUK Forums
Sealink
Member
- Joined
- 16 Aug 2006
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- 383
I saw that too, but have no time off
York to Inverness in March £47.60 in 1st
Leeds to Dawlish in Feb £47.00 in Standard
York to Newcastle return next week for £9.00
Msq71423
Member
Is there an easy way to search for these bargain tickets? For example, any date, any destination, narrow down by either standard or first class - but bring up only rail sale tickets available?
Kath123
Member
Yeovil Junction to London Waterloo and back for mid Feb with an Advance single ticket for each journey (going out one date and coming back two days later) total cost £23.30. Standard class.
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aliceh
Member
I got Bournemouth to London and back for £22.80 next Friday
This microsite gives you the rail sale prices if you enter origin and destination, but you'll have to use trial and error on a booking site to see what services have the sale prices.
https://greatbritishrailsale.nationalrail.co.uk/#/great-british-rail-sale
Buzby
Member
After tying to set up around 10 journeys, only 3 returned any RailSale results, and even then split tickets within did not feature the discount, so trying again with my declared Railcard it brought the price down - but not to a level that made the journey cost effective.
All in all, it was a big letdown - especially as I was particularly interested in being able to do a break of journey at interesting points along the way. I don’t need the heartburn inducing Advance Singles to make my journey less pleasurable.
A big disappointment I’m afraid.
All in all, it was a big letdown - especially as I was particularly interested in being able to do a break of journey at interesting points along the way. I don’t need the heartburn inducing Advance Singles to make my journey less pleasurable.
A big disappointment I’m afraid.
Russel
Established Member
Yep, same as all of these type of events.
I've done a few searches and all I'm seeing is normal advance fares, nothing to get excited about.
Ben Rhydding
Member
New Pudsey to Leeds £1.30 saving 5p. Advance with senior railcard was £1.35.
But also some rather more worthwhile savings on first class to Scotland.
But also some rather more worthwhile savings on first class to Scotland.
MichaelTrains
Member
I got Leeds to Aberdeen in first class for £39.
Buzby
Member
Whilst it is useful to compare like for like - please add whether there are Advance on standard tickets!
adamskiodp
Member
It says no discounts found from my local station
Adam Williams
Established Member
The reservation system doesn't expose the data in bulk that would enable doing this sort of thing, sadly.
The system that RDG has procured still has an imposed limit of searching for 5 services in each direction on a specific day, between two specific stations within a specific time window. To the best of my knowledge, this limit that TIS suppliers are subjected to has not been revised in 15 years.
Independent retailers have campaigned to try and change this without success, so far. Complete madness in 2025, if you ask me.
Well, there will be winners and loosers as someone once put in a reply to a comment I once wrote on these forums.
In this case, I'm not sure who the winners are, but if there is just 1 then I guess that is enough for it to hold true.
The rail sale is just a gimmick.
Adam Williams
Established Member
You mean from the status quo being how it is, or from the potential to .. actually be able to find customers tickets that fit into their budget at a time where there is spare capacity on the network, if this problem was solved?
Someone obviosily doesn't want it to be solved......
Leogilbert007
Member
St Pancras to Canterbury HS1
then Canterbury to Victoria later that day via the classic lines
plus tickets to/from my local station
£20
then Canterbury to Victoria later that day via the classic lines
plus tickets to/from my local station
£20
There are certainly some people the status quo benefits
Yeah, I think for a lot of us the lack of railcard discounts making the sale prices not much better combined with efforts to avoid revenue abstraction made the sale not particularly useful
Leogilbert007
Member
Absolutely. I have a 16-17 saver giving me 50% off every ticket at anytime and this sale is essentially useless to me
It's become a way to give the railway some positive press before the fare rise in March.
Is there any data if the rail sale encourages people to give the railway a go, or travel more? Or is it abstractive?
And these must be the winners then.
I did a brief search from Guildford but didn't find much of interest.
It seems, if an advanced purchase ticket exists then you might find a cheaper one during the sale but it doesn't you won't find anything.
Most of my journeys involve multiple train operating companies in the former Network SouthEastern area, where advanced purchase tickets are an alien concept.
styles
Member
I gave up looking at these some time ago.
I usually book my travel in advance, so the rail sale usually falls around the time I'd buy tickets for Easter, but due to the bank holidays I'm less inclined to travel by rail due to engineering works etc.
So it doesn't usually offer much for me.
But then, I'm already a 'converted' - I guess it's aimed more at people who don't as often think to travel by rail.
I usually book my travel in advance, so the rail sale usually falls around the time I'd buy tickets for Easter, but due to the bank holidays I'm less inclined to travel by rail due to engineering works etc.
So it doesn't usually offer much for me.
But then, I'm already a 'converted' - I guess it's aimed more at people who don't as often think to travel by rail.
I just got a York to London 1st Advance for about £10 cheaper than I would have otherwise got it, but there is also the added bonus that it's in my own account from my preferred retailer (i.e. I got it from Trainsplit, rather than it being booked for me on LNER's site)
There are so many limitations and exclusions on some operators, while for Northern, the savings are far too small to justify the loss of flexibility (and be threatened with Penalty Fares and the like).
There are so many limitations and exclusions on some operators, while for Northern, the savings are far too small to justify the loss of flexibility (and be threatened with Penalty Fares and the like).
What journey are you looking at making? From/to? Day/time? Your best bet is to post in a separate thread, as this one is for bargains people got.
Billy Hicks
Member
- Joined
- 8 Dec 2014
- Messages
- 33
I feel like I’ve done well but maybe the discounts aren’t as much as I thought judging by the above posts! I hold a Network Railcard but I’m neither old or young enough for the others, so the deals did all look quite appealing to me.
Paddington to the Cotswolds for £11 first class, including in the morning peak - surely just what you get in the first class lounge is worth much of that alone. My local station in Croydon to Bognor Regis for £3.50, helped by it all being a Southern route. And Stratford to Ipswich for £5.50, which is half the price of the usually decent £11 advance fare I normally get.
Paddington to the Cotswolds for £11 first class, including in the morning peak - surely just what you get in the first class lounge is worth much of that alone. My local station in Croydon to Bognor Regis for £3.50, helped by it all being a Southern route. And Stratford to Ipswich for £5.50, which is half the price of the usually decent £11 advance fare I normally get.
I'm also doing Canterbury.
I managed to obtain a return on HS1 for £14.80 return.
The 'expensive' part is getting the tickets from outside London, to London!
The overall ticket saving, I've calculated, is around £7.
The rail sale was of some benefit to those of us with a limited area Network railcard.
Some of the journeys I've booked include going as far as I can using Network railcard discounts, then cheaper advance fares the rest of the way.
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For sure, I'm not saying no one has benefitted, just that some of us in certain demographics aren't doing well from it by design