Help please!!!

[scottfamily]

Morning all I wondered if you could give me some advice. 2 adults and 2 kids , 1 over 5 going from Birmingham new st to Edinburgh waverley. We have got a valid family andfriends railcard and wish to travel on 31st July and return on 2 aug. When (if ever) should I look for advance fares for this as it's mighty confusing!!! Cheers

 

[LondonLarry]

Advance fares become available about 12 weeks before travel, so they should be available for both journeys by mid-May.

 

[yorkie]

They will be cheaper on CrossCountry as the journey takes approx 1 hour longer and they lower the prices on this specific flow to compete with Virgin.

In fact, Birmingham to Edinburgh is usually cheaper than Birmingham to Newcastle, and it can even be cheaper than Birmingham to York.

 

[scottfamily]

Cheers guys, is there any easy way of finding out when the advance fares become available other than obsessively checking the web site, which I have been......needlessly!!

 

[sprinterguy]

As London Larry says, advance fares become available 12 weeks before the date of travel. So as a rule of thumb, I say that the tickets will be available precisely three months in advance of the date of travel. So in your instance, tickets for your journey should be available by May 2nd, hope this helps.

I definitely advise travelling by Crosscountry instead of Virgin; journey length is about an hour longer but is considerably cheaper; Crosscountry have had a low price Birmingham to Edinburgh ticket available for some time now, as has been mentioned to compete with Virgin. And it does indeed turn out cheaper than both Birmingham to Newcastle and Birmingham to York, but that's another story, just a personal bugbear of mine.

 

[yorkie]

Cheers guys, is there any easy way of finding out when the advance fares become available other than obsessively checking the web site, which I have been......needlessly!!

Depends what you mean by "the website" as there are many websites you could use to check! The National Rail website has a page that has all the booking horizons on it. I suspect the tickets are released a few hours before that page is updated though. The best bargains can sell out within minutes on busy routes.

 

[tony_mac]

I wouldn't entirely rely on that page - in the case of Virgin trains it usually seems to be a few days out at least.

 

[scottfamily]

Thanks for all your help guys, much appreciated!