LNER's new 'simplified' ticket structure: no return fares!

[southlondonlyn]

I just tried to buy a return ticket from London to Edinburgh and am bamboozled by how much LNER's fare system has changed since I last booked (which wasn't very long ago).

I usually buy an off-peak return. Even if I'm happy to commit to a specific outward journey, I like the flexibility of not being committed to a specific return journey.

But LNER's website says they've abolished most return fares. I have to buy two singles. They no longer use the term 'advance single' - it's now a 'fixed' single.

And I can't find anything which gives me the equivalent of an off-peak return. For the return journey I can choose between 'fixed', 'semi-flexible' or 'fully flexible'.

I guess 'fully flexible' is the equivalent of an expensive 'anytime' ticket. But 'semi-flexible' is very different to an off-peak ticket - the flexibility only extends to 70 minutes either side of the train you select.

Am I the only person who thinks this is rubbish?

 

[Idiotic]

It’s awful. Although you can get a super off peak singles if you purchased the ticket to/from Finsbury Park.

 

[Watershed]

It's all part of LNER's scheme to drive up fares and thus increase revenue. Super Off-Peak tickets previously capped the amount they could charge for Advance fares (the ones they describe as "Fixed" on their website's frontend). They're doing it under the smokescreen of 'trials' and 'simplification' to limit the public backlash, but that is undoubtedly the main motivation.

For now you can still buy walk-up fares for journeys that fall outwith the scope of the 'trial', such as Edinburgh to/from Finsbury Park, but in due course I'm sure they'll roll it out more widely too - they have already done so since the original changes were introduced.

 

[AlterEgo]

Extensive discussion here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/expansion-of-lner-70-min-flex-trial-area-simpler-fares.272643/

 

[Haywain]

am bamboozled by how much LNER's fare system has changed since I last booked (which wasn't very long ago).

Return tickets were removed in early 2020.

 

[Starmill]

My suggestion would be if you don't like the prices the website threw at you, just find a cheaper mode of transport (this isn't normally particularly difficult because LNER is frequently the most expensive option for this journey out of all of the possibilities). You could try, at least for now, Trainsplit or you can try manually searching Camden Road to Edinburgh and a number of possible alternatives if you like but eventually these options are likely to go away. The single fare on Lumo doesn't go above £93 for example.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 May 2025 ==

It’s awful. Although you can get a super off peak singles if you purchased the ticket to/from Finsbury Park.

Indeed. But bear in mind the more this is recommended here and the more people buy it the sooner this option will be closed.

 

[Wallsendmag]

It's hardly new and it's set to spread

 

[yorksrob]

LNER are engaged in price gouging at the moment.

The London-centric manderins in Whitehall seem to approve.

 

[yorkie]

Yes, many people would agree that it's rubbish (this includes LNER staff speaking off the record)

However the extent to which this is LNER's doing is unclear;,it is understood that the DfT instructed LNER to do (something like) this, as a way of reducing overcrowding on busy trains by pricing people onto other modes, and maximising the amount fare payers pay, by shifting further towards airline style pricing, including removing the fares cap that hitherto applied at 'off peak' times.

However as we have an existing open thread on the topic, we will draw this one to a close, to avoid duplication.

Feel free to continue the discussion there:

Expansion of LNER 70-min flex trial area ("Simpler Fares")

Mod note: split from existing thread https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/lner-to-pilot-removal-of-off-peak-tickets.261183/ Expansion of 70-min Flex for journeys made from 30-9-24...

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