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Question about GWR ticket

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jaapstam

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28 Nov 2015
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Ruesselsheim, Germany
Dear friends and experts,

I am from Germany, looking for a ticket from London Paddington to Saundersfoot on February 7th, 2020.

I checked the prices on GWR's website, finding out that the cheapest price for my desired journey actually starts from £56.60 which is a "Super Off-Peak Single" ticket.

I was wondering why there aren't any "Advance Tickets", being only valid on my chosen trains but being even cheaper. Might they be inserted in the booking system some time later as it is quite some time left until February next year? Or might there be no advance tickets at all as trains on a friday afternoon will be busy anyway?

Apart from that I thought "peak time" will be some time in the morning until 9 or 930. An "off-peak ticket" should be valid on any train after the peak time. But prices for the service leaving Paddington at 1715 start at £ 126. So I guess my "Super Off-Peak Single" ticket would not be valid here. Is there a second "peak time" in the afternoon/evening? Where can I get information from about which times exactly are "peak times" for GWR and which are "off peak"?

And, the most important question at all: Any other ideas about how to get a cheap ticket for the Paddington - Saundersfoot trip? The 1248 service from Paddington would be the very earliest possible for me as I am arriving by Eurostar on the same day.


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mmh

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It's not because you're too early booking, GWR advance tickets go on sale early, the dates can be found here: https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey/tickets-railcards-and-season-tickets/booking-tickets-in-advance

It seems to be because there's engineering work on Feb 7th. Carmarthen to Saundersfoot is already down as a replacement bus, but trying to book Swansea to Saundersfoot on Trainline gives a message saying it is unknown if the service will run yet - see the attached screenshot.

However, advance tickets are available if you search for:

1248 Paddington to Cardiff - £24
1439 Cardiff to Saundersfoot - £10.50

The Saundersfoot leg also gives a "we don't know if this will run" message, so it's a bit confusing why through advance tickets aren't available.

The 1439 is the same service from Paddington.

Personally I'd book it as 2 separate tickets in case either sells out and see what happens at the time.
 

Fawkes Cat

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There are a number of websites which will try to work out cheaper ticketing options: one which is run by a member of this forum is trainsplit https://raileasy.trainsplit.com/?brand=railukforums (n.b. using this link pays a commission to the forum). Putting your details in shows that they will sell you split tickets for £35.34 for the journey you want.
 

mmh

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There are a number of websites which will try to work out cheaper ticketing options: one which is run by a member of this forum is trainsplit https://raileasy.trainsplit.com/?brand=railukforums (n.b. using this link pays a commission to the forum). Putting your details in shows that they will sell you split tickets for £35.34 for the journey you want.

Or in this case it's fairly simple and quick to find out what's going on. I don't recommend any booking site, although I mentioned Trainline it was used because (a) it's installed on my phone and (b) it's a good app - it pointed me to what was happening here.

No need to pay either Trainline or Trainsplit their booking fees - if you have no existing account with a ticket selling site, why not just use GWR's site?
 

30907

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On your general question: many Offpeak fares have restrictions FROM London in the evening peak (and well either side of it). The exact times are not standardised across the network. I prefer to use http://www.brfares.com/#home to check.
The SuperOffpeak fares on your route are not valid 1501-1900, for example, while Offpeak are barred 1640-1831.

As through fares are not available, I would book as suggested above, and be prepared to be told there's a bus for the last bit at short notice (just like DB!).
 

kieron

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Looking on the GWR site, they do seem to have advance tickets through to Saundersfoot, but only at a higher price than the super off peak single (say, £63.50 for the 10:48 departure, which is dearer than the super off peak single, and also dear than £25.50 for London-Swansea, and £7.50 for Swansea-Saundersfoot on the same trains and bus). I don't know specifically about GWR, but this usually means that the TOC doesn't intend to release any cheaper Advance tickets even after Network Rail confirm what trains they can run.

If you're going back to London at some point, it may be worth putting both dates into a web site. A return ticket is usually cheaper than two flexible (non-Advance) single ones, so this may give some better value options at the times you'd prefer.
 

30907

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Looking at RTT https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/ there is a bus from Carmarthen to Saundersfoot for several weeks, and the times are in journey planners.

kieron's slightly cheaper fare combination is also available on the (1348 and) 1448 ex Paddington, and I would suggest splitting at Swansea not Cardiff.
 

Llanigraham

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On your general question: many Offpeak fares have restrictions FROM London in the evening peak (and well either side of it). The exact times are not standardised across the network. I prefer to use http://www.brfares.com/#home to check.
The SuperOffpeak fares on your route are not valid 1501-1900, for example, while Offpeak are barred 1640-1831.

As through fares are not available, I would book as suggested above, and be prepared to be told there's a bus for the last bit at short notice (just like DB!).

Aren't many of the time restrictions lifted for tickets terminating west of Swansea?
Certainly seems to apply for tickets beyond Malvern/Ledbury at the same times.
 

jaapstam

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Woo-hoo, thank you very much guys for all your very, very helpful hints and information!

As far as the "Peak-, Off Peak-, Super Off Peak, In&Out of London-times" are concerned, well, to be honest, I thought we had a complicated tariff system in Germany, but you can very well catch up! ;)

I was aware that return tickets can get a better price than booking two oneway tickets, but there will be only a oneway trip. The return trip will be made by car...

Very helpful appears your advice to split the trip and buy two separate tickets as this came up with a lower total price.

I will try some of your mentioned options and am curious what the result will be in the end.

Once again thank you very much for all your ideas and hints!

Kind regards
jaapstam
 

30907

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As far as the "Peak-, Off Peak-, Super Off Peak, In&Out of London-times" are concerned, well, to be honest, I thought we had a complicated tariff system in Germany, but you can very well catch up! ;)

jaapstam

But of course we have the most complicated ticketing system in the universe, everyone says so, don't you dare suggest otherwise :)
And of course Germany has fast punctual trains and cheap fares.... :)

Seriously, we're glad to help.
 

jaapstam

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But of course we have the most complicated ticketing system in the universe, everyone says so, don't you dare suggest otherwise :)
And of course Germany has fast punctual trains and cheap fares.... :)

Seriously, we're glad to help.

That's why I contacted you. And you did (help)! Thank you very much!

You are absolutely right! Apart from that, the German "fast" translates into "nearly" in English. So reading your sentence as "Germany has nearly punctual trains" - that's more than we could have expected. :)
 

yorkie

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Or in this case it's fairly simple and quick to find out what's going on. I don't recommend any booking site, although I mentioned Trainline it was used because (a) it's installed on my phone and (b) it's a good app - it pointed me to what was happening here.

No need to pay either Trainline or Trainsplit their booking fees - if you have no existing account with a ticket selling site, why not just use GWR's site?
The above post is misleading; Trainsplit does not charge a booking fee.

It should never be cheaper to book with GWR's website, though if you can find an example where it is, I'd be interested to see it.

Accredited ticket splitting sites such as Loco2, Trainsplit etc tend to charge a share of saving fee, but it wouldn't make sense to suggest that booking on GWR's website would be a way of avoiding a share of saving fee, as any such fee is generally based on 10% of the saving compared to sites such as GWR!
 

JamesT

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The above post is misleading; Trainsplit does not charge a booking fee.

It should never be cheaper to book with GWR's website, though if you can find an example where it is, I'd be interested to see it.

Accredited ticket splitting sites such as Loco2, Trainsplit etc tend to charge a share of saving fee, but it wouldn't make sense to suggest that booking on GWR's website would be a way of avoiding a share of saving fee, as any such fee is generally based on 10% of the saving compared to sites such as GWR!

I think that's just semantics, the saving Trainsplit makes is against buying through tickets. If you bought the same ticket combination that Trainsplit came up with through GWR you would save the fee that Trainsplit charge.
 

Hadders

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I think that's just semantics, the saving Trainsplit makes is against buying through tickets. If you bought the same ticket combination that Trainsplit came up with through GWR you would save the fee that Trainsplit charge.

That’s fine if you know where the appropriate split points are but most people won’t know that or have the skill or time to do it themselves.
 

philthetube

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If you can find an itinerary to go with yout tickets print it off, you would be entitled to delay repay if you then end up on a replacement bus and arrive later than timetabled.
 

yorkie

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I think that's just semantics, the saving Trainsplit makes is against buying through tickets.
Yes; the comparison being made is between searching for the journey on Trainsplit vs GWR's website, is it not?
If you bought the same ticket combination that Trainsplit came up with through GWR you would save the fee that Trainsplit charge.
Ah, I see you are comparing doing a journey search on Trainsplit vs searching for each specific ticket on GWR's website. I don't think that is a fair comparison though.

If you are comparing the two websites, it seems only fair to either compare an overall journey search, or to compare searching for each ticket individually.

If you add each ticket to the basket on Trainsplit individually, in the same way that you propose doing on GWR's website, then the amount paid will be exactly the same on either site. The only difference is that you would get the seat selector on the Trainsplit site, but not on the GWR site.
 
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