Scotrail sleeper...bargain berths.

[ChrisMcFall]

Can anyone explain what the difference in price on these are - and how they relate to what you get?
Thanks!

 

[glynn80]

Can anyone explain what the difference in price on these are - and how they relate to what you get?
Thanks!

The differences in price relate to availability, they have a certain quota of £19.00 fares and then of £29.00 and so on until they have sold out.

There is no actual difference in the on train experience between the different priced bargain berth tickets. You still get the perks you would normally get like the breakfast, wash bag etc.

 

[ChrisMcFall]

Would it be seated though? or standard berth..

 

[me123]

They're basically "Advance" fares for the sleeper. There is, however, very limited availability. You also cannot pay for single occupancy ("Caledonian Solo or something). There is "ticketless travel" (e-mail printout or SMS), and these can only be booked online.

However, there are Advance fares available. These can be bought at a station and have a greater availability, but are slightly more expensive and yet again you cannot guarantee a "solo" berth.

You can travel on the sleeper with any valid London-Glasgow/Edinburgh/Fort William/Aberdeen/Inverness ticket but reservations MUST be in place; this can be the cheapest option, especially when you have a railcard.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Would it be seated though? or standard berth..

Standard Twin Berth, although you may be sharing with another traveller of the same sex.

 

[ChrisMcFall]

Ah right..if i booked two of the bargain tickets at the same time would they end up being in the same berth? Cause i was thinking of going with someone else anyway.

 

[me123]

If you book two tickets together, you'll get the same berth as long as you tick the boxes to say that you are "sharing".

However, it can be difficult to get more than one ticket for a journey; you do need to be flexible especially if you're travelling as a duo. It can be worthwhile changing as well, eg using Motherwell, doing a cross-Glasgow transfer or changing at Edinburgh to get cheap Berths.

 

[ChrisMcFall]

Ah right.
Plan B is to get tickets booked using the other persons PRIV..but i assume that the ticket is invalid without the priv? (only he has one, I dont!)

 

[Max]

Moved to 'Fares, Ticketing and Routeing'.

 

[glynn80]

Ah right.
Plan B is to get tickets booked using the other persons PRIV..but i assume that the ticket is invalid without the priv? (only he has one, I dont!)

Yes if someone is purchasing you tickets with their PRIV for you to use then you will have BIG problems. The ticket is only valid with the Staff Travel Card and Staff Photocard that staff members are issued. It is a similar set up to railcards. If a member of the public was to have a PRIV ticket without any of the appropriate documentation to back it up it could become a serious issue.

 

[glynn80]

a priv fare is iirc 20 pound each way. if you do not have a priv card then unfortunatly you can not get the priv fare.

If we take London to Glasgow Central the following fares are available for PRIV holders at a 75% discount

rte CAL SLEEPER (Valid only on Caledonian Sleeper, Includes a free berth)

FOS S 161.00
FOR R 237.00
SOS S 121.00
SOR R 171.00


rte SCOTRAIL ONLY (Caledonian Sleeper only, No berth)

SOS S 75.00
SOR R 100.00


rte Any Permitted (Valid via any permitted route, No berth)

FOS S 203.50
FOR R 407.00
SOS S 135.50
SOR R 271.00

So the Rte SCOTRAIL ONLY ticket would be £18.75 single or £25.00 return for a PRIV holder if they were willing to sit in seated accommodation

 

[Gizmogle]

Ah right.
Plan B is to get tickets booked using the other persons PRIV..but i assume that the ticket is invalid without the priv? (only he has one, I dont!)

It's actually cheaper to get bargain berths than to buy priv tickets, as the berth supplement is about £36 I think, and the you have the price of the priv purchased ticket.

But yeah don't use someone elses priv. Bad idea. If caught, they'll most likely have it taken from them forever.

 

[westcoaster]

priv =

Standard Class

London - Edinburgh/Glasgow Standard Class
Single £30.25
Return £42.80

http://www.atoc.org/rst/Updates_&_Reminders.asp

 

[Gizmogle]

Yeah, but that will only get you in seated, not a berth. By rule, you should pay a berth supplement of £36 as well, but apparently they can be very leniant.

 

[First class]

Rail staff are NOT permitted to use the seated sleeper.

They must purchase a special offer ticket.

CALEDONIAN SLEEPERS: STAFF FARES
Discounted fares which are available on First ScotRail's Caledonian Sleepers and are available to both safeguarded and non-safeguarded staff are set out below:

Journey
Single
Return

Standard Class

London - Edinburgh/Glasgow
£30.25
£42.80

London - Aberdeen/Inverness/Fort William
£37.25
£50.00

First Class (holders of first class facilities only)

London - Edinburgh/Glasgow
£40.25
£59.25

London - Aberdeen/Inverness/Fort William
£46.00
£68.00


These are inclusive rates and are available from normal outlets on production of a Staff Travel Card or TOC Privilege Travel Card - there is no need for boxes on Staff Travel Cards to be dated. All fares are subject to availability and are valid until further notice.

 

[Gizmogle]

Rail staff are NOT permitted to use the seated sleeper.

Aye, but you're allowed to use it on a priv discounted ticket, yes? Which is what I meant. Sorry if I was unclear.

 

[glynn80]

Rail staff are NOT permitted to use the seated sleeper.

Looking into it the issue it seems you may be correct.

In the Staff Travel Restrictions just published, all sleeper trains going north and south are barred from the following using their PRIVs in seated accommodation.

• A All First Class National Rail free and privilege travel facilities (including privilege season tickets).
  
• E All Standard National Rail free and privilege travel facilities (including privilege season tickets).

So I assume you could purchase any of the tickets I posted above but then pay the berth supplement.

If I am honest the sleeper staff are very accommodating anyway and have never refused me travel on my PRIV even when I have had no reservation and the train was very busy so I doubt any member of staff would have real trouble at all.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Ultimately, I think you're better off trying for the bargain berths in the first instance. The restriction on staff travel in the seated sleeper may well be due to the fact that there is only normally one seated sleeper on each train, with only thirty or so places. IIRC, the seats normally sell out before the berths sell out, so I can imagine it's preferable for staff to travel in the berths.

I can't remember how far in advance you can buy bargain berths, I think it's more than 12 weeks. But importantly, tickets open up another week in advance every Friday morning: that's when you should be online to check. You can check how far ahead they're open by going to http://www.atoctravelagents.org/ and clicking 'Booking Horizons' on left (link changes weekly). Get there early if you want to bag a bargain. I use Glasgow - London a lot, and only ever see bargain berths Monday - Thursday. I have nabbed a pair of bargain berths London - Fort William during the summer, but on booking them at the cheapest possible fare (£19 each) the price jumped to £29, so it's fair to assume that on some trains there will be as few as two tickets in each fare 'bucket' (as they're called on Amtrak) on each train.

 

[martyn29]

I have a priv and went to Aberdeen and came back from Fort William for about £60..