Special Offers Discussion

[yorksrob]

WY Metrocard Offer (to Carlisle/Morecambe) is now back on (though I've not seen it advertised anywhere).

 

[Kite159]

I'm getting a 20% off Virgin East coast advances offer on Virgin Red at the moment, seems to suggest it needs booking via the App.

 

[woody505]

nectar is offering me a 1000 points for any ticket purchase on east coast route can Edinburgh to haymarket £1.50 with a rail card be beaten?

 

[Merseysider]

nectar is offering me a 1000 points for any ticket purchase on east coast route can Edinburgh to haymarket £1.50 with a rail card be beaten?

If you don't intend to use it, child rate would be cheaper

 

[headshot119]

Not sure if it's been mentioned but get £10 off of a 16-25 railcard with code BLACKFRIDAY also eligible for renewals.

 

[richardderby]

confirmed. Virgin trains west coast First Class seat sale starts at midnight...
https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/abou...e-virgin-trains-first-class-seat-sale-1662226
1st Class travel over the festive period, save at least 33 per cent. travel between Sat 10 Dec 2016 and Sun 08 Jan 2017. Fares from £17.
Discounted tickets will be available to book at
www.virgintrains.com/sale from 00:01 on Tuesday 29 November to December 1 at 23:59.

 

[westv]

I'm getting a 20% off Virgin East coast advances offer on Virgin Red at the moment, seems to suggest it needs booking via the App.

All I see is 20% off west coast.

 

[Kite159]

All I see is 20% off west coast.

It might vary per user

 

[Butts]

confirmed. Virgin trains west coast First Class seat sale starts at midnight...
https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/abou...e-virgin-trains-first-class-seat-sale-1662226
1st Class travel over the festive period, save at least 33 per cent. travel between Sat 10 Dec 2016 and Sun 08 Jan 2017. Fares from £17.
Discounted tickets will be available to book at
www.virgintrains.com/sale from 00:01 on Tuesday 29 November to December 1 at 23:59.

I will have my finger on the "buzzer" waiting to pounce

 

[LeylandLen]

Reading the press release quoted in the above post re Virgin seat ,it does say 'on selected trains So its unlikely to be on the trains I want to use out of Preston or Manchester. We shall see...

 

[richardderby]

I will have my finger on the "buzzer" waiting to pounce

fares now loaded, although, no sale advertised on homepage?
managed to bag a £17 ticket with turkey dinner included! (18.10 -Nuneaton)
Crimbo catering now loaded https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/experience/first-class/menu/christmas

 

[Butts]

fares now loaded, although, no sale advertised on homepage?
managed to bag a £17 ticket with turkey dinner included! (18.10 -Nuneaton)

I've blagged a return trip to Carlisle from Edinburgh £17 E/WAY not as good as East Coast which give you a through fare from Falkirk Grahamston....still my normal pass will take care of that

Also I miss out on the 1st Class Scotrail Freebies :cry:

Why the hell have I booked it ???

 

[All Line Rover]

There is generally no availability on peak trains. Fine by me, as it means I haven't paid more than I needed to for my journeys over the Christmas period.

There is a limited amount of peak-time availability on the 18:10 Euston to Holyhead, but it is worth noting that there is at least one first class Advance ticket at the very lowest tier available on Fridays. So it is possible to sample the meal on this service at a bargain basement fare, sale or no sale.

 

[Butts]

There is generally no availability on peak trains. Fine by me, as it means I haven't paid more than I needed to for my journeys over the Christmas period.

There is a limited amount of peak-time availability on the 18:10 Euston to Holyhead, but it is worth noting that there is at least one first class Advance ticket at the very lowest tier available on Fridays. So it is possible to sample the meal on this service at a bargain basement fare, sale or no sale.

There is or was some peak time availabilty out of Glasgow and Edinburgh when I was looking earlier (morning - did not check evening).

 

[roversfan2001]

'Seat Sale' fares very few and far between on the 23rd December - very irritating

Sent from my HTC Desire 530 using Tapatalk

 

[Starmill]

I would guess the trains are going to be pretty packed on 23rd December!

It's very amusing they they're the only ones running a Christmas sale. Everyone else is not doing so clearly for capacity reasons, but VT are because getting people to book First Class instead of Standard walk-up actually helps them offer more capacity to everyone with standard class walk-up tickets (since there's no scope for most people to use First Class walk-up due to the lack of Off-Peak).

 

[Butts]

I would guess the trains are going to be pretty packed on 23rd December!

It's very amusing they they're the only ones running a Christmas sale. Everyone else is not doing so clearly for capacity reasons, but VT are because getting people to book First Class instead of Standard walk-up actually helps them offer more capacity to everyone with standard class walk-up tickets (since there's no scope for most people to use First Class walk-up due to the lack of Off-Peak).

And if you have a railcard it's not really a sale at all

I also notice the Evening Meal has been degraded on the West Midlands Service - ie it is the same on Pendelino and Voyager Services.

 

[roversfan2001]

I would guess the trains are going to be pretty packed on 23rd December!

I've found some very cheap FC Advances on trains into London in the morning, they just haven't got a seat sale alternative. I agree, looking at prices for northbound evening services, they're hardly empty. [emoji38]


Sent from my HTC Desire 530 using Tapatalk

 

[All Line Rover]

I would guess the trains are going to be pretty packed on 23rd December!

It's very amusing they they're the only ones running a Christmas sale. Everyone else is not doing so clearly for capacity reasons, but VT are because getting people to book First Class instead of Standard walk-up actually helps them offer more capacity to everyone with standard class walk-up tickets (since there's no scope for most people to use First Class walk-up due to the lack of Off-Peak).

No business travel over Christmas + (&) no need to offer comprehensive catering = almost no first class tickets will be sold if regular fares are charged.

Limited catering & demand = might as well sell cheap Advance tickets = might as well run a first class seat sale and offer "weekend" upgrades also.

I remember a peak time Euston to Liverpool train a few years ago on the last Friday before Christmas which had two other first class passengers on board, throughout Coaches K, J, H and G. I believe that was before Virgin Trains introduced off-peak first class fares between Euston and Liverpool (which can now be used on any train on the last Friday before Christmas since there are no evening peak restrictions).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I've found some very cheap FC Advances on trains into London in the morning, they just haven't got a seat sale alternative...

First class Advance fares have been reduced very substantially between Fri 23 Dec 2016 and Fri 6 Jan 2017 inclusive: e.g. on Thu 5 Jan 2017 the 17:00 Euston to Manchester is £43 for a 1st Advance ticket (a regular Advance ticket at the lowest tier; not a seat sale ticket). The following Thu (12 Jan 2017), a 1st Advance ticket on the 17:00 is back up to the usual bargain price of £177.

 

[roversfan2001]

First class Advance fares have been reduced very substantially between Fri 23 Dec 2016 and Fri 6 Jan 2017 inclusive: e.g. on Thu 5 Jan 2017 the 17:00 Euston to Manchester is £43 for a 1st Advance ticket (a regular Advance ticket at the lowest tier; not a seat sale ticket). The following Thu (12 Jan 2017), a 1st Advance ticket on the 17:00 is back up to the usual bargain price of £177.

I'm aware of this, through extensive research, as my school holiday is those exact dates (how convenient ). I'm quite surprised the latter half of the first week of January still has bargain Advances, I'd have expected business travel to start up again not long after New Year's Day.

 

[All Line Rover]

I'm aware of this, through extensive research, as my school holiday is those exact dates (how convenient ). I'm quite surprised the latter half of the first week of January still has bargain Advances, I'd have expected business travel to start up again not long after New Year's Day.

Yes, and seeing as the usual first class menu will be back into full swing from Tue 3 Jan 2017, that (Tue 3 Jan to Thu 5 Jan, and to a lesser extent Fri 6 Jan) will be the best time to book these fares.

 

[Starmill]

They do offer these fares during general promotion over Summer, or in spring along with some Standard ones with a bigger discount. They're not exclusive to Christmas. The Christmas sale is mostly due to the crazily poor First Class loadings they are usually left with.

Even if one has a railcard, they are some of them 35-38% off and at better availability than the normal Advance quotas. £35 for First Class on a fast London <> Glasgow train is well worth it.

 

[Kite159]

They do offer these fares during general promotion over Summer, or in spring along with some Standard ones with a bigger discount. They're not exclusive to Christmas. The Christmas sale is mostly due to the crazily poor First Class loadings they are usually left with.

Even if one has a railcard, they are some of them 35-38% off and at better availability than the normal Advance quotas. £35 for First Class on a fast London <> Glasgow train is well worth it.

Shame I've already booked my £20 Glasgow - London ticket for the 23rd December on a nice fast(ish) service [16:40] and picked the tickets up, otherwise I would have paid the extra £25 to upgrade to First Class (but sadly it appears I have to send the original ticket back via Snail Mail rather than having a "change of journey" excess e-ticket. Ah well 4 and a half (ish) hours sat in seat C9 will have to do

 

[Cletus]

The Virgin Never Ending Ticket has ended.

Virgin Trains ‏@VirginTrains Dec 1
It's time to say goodbye #NeverEndingTicket has failed for its third and final time.

 

[ys123]

1000 nectar points for £1.15 booking a Virgin East Coast ticket. See details here
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/boo...r-24-december-get-1-000-nectar-points-2565811

 

[Merseysider]

Triple the usual Nectar points for TPE Advance journeys booked on the TPE website. As an example, a £4 journey with Northern gains 8 points. A £4 journey with TPE gains 24 points.

Also, does anybody know if VTWC have any offers planned for Standard tickets?

 

[All Line Rover]

Also, does anybody know if VTWC have any offers planned for Standard tickets?

This is not a sale, but...

They've cut the price of STD and 1ST Advance fares on the Manchester route (after having done so on the Liverpool route a year or two ago). For example, the cheapest fare on the 05:55 Manchester to Euston is down from £142 STD / £207 1ST to to £37 STD / £74 1ST, while the 06:35 and 06:43 Manchester to Euston are down from £112 STD / £147 1ST to £37 STD / £74 1ST. The 17:00, 17:20 and 17:40 Euston to Manchester are also down from £112 STD / £147 1ST to £37 STD / £74 1ST.

I'm surprised they have done this. Most peak-time trains from Manchester are already packed (e.g. 06:35 and 06:43). Why scrap the Railcard easement but then introduce similarly cheap fares (£74 return - £49 with a Railcard) in its place?

 

[Starmill]

It's been balanced by increasing the cheapest tier from £16 to £22 in 3 years.

 

[All Line Rover]

Yes, and isn't it bizarre that, when booking in advance, it now costs the same to travel on the peak-time 18:20 from Euston as it does to travel on the off-peak 21:40 or 23:00 from Euston (£22)?

Likewise, the 06:35, 06:43, 17:20 and 17:40 are actually £54 first class when booking 12 to 16 weeks in advance, which highlights the terrible value of the weekend upgrade. £54 (£36 with a Railcard) to travel on a peak-time breakfast or evening meal service, compared to £42 (£34 with a Railcard) to travel on a random Saturday or Sunday service with nothing (worth having) in the way of food or drink. (£22 STD Advance + non-Railcard-discountable £20 weekend upgrade.)

£54, for services that previously cost a minimum of £177 (even when all Pendolinos had Coach G) and had healthy loadings, while a steal, is something I can't understand the reasoning behind.

 

[rg177]

Extra 50% off Northern Advance tickets purchased between 26/12 and 15/01 for travel between 20/02 and 20/03 with promo code NORTH50

https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/tickets/29-advance