Envoy
Established Member
- Joined
- 29 Aug 2014
- Messages
- 2,478
I have been trying to figure out which is the best rail booking site.
The first thing I did was a test for a trip from Cardiff to Edinburgh leaving on a Tuesday on the 10.05am from Cardiff. To pass this test, the site would need to show a change of train from TfW to Avanti at Crewe (with split) as this should result in the fastest journey at the lowest price. All of the TOC sites failed this test & only showed a price of £192.60. www.mytrainpal.com also failed this test.
Needless to say https://www.nationalrail.co.uk also failed the test but it is a very clear site.
www.traintickets.com passed the test and came up with one split at Crewe which resulted in a price of £67.50 + a fee of £12.51 as commission of 10% of the saving giving a total of £80.01. Site has excellent clarity & it is easy to edit your search..
www.trainsplit.com also passed the test but this one came up with additional splits at Leominster & Penrith as well as the one at Crewe. This came to £63.50 + £12.70 as commission at 10% of the saving giving a total of £76.20. (Splityourticket; trainscanbecheaper; trainsplitting; raileasy; splitmyfare; splitticketing all seem to go through to the trainsplit.com website).
The annoying thing with these sites is that you have one of the picture things where you have to verify that you are not a robot. Not easy to back track/edit your search.
www.raileurope.co.uk also passed the test and came up with the £67.50 price but this only charged £1.50 commission giving a total of £69. Of course, buying via the TOC’s direct would result in no commission but they fail to show any split prices - even when 2 of the TOC’s on this route - TfW & Avanti incredibly only show the full whack price of £192.60. It looks like co-operation does exist between TfW & Trans Pennine Express as the next departure does come with a low price if going via Manchester (change) - which takes a bit longer. (Raileurope fails to load the new Worcestershire Parkway station).
So, it can all be a bit of a minefield for the unwary.
The first thing I did was a test for a trip from Cardiff to Edinburgh leaving on a Tuesday on the 10.05am from Cardiff. To pass this test, the site would need to show a change of train from TfW to Avanti at Crewe (with split) as this should result in the fastest journey at the lowest price. All of the TOC sites failed this test & only showed a price of £192.60. www.mytrainpal.com also failed this test.
Needless to say https://www.nationalrail.co.uk also failed the test but it is a very clear site.
www.traintickets.com passed the test and came up with one split at Crewe which resulted in a price of £67.50 + a fee of £12.51 as commission of 10% of the saving giving a total of £80.01. Site has excellent clarity & it is easy to edit your search..
www.trainsplit.com also passed the test but this one came up with additional splits at Leominster & Penrith as well as the one at Crewe. This came to £63.50 + £12.70 as commission at 10% of the saving giving a total of £76.20. (Splityourticket; trainscanbecheaper; trainsplitting; raileasy; splitmyfare; splitticketing all seem to go through to the trainsplit.com website).
The annoying thing with these sites is that you have one of the picture things where you have to verify that you are not a robot. Not easy to back track/edit your search.
www.raileurope.co.uk also passed the test and came up with the £67.50 price but this only charged £1.50 commission giving a total of £69. Of course, buying via the TOC’s direct would result in no commission but they fail to show any split prices - even when 2 of the TOC’s on this route - TfW & Avanti incredibly only show the full whack price of £192.60. It looks like co-operation does exist between TfW & Trans Pennine Express as the next departure does come with a low price if going via Manchester (change) - which takes a bit longer. (Raileurope fails to load the new Worcestershire Parkway station).
So, it can all be a bit of a minefield for the unwary.
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