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York and Shipley - London

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bennorthyork

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The train tickets haven't been release yet for 25 / 26 August but I'm hoping someone can answer in principle what are likely to be my cheapest options for the following so as soon as they are released I can book.

We have 4 adults and 1 child age 5 wanting to travel for the weekend to London. We have 1 family railcard. 2 adults are travelling from Shipley, 2 adults and 1 child travelling from York.

We need the following journeys:
2 adults + 1 child return York - London
2 adults return Shipley - London

We are lookiing to all travel to arrive in London to arrive at about the same time on the Saturday morning to arrive for ideally around 10.30. Nobody wants to set off too early, ie not before 07.00. Then on the Sunday to leave London at approx 16.00. We definitely want to go by train, not coach. Neither group wants to change trains more than once if possible.

It would be easier for the 2 adults + 1 child to change trains as the 2 adults from Shipley are older and would find it harder to change trains.

We would ideally like to travel as much as possible together. So one, obvious suggestion is we meet on a train at Doncaster with those travelling from Shipley catching the 07.39 from Shipley to KGX on the Saturday. Those travelling from York catch the 07.55 and we meet the train from Shipley at Doncaster. Then on the Sunday we all catch the 17.05 from KGX with those for York changing at Doncasterfor the 19.11 to York.

So what's the cheapest way to get tickets for this journey combination? Is it simply 4 adults + 1 child on the trains from Doncaster to London return with the cheapest advances. With separate tickets Shipley - Doncaster return and York - Doncaster return? Or is there some better way to split the tickets or excess some tickets?

Thanks in advance.
 
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John @ home

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We would ideally like to travel as much as possible together.
You could have more time together if the 2 adults + 1 child booked York - London via Leeds tickets and travelled:

Saturday
0726 York - Leeds 0752
0805 Leeds - Kings X 1030

Sunday
1705 Kings X - Leeds 1927
1940 Leeds - York 2004
 

IanD

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As long as both groups travel "together" for the combined part of the journey, I believe the two adults and 1 child can get a ticket from York - London with the railcard (via Leeds if necessary) and the second 2 adults can then get discounted tickets from Leeds/Doncaster (wherever they meet up with the first group) and undiscounted* tickets from/to Shipley to cover the rest of the journey.

As long as the 2 adult group doesn't try to enter/exit Leeds/Doncaster stations using the railcard discounted tickets without the railcard being present they should not have any problems.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

*If they are elderly West Yorkshire residents with a Metro issued concessionary pass then they would be entitled to half price train travel between Shipley and Leeds (but not Doncaster). Shipley to Leeds is £3.20 return (2 singles) with the concessionary card whereas a super off peak return Shipley to Doncaster is £21.50 (you could almost get to London and back for that with Advance tickets).
 
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bennorthyork

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Thanks for the advice so far. Would it be cheaper for those of us from York to meet those from Shipley in Leeds or Doncaster? Can you buy advance tickets York - London via Leeds?
 

calc7

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Thanks for the advice so far. Would it be cheaper for those of us from York to meet those from Shipley in Leeds or Doncaster? Can you buy advance tickets York - London via Leeds?

Depending on the time of day, either route could be cheaper. Sometimes it is easier to get York to London via Leeds fares to show on the East Coast website by selecting Calling at: Micklefield in the Timetables Only section to put yourself on the (from my experience, cheaper) Northern stopper.
 

bennorthyork

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If I buy 4 adults + 1 child with famly railcard tickets from York - London via Leeds but only 2 adults + 1 child travel from York and the rest join at Leeds will the tickets be valid?
 

Stats

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The train tickets haven't been release yet for 25 / 26 August
East Coast Advance tickets for those dates are available from London Midland, Southern, Greater Anglia, TakeTheTrain, Virgin and Chiltern but not East Coast.
 
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yorkie

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If I buy 4 adults + 1 child with famly railcard tickets from York - London via Leeds but only 2 adults + 1 child travel from York and the rest join at Leeds will the tickets be valid?
If you are asking if you can start short at Leeds on an Advance ticket from York, the official answer of course is no.

If you are asking if the people who are boarding at Leeds will in fact be combining 2 tickets for one journey (Shipley-London on Shipley-Leeds + York-London via Leeds tickets) and they do not exit railway premises at Leeds, then there is a good case to be made to say that is valid, but we do not have universal agreement on that issue, and some people believe it is not valid.

Thanks for the advice so far. Would it be cheaper for those of us from York to meet those from Shipley in Leeds or Doncaster? Can you buy advance tickets York - London via Leeds?
York - London fares are the same price as Leeds - London, Leeds - London is valid via York and York - London is valid via Leeds.

However what it will actually boil down to is availability. There tends to be more availability of cheap tickets on trains that start at Leeds & York, and less availability on trains that start in Scotland or at Newcastle, but it varies by time of day, any sporting events that are taking place and any other factors that will affect demand and supply.
 

John @ home

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Can you buy advance tickets York - London via Leeds?
Yes. Fares available with East Coast online discount for the previous weekend are currently:

Saturday 18 Aug 2012
0726 York - 0752 Leeds 0805- Kings X 1030
F&F Railcard
2 Adults @ 13.85 + 1 Child @ 4.00 = £31.70

Sunday 19 Aug 2012
1705 Kings X - 1927 Leeds 1940 - York 2004
F&F Railcard
2 Adults @ 18.40 + 1 Child @ 5.30 = £42.10

Total £73.80
 
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There are no advance fares between Leeds and York but one option could be to buy off peak returns between York and Bradford which will be £24.15 for 2 adults and a child with family railcard. I dont think there is nothing stopping you from starting/finishing short on these tickets so you can go to Leeds on the sat and back on the sun with these tickets (a off peak rtn doesnt seem to exist between Leeds and York). This then allows you all to use the family & friends railcard discount for your advance fares from Leeds-KX. The 2 people coming from Shipley will have to buy singles between Leeds and Shipley both ways but can still use the direct train.
Go on the East Coast website from Thursday morning, keep checking from about 8am onwards, this is when the advance fares are usually released, you will get an extra 10% off using the EC website on advance fares.
Ill add im by no means a expert and this is only one option of many.
 

Oscar

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There are no advance fares between Leeds and York but one option could be to buy off peak returns between York and Bradford which will be £24.15 for 2 adults and a child with family railcard. I dont think there is nothing stopping you from starting/finishing short on these tickets so you can go to Leeds on the sat and back on the sun with these tickets (a off peak rtn doesnt seem to exist between Leeds and York).

York - Bradford Off-Peak Returns have restriction 8A (no time restriction, no break of journey on the outbound portion).
York - Leeds Off-Peak Returns (yes, they do exist) have restriction I3 (not valid before 09:00 Monday - Friday on the outbound portion). They are the same price.
 
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Ahh didnt realise you could get them to Leeds, given they are for travel on saturday morning i assume the before 0900 restriction is mon-fri and would not apply so maybe the OP could just get them?
 
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Oscar

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Yes, of course it is a Mon-Fri restriction, as all Off-Peak restrictions are. I have amended my post.
 

Hadders

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The release of advance tickets for East Coast services appears to have been on Sunday mornings over the past few weeks.

As has previously been said by Stats East Coast advance fares can be purchased on several non-EC websites for travel on these dates already but not (for some obscure reason) through East Coast themselves!
 

Oscar

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The reason as mentioned on this forum before is apparently to stop people booking walk-up tickets before EC Advances become available. East Coast put a block on all bookings after a certain date to stop this happening but the system obviously doesn't seem to work very well.
 

yorkie

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EC advances are available beyond the dates that EC will sell them, but there are some strange things going on with the price, I suspect due to the Olympics. In some cases the price goes down. The worst affected are trains heading to London late morning, at a time when prices are normally reasonable when tickets first go on sale.

I've also known York - London be cheaper than Doncaster - London and other strange things, for the same train.
 
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yorkie

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No idea why I put that, I meant to London! I've corrected the post.
 

bennorthyork

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Am I right in thinking that each TOC gets a quota of tickets for each route. So for example York - London one TOC could sell their advance tickets on that route before another?
 

yorkie

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Am I right in thinking that each TOC gets a quota of tickets for each route. So for example York - London one TOC could sell their advance tickets on that route before another?
GC decides its own quota for its trains, EC decides its own quota for its trains. If a change at Doncaster or Leeds is required, then it also depends on availability on TPE/XC services as appropriate.

It can be cheaper to split at Newark or Grantham (or, in fewer cases, Peterborough) as sometimes the cheapest quota remains available between York & Newark/Grantham as generally the Southern part of the route sells out of quota first.

Indigo2 has done some research on quota, you can do an advanced Search for posts by Indigo2 containing the keyword quotas to find more information, e.g. this post from 2 weeks ago.
 

bluenoxid

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Has anyone looked at GC either from Doncaster or York (with the Shipley peeps going to York).
 

bennorthyork

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I now see 25 / 26 August tickets for sale on East Coast. Cheapest fare on either day 1 way York or Leeds to KGX starts at £27.90 single for 1 adult. Normally they have fares from £10.25. So should I wait to see if cheaper fares will be released later or should I book now? :) Maybe they will be no cheaper that weekend?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
8 hours later and very few cheaper fares available for more obscure times only. Beginning to wonder if this is just going to be an expensive weekend!
 
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