Hi all,
Is a ticket from Crewe to Manchester Airport valid via Manchester Piccadilly?
I want to meet a friend for lunch in the city before an afternoon flight.
I suspect it isn’t valid because it double back? But I’m not sure.
Thanks for any help.
No, unfortunately not - despite the fact that there are often times when the next non-overtaken itinerary is via Manchester Piccadilly. Of course this is entirely consistent with the rail industry's claim that "most passengers wish to travel via the shortest route"
, ignoring that most just want to get to their destination as quickly as possible!
In practice I imagine it might be accepted via Piccadilly anyway, but it would be a bit of a gamble.
Instead, you could use an Off-Peak Day Return ticket to Manchester Stations to go out to Piccadilly and then back to the Airport, finishing short there.
Alternatively, there are almost always cheap Advance fares (costing between £3.50 and £6) on the stopping Northern services, and sometimes also a slightly more expensive one (£10.50) for the TfW fast. You could then add on an Advance from Piccadilly to the Airport (costing between £3.10 and £5.10), or buy a TPE only or TfW only Off-Peak Day Single for £4.60 or £4.30 respectively.
There is no need to book a long time in advance to get the above-mentioned Advance tickets, although it does tend to be cheaper to do so. I have previously bought Advances for the Northern stopper 10 minutes before getting on the train.
What you might like to do is to buy Advances for the trains you think you'll take through one of the retailers that offers fee-free changes to Advance tickets (XC, TPE or Railsmartr) and then change your Advance to another service or indeed to a walk-up ticket if your plans change - paying just the difference in price to the new fare.
