Great Ticket Sale courtesy of Grant Shapps

[mangyiscute]

However should be able to alight at preston park and take the bus which should chop a bit of time off.

I noticed on the GWR website it said that you couldn't depart/alight from an intermediate station with these tickets - although how they would police that with off peak tickets im not sure. Plus, I'm pretty sure that Preston Park has no barriers so I guess it definitely wouldn't be an issue

 

[dodecahedron67]

Managed to nab £19.80 ret York/Kings X, though no railsale tix available on Fridays with LNER it seemed

 

[alistairlees]

does anyone know, if you buy an off peak ticket in the sale, is it valid for exchange and/or refund like how normal off peak tickets are?

There are no changes to T&Cs

I noticed on the GWR website it said that you couldn't depart/alight from an intermediate station with these tickets - although how they would police that with off peak tickets im not sure. Plus, I'm pretty sure that Preston Park has no barriers so I guess it definitely wouldn't be an issue

GWR are only doing Advance tickets in the Rail Sale.
Thameslink are only doing Off-Peak tickets in the Rail Sale.

 

[Master29]

Looks like the system has crashed. Can't get on LNER or GWR at the moment.

 

[mangyiscute]

There are no changes to T&Cs


GWR are only doing Advance tickets in the Rail Sale.
Thameslink are only doing Off-Peak tickets in the Rail Sale.

ah thanks, that makes sense

 

[tommy2215]

Just booked a day trip next week from Chesterfield to St Pancras for just £18. The tickets are on offer all day not just off peak so got plenty of time in the capital!

 

[Adam Williams]

Surely they shouldn't have been doing that

Fares are sold in accordance with what RCS permits, what's encoded in the fares data and what TOCs make available in RARS2.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Surely they shouldn't have been doing that

I've no idea, it's not a split ticket, it's just a bog standard advance single. I assumed it was a normal AP ticket and only noticed "rail sale" on the email confirmation.

Could well be a renamed AP tier or even a pricing error by GTR.

 

[jamesontheroad]

- for almost every TOC, only Standard Class Advance is available in the Rail Sale. The exceptions are: LNER (also includes 1st Class Advance), Avanti (also includes Standard Premium), GWR (also includes 1st Class Advance), Thameslink / Great Northern (Off-Peak only as they don't have any Advance fares) and c2c (Off-Peak only as they don't have any Advance fares)

Has anyone had any luck with Thameslink or Great Northern?

I'm looking for a late evening journey from Kings Cross to Cambridge North.

 

[Haywain]

Fares are sold in accordance with what RCS permits, what's encoded in the fares data and what TOCs make available in RARS2.

OK, let's try 'surely that shouldn't have been possible'. Just shows that even under alleged common control trying to get train companies to act together is like trying to herd cats.

 

[DanNCL]

I have had luck with LNER, booking a return trip from Newcastle to Kings Cross next week, split tickets via Leeds.

 

[Haywain]

I'm looking for a late evening journey from Kings Cross to Cambridge North.

When?

 

[danielcanning]

This ‘sale’ sounds so restrictive I don’t think I’ll bother even looking for tickets…

 

[Hassocks5489]

LNER Newcastle-London Kings Cross £19.80 Advance single secured for early evening on Monday 9th May. No joy with journeys to Newcastle on Thursday 5th, though. Still makes my trip cheaper than expected!

 

[mike57]

Just been on LNER website to see if we could book tickets to visit relatives in Peterborough, LNER are only offering tickets Monday to Thursday, so not much help as I dont want to take a day off work. Our preference was for Saturday, or Friday at a push as I only loose half a days work. Also looking at TPE for a Manchester trip to visit freinds, very little availability at weekends.

 

[ant_bingley]

So, https://greatbritishrailsale.nationalrail.co.uk/#/great-british-rail-sale lists 69 discounted advances available from Shipley (SHY).

Of these, only 1 is for Northern: Shipley to Leeds @ £1.60 and there's good availability. There's around 10 other "normal" advances from Shipley, but I suppose Northern have decided not to include all these in this sale, fair enough.

All the others are for LNER so no use whatsoever to the low numbers of departures from Shipley. Particularly Shipley to Keighley for 70p or Shipley to Skipton for £1.60. None of the northbound LNER services stop at Shipley due to the short platform 2, so there's no LNER services to actually travel on.

But those 68 useless fares from Shipley will no doubt be adding to some stats somewhere, when expressing the percentage of discounted fares available. (cynical head on)

 

[Mike@Raileasy]

Indeed, how could they - there should have been no availability

precisely

 

[CaptainHaddock]

A number of companies seem to be offering rail sale tickets on the outward journey but not the return especially on weekdays, so by the time you've added the cost of a full price advance single for your return leg the total cost isn't that much cheaper than normal. It all looks like a rather cynical marketing exercise to me

 

[Silver Cobra]

I've nabbed myself tickets for a journey from Peterborough to Newcastle for myself and my mum for mid-May, and a journey from Peterborough to Doncaster for myself a week later (hoping to travel on 225 sets on this day). Sale tickets with LNER seem to only be available on Monday to Thursday and only departures after 9am.

 

[Andy Pacer]

This ‘sale’ sounds so restrictive I don’t think I’ll bother even looking for tickets…

If you read the posts plenty of people are reporting their bargains. I've already spent too much money this morning and had bought most of mine before the alleged 10am start.

 

[nlogax]

Only just watched Shapps' video. Cringed myself inside out in the process.

 

[SynthD]

Will these be available on the day? With no returns in the scheme, I want to keep some flexibility. I see I can save 80% in that case.

 

[Howardh]

If you read the posts plenty of people are reporting their bargains. I've already spent too much money this morning and had bought most of mine before the alleged 10am start.

The temptation is to buy tickets that you don't really want just because you can, so there's no real economy! I've limited myself to two journeys, one I was taking anyway and a day trip to London. Wonder how many pax will have the tickets but won't show up?

 

[Mark J]

A load of rubbish, here is why I say that.

I go on to to the Great British Rail Sale website and type in Reading to Birmingham New Street.

I am told that tickets are available for £12. I am then directed to the XC website.

I then type in the journey (Reading to Birmingham), try various dates and times, only to find the cheapest tickets are £30.60 single (£61.20 return).

I also do the same for Reading to Cardiff Central.

Again, the Great British Rail Sale website tells me tickets are £20.

I go onto the GWR website, try various dates and times. The cheapest I can find is £38.90 single (£77.80 return)

Why is it always so difficult to find these promotional prices?

 

[Andy Pacer]

The temptation is to buy tickets that you don't really want just because you can, so there's no real economy! I've limited myself to two journeys, one I was taking anyway and a day trip to London. Wonder how many pax will have the tickets but won't show up?

Possibly a few, although it's not quite the same as the Northern 10p sales!
I've taken the opportunity to buy tickets for journeys I will be making (i.e. where I already have rovers planned and accommodation booked but still need to book tickets to/from the actual trip) as well as a bargain day trip in London, which whilst its a trip I wouldn't have made otherwise, it's a bargain so maybe it is an economy depending which way you look at it.

 

[Adam Williams]

OK, let's try 'surely that shouldn't have been possible'. Just shows that even under alleged common control trying to get train companies to act together is like trying to herd cats.

100% agree!

 

[James H]

I’m in Belgium at the moment and they currently have a promotion which allows two passengers to travel for the price of one.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

I’m in Belgium at the moment and they currently have a promotion which allows two passengers to travel for the price of one.

Some of these rail sale "deals" are so poor (Cross Country in particular) that the prices are the equivalent of one person travelling for the price of two!

 

[JonathanH]

Will these be available on the day?

No. The terms and conditions explicitly state that they can't be booked on the day.

Why is it always so difficult to find these promotional prices?

Probably because they want to encourage travel on services that aren't already expected to be busy.

I picked a random day in the period - Thursday 28 April and all trains between 12.43 and 16.43 from Reading to Cardiff are showing at £20 on the GWR booking engine, a saving of £3.80 on the standard advance fare.

 

[Mike395]

Will these be available on the day? With no returns in the scheme, I want to keep some flexibility. I see I can save 80% in that case.

Unfortunately not - need to buy before the day of travel.

Some of these rail sale "deals" are so poor (Cross Country in particular) that the prices are the equivalent of one person travelling for the price of two!

Haha! But yes, seems that it's particularly worth looking for split tickets on journeys involving CrossCountry - A few searches I've done today on Trainsplit have given advances on other TOCs either side of a short, more expensive, CrossCountry leg.