London to Newcastle Cheap Tickets help?

[London2Newc]

Hi there,

New to the forum, I am a student from London and I need to visit Newcastle every month or so, sometimes more, I have been looking at sites like thetrainline etc and i've been confused with the prices quoted, they do seem a bit random at times.

Of course I do have a 16-25 Railcard so I can shave 33% off.

What I need is to book tickets from London, I understand Kings Cross offers a direct service to Newcastle. Although I am willing to change/stop over to get the cheapest tickets.

Details:

I need to go from London Kings Cross (KGX) to Newcastle (NCL), on or around the 14th of July returning on or around the 17th of July

I have a 16-25 Railcard, I have no problem with stopping over somewhere or changing trains or seats.

Do not mind being booked on a certain train, do not require insurance or refunds.

Times are flexible, although preferably leaving after 9AM - and arriving before 8PM.

Would appreciate any advice on getting cheaper tickets, even if it's not for this journey - future dates would be helpful.

Best Regards

 

[Yew]

Hi there,

New to the forum, I am a student from London and I need to visit Newcastle every month or so, sometimes more, I have been looking at sites like thetrainline etc and i've been confused with the prices quoted, they do seem a bit random at times.

Of course I do have a 16-25 Railcard so I can shave 33% off.

What I need is to book tickets from London, I understand Kings Cross offers a direct service to Newcastle. Although I am willing to change/stop over to get the cheapest tickets.

Details:

I need to go from London Kings Cross (LGX) to Newcastle (NCL), on or around the 14th of July returning on or around the 17th of July

I have a 16-25 Railcard, I have no problem with stopping over somewhere or changing trains or seats.

Do not mind being booked on a certain train, do not require insurance or refunds.

Times are flexible, although preferably leaving after 9AM - and arriving before 8PM.

Would appreciate any advice on getting cheaper tickets, even if it's not for this journey - future dates would be helpful.

Best Regards

Your best bet would be to head over to east coast (the train company for the east coast mainline) on this link http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/ Im seeing prices around 16-20 quid one way in standard class, and some tickets for 30 quid in first. I would reccoment you travel first for at least one way as you can get some nice freebies. (drinks, food, you get free alcohol on evening services ) And if a service is packed in standard, sometime it will be a matter of pennies to upgrade.

 

[Squaddie]

Bear in mind that you will only get the very lowest fares if you book as soon as tickets become available, which is normally about 12 weeks before the date of travel. The later you leave it, the more expensive the tickets become.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Yew and Squaddie are correct, but to emphasise the variations in prices, Advance EastCoast tickets are currently available up to mid August, and those in that last week of availability include some at £9:95 (singles). You don't get much better than that!
But as time progresses, the cheaper ones dissapear, and Advances for these same trains this week are now £32:30 (singles)

However, for journeys closer to today's date where EC's prices are higher, and if you don't mind the time restriction and travelling to Sunderland then Grand Central might be useful for £15 (single) tickets without any pre-booking. (You can even just turn up and pay on the train). Available until July 24th only on:
07:49 from Kings Cross to Sunderland, and
17:31 from Sunderland to Kings Cross.
(different times on Saturdays)
Change at Sunderland - Grand Central to/from London is on the same platform as Metro to Newcastle.
Details here.

 

[island]

And never buy on thetrainline; they are always more expensive than buying directly from a train operating company.

 

[London2Newc]

And never buy on thetrainline; they are always more expensive than buying directly from a train operating company.

I don't think so, I checked a fare with East Coast and they had a cheaper ticket available, about £5 cheaper single including booking fee. Maybe I have to liase with multiple websites?

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I saw a couple of £9.90 singles - when are these exactly released? I've looked 12 weeks in advance and some fares are massive like £77, they are more like on the day price from the station?

 

[yorkie]

I don't think so, I checked a fare with East Coast and they had a cheaper ticket available, about £5 cheaper single including booking fee. Maybe I have to liase with multiple websites?

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I saw a couple of £9.90 singles - when are these exactly released? I've looked 12 weeks in advance and some fares are massive like £77, they are more like on the day price from the station?

Can you provide print screens of the fare being £5 cheaper? Did you say £5 cheaper with East Coast? If so, that isn't disagreeing with Island. But then you say booking fee - that does not apply with EC. It is unclear who "they" are in the above post, sorry.

Fares are released roughly 12 weeks in advance, on Thursdays. You can sign up to get a notification email for a date of your choice.

£77 is a lot of money, but there is no walk-on single at that fare. However two £77 singles is a lot more than the cheapest walk-on return fare.

Assuming your final destination is King's Cross (or Liverpool St via Cambridge or St Pancras via Derby) the fares available from the station on the day (walk-on) are:
Super Off Peak Rtn £110.70
Off Peak Rtn £197.80
Anytime Return £287.00

(Also there is the Weekender at £166.00 which allows peak travel on a Friday morning as a cheaper way of getting a peak train but it is only valid if you spend at least one night away, but you can't return any later than Monday)

 

[island]

If you put a ticket into your basket on one website and it was the last ticket at that fare, other websites will show the next fare up if you search immediately elsewhere. The ticket will be released after a period of time.

If London2Newc could provide the origin, destination, date, and time (and ideally screenprints) relating to the fare which he/she found a cheaper ticket on thetrainline.com, I would be very interested.

 

[robertbishop]

I used to not know much about getting cheap train tickets and I think this is the situation London2Newc is in. I think we can end up complicating it a bit, describing other ways, and all he/she wants to know is how to get there cheaply.

I put the details into East Coast, and got this:

14/7: 12:30 from London, arr 15:45, £16.15.
17:7: 09:25 from Newcastle, arr 12:50, £20.90.

Total £37.05.

Simples. I'm 90% sure it won't be any different on any other website.

...Unless you want to go with the Grand Central deal DaveNewcastle described.

Robert

Edit: I'm an idiot, just looked on National Rail and can't find the same fares. Doesn't matter though, if East Coast shows it, you can buy it.

 

[me123]

I used to not know much about getting cheap train tickets and I think this is the situation London2Newc is in. I think we can end up complicating it a bit, describing other ways, and all he/she wants to know is how to get there cheaply.

I put the details into East Coast, and got this:

14/7: 12:30 from London, arr 15:45, £16.15.
17:7: 09:25 from Newcastle, arr 12:50, £20.90.

Total £37.05.

Simples. I'm 90% sure it won't be any different on any other website.

I'm 100% sure that it will be different. East Coast sell their own Advance tickets with a 10% online discount, so that's the best option available.

 

[robertbishop]

My mistake, didn't know there was a discount.