May late Bank Holiday and National Rail ticket query

[WolvertonWorks]

My friend wants to travel from Milton Keynes (MKC) to a wedding in Penzance. Outwards Saturday 24th May arriving by 17:00 and returning Monday 26th May after about 10:30.

I have been keeping an eye on ticket availability for her.

The Forum's new ticketing site can find a variety of tickets but National Rail is still not showing Monday as being a date one can select to find tickets.

Does anyone know why? Is it that engineering works are still not settled for Monday, although Saturday is.

Thanks

 

[alistairlees]

It’s more than 12 weeks away. This is the industry standard horizon for advance fares being released, and trains being open for reservation. Of course there is much variation in this by geography, TOC, route, strike dates, engineering and booking horizon. The industry is incapable of putting forward a simple message to the public, and then delivering to it.

 

[Vexed]

GWR have very well-priced advances for traveling via London, including from Milton Keynes. Looking at Sat 12th April for example there are advances as low as £48 for Milton Keynes to Penzance on TrainSplit. This is arriving at around 20:00 though and available on the semi fast LNWR train to London.
You can see where each company is at here with their dates.

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/advance-booking-dates/

I would suggest looking at what's available on the dates near the end of the period where booking is possible and use this to guess what will be possible in May*. It seems the cheaper Advances involve travel on LNWR which are running behind with their booking horizon.

Arriving at Penzance before/around 17:00 means leaving Paddington on the 11:03 or 12:03. These are busy trains over the summer, so will be more expensive than others on the same day or the same departure time at other times of year. Travelling earlier or later will most likely be cheaper and somewhat quieter.

I'd try to get a direct train from Paddington. Changing at Plymouth/Exeter can sometimes be cheaper but booking this far ahead you should find some reasonable direct services. I'd avoid the Cross Country trains you can get by heading north from Milton Keynes, as they can get very crowded, which can be an issue if you don't board them at the origin.

*Advance tickets are entirely unregulated and train companies can set availability however they like, but big changes are uncommon.

 

[Haywain]

I would suggest looking at what's available on the dates near the end of the period where booking is possible and use this to guess what will be possible in May*

Although bear in mind that Monday 26th May is a public holiday and that is likely to push prices up.

 

[WolvertonWorks]

Thanks, I was getting a bit in front of myself as 26th May is exactly 12 weeks today, although still not appearing on the National Rail site.

As Saturday appeared to be showing advances from last week I was expecting Monday to appear over the weekend. We will be patient.

Thanks again.

 

[alistairlees]

Often availability is uploaded once a week on Fridays. But it varies by TOC, route, and week. Just keep checking!