Special Offers Discussion

[alistairlees]

Why?

I'm intrigued to see what the issue or cause might be.

 

[Russel]

I'm intrigued to see what the issue or cause might be.

Tamworth - Euston 07:18, Euston - Tamworth 20:30, any Saturday in Feb.

But, unless you're familiar with the usual advance fare prices for said journeys, I'm not sure what you expect to find.

 

[alistairlees]

Saturday 24th for £9.00?

 

[Haywain]

But, unless you're familiar with the usual advance fare prices for said journeys, I'm not sure what you expect to find.

I would imagine that someone who runs a ticket retailing website might have an idea what they will be looking at. You may not know that, of course, but help is being offered and you could be a bit more gracious about it.

 

[800Travel]

I would imagine that someone who runs a ticket retailing website might have an idea what they will be looking at. You may not know that, of course, but help is being offered and you could be a bit more gracious about it.

On the subject of which, @alistairlees - please may you take a look at https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/uber-trains-ticketing.261394/ for me? Might be a bug that hasn't yet been raised. Thank you

 

[Russel]

I would imagine that someone who runs a ticket retailing website might have an idea what they will be looking at. You may not know that, of course, but help is being offered and you could be a bit more gracious about it.

The journeys I quoted are journeys I regularly make, the prices being quoted via the usual booking engines are in line with the advance fares usually available...

If there are fares available at upto 50% for these journeys that I'm not seeing, then please, point me in the right direction...

Saturday 24th for £9.00?

No cheaper than the advance fares usually available.

Edit, is this £9 return, in which case yes that's cheaper than usual, however I'm looking now and can only see £9 out and £11 return, which is around the price I'd normally pay a month in advance.

I actually booked tickets on Friday and just checked the priced I paid, before the sale started, for the same journeys on Feb 17th, I paid exactly the same as the fares currently on offer.

 

[Silver Cobra]

LNER's sale seems to be as restrictive as it was when the last GBRS ran in 2022. No availability of the sale fares on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays, and where they are available it is only on northbound services after 0930 (except for Kings Cross and Stevenage where the 'peak' restrictions are used instead of the blanket 0930 restriction) and southbound services arriving into Kings Cross/Stevenage after 1008.

One other restriction that doesn't seem to be mentioned on their GBRS page is that it seems the fares are only available on direct services. The fares not being available for journeys involving connecting travel with other TOCs is fair enough, but I haven't been able to find any sale fares for journeys wholly on LNER services other than direct services with no changes. For example, looking at Stevenage to Newcastle, there is no availability for this journey for most of the day, even when the journey involves using LNER to Peterborough/Doncaster and changing to another LNER service to continue onward to Newcastle. Effectively in this case, the only sale fares available from Stevenage to Newcastle are after 8pm when there are a few direct services. I admit I have only looked at Stevenage in this regard, so other stations could have sale fares available that involve changing between LNER services en route.

 

[ServerHoster]

Northern only seem to be discounting selected Advance tickets. Even at the discounted prices two Advance singles are still more than 50% of an Off Peak Day Return on the journeys I've tried.

Yep, Northwich to Manchester is £4.00 each way when booked early enough in advance.
The rail sale discounts this to..... £3.80 each way.
An amazing 5% saving

 

[Kite159]

I managed to get Nottingham - St Pancras using a split advance in the sale for £16 on a direct train (rather than messing around with changing at Long Eaton or Kettering like some options were showing as last night when I checked for around £25-£35). I'm happy with that.

Although I noticed the Sale advances for Wakefield - Nottingham were only a pound or so cheaper which I turned down as it's worth getting into Nottingham a couple of hours earlier for the extra pound.

 

[Chiltern006]

Can’t get anything for Carlisle to Edinburgh, still staying the same prices as normal

That being said, that is for TPE however that is best connection wise

 

[CyrusWuff]

Tamworth - Euston 07:18, Euston - Tamworth 20:30, any Saturday in Feb.

But, unless you're familiar with the usual advance fare prices for said journeys, I'm not sure what you expect to find.

Sale prices look to be £4.50 Single on London Northwestern or £9.00 on Avanti, subject to availability.

Looking on the GWR site, London Northwestern are only offering Sale tickets on the 0608 from Tamworth that day, then nothing until 1456. Leaving Euston they're only available on the 0643, 0746 or 0846. For Avanti, they're only available on the 0649 or 0718 from Tamworth, and the 0633 from Euston.

 

[davews]

Yes it seems as usual with these offers they do nothing for us with railcards. There are as expected no tickets available from Martins Heron. I did find Reading to Oxford at £5 each way but add the cost of travel to Reading.... A day return Martins Heron to Oxford with senior railcard is just £11.40 with no advance booking, go figure.

 

[A S Leib]

Can’t get anything for Carlisle to Edinburgh, still staying the same prices as normal

I've found Newcastle – Edinburgh for ~£8 return and even without the sale Carlisle – Newcastle advances for <£4 each way aren't uncommon, although when the any permitted off-peak day return with a railcard's £26, the extra two hours of journey time might seem less attractive.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Can’t get anything for Carlisle to Edinburgh, still staying the same prices as normal

That being said, that is for TPE however that is best connection wise

Looks to be £4.50 Single for TPE, and Avanti aren't offering them on that flow.

 

[A S Leib]

Looks to be £4.50 Single for TPE, and Avanti aren't offering them on that flow.

Avanti's more expensive for Edinburgh from Penrith; £11 vs £5.50 for TPE, so an Avanti return from Penrith is only £3 less than an Avanti off-peak day return and £8 below the any off-peak day return.

 

[Hophead]

Are Thameslink taking part? Using the GBRS landing page and perusing "trains from" Gatwick, the "trains to" list reveals nothing for the likes of Cambridge, Hitchin & Peterborough. Typing "bed" doesn't bring up Bedford, just Bedhampton & Bedminster.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Sale prices look to be £4.50 Single on London Northwestern or £9.00 on Avanti, subject to availability.

Looking on the GWR site, London Northwestern are only offering Sale tickets on the 0608 from Tamworth that day, then nothing until 1456. Leaving Euston they're only available on the 0643, 0746 or 0846. For Avanti, they're only available on the 0649 or 0718 from Tamworth, and the 0633 from Euston.

Nuneaton to London can be had for a tenner even non rail sale!

 

[MrJeeves]

Are Thameslink taking part? Using the GBRS landing page and perusing "trains from" Gatwick, the "trains to" list reveals nothing for the likes of Cambridge, Hitchin & Peterborough. Typing "bed" doesn't bring up Bedford, just Bedhampton & Bedminster.

Lots of fares to/from London. I can get flexible Thameslink only tickets from my local station to London Terminals for £8.80.

 

[AY1975]

Is Transport for Wales taking part in the sale?

Yes, looks like they are at least according to the Rail Delivery Group's central booking page (I tried entering Cardiff Central to Tenby). It would also appear that Grand Central is but not Hull Trains or Lumo (at least if you enter King's Cross to Hull or Edinburgh on the central booking page it only comes up with LNER, not HT or Lumo).

Apart from that, AFAIK the only other English TOC not taking part is Merseyrail.

 

[1D54]

Just booked a return Stafford - Glasgow Central and the rail sale advance is dearer than the advance single on the return trip.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Just booked a return Stafford - Glasgow Central and the rail sale advance is dearer than the advance single on the return trip.

Can the sale one be refunded though, even minus a fee?

 

[1D54]

Can the sale one be refunded though, even minus a fee?

In the event of industrial action I'm sure it will be so I'm in no rush to collect them from the station.

 

[Medicy]

Lots of fares to/from London. I can get flexible Thameslink only tickets from my local station to London Terminals for £8.80.

Only for off-peak day returns towards London (not the reverse) was what I found looking from Cambridge

 

[Hophead]

Only for off-peak day returns towards London (not the reverse) was what I found looking from Cambridge

And neither for tickets through London so far as I can see from my brief investigations (from the south anyway).

 

[Silver Cobra]

Thameslink's GBRS page states that only off-peak day return tickets to London and only selected routes are part of the sale, which I believe was also the case during the previous sale.

https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/destinations-and-offers/offers/great-british-rail-sale

Tickets must be puchased 7 days in advance and are subject to availability. Promotional tickets are available on Off-Peak Day Return tickets to London only on selected routes. Please read the full terms and conditions below.

I imagine this also extends to Great Northern as well.

 

[diy_dude]

It says it's valid for journeys across England and Wales and for cross border trips into Scotland. Does this mean it won't be valid for internal trips in Scotland?

Yep that's how I read it, I guess ScotRail aren't a part of it.

I've just bought a discounted ticket from Leuchars to Edinburgh via the forums trainsplit link, so I guess Scotland is still part of Great Britain!

• Leuchars to Haymarket, Rail Sale Advance Single, 1 adult @ £4.50, 1 child @ £2.25 (ticket restrictions), (1)

 

[dk1]

Has the sale been successful does anybody know yet? Not really heard much about it personally.

 

[RuddA]

Has the sale been successful does anybody know yet? Not really heard much about it personally.

A colleague found that what GA is offering from Norwich to London was quite disappointing and is waiting for the next Hares Fares promotion instead.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Has the sale been successful does anybody know yet? Not really heard much about it personally.

Only bought a couple of slightly cheaper Advances from Woodsmoor to Manchester Piccadilly and back on the national sale

 

[peri]

Has the sale been successful does anybody know yet? Not really heard much about it personally.

I've not found anything worthwhile from Hull, but already filled up from the Northern and TPE sales.
The best I could find was a £6 single Hull to Newcastle, and I'd use a complimentary Northern to get back on the scenic route.
A trip down south would have been nice.