The craziness of ticket pricing and how i'm saving money

[fouldsc]

I have a disabled railcard (hard of hearing in one ear , it's ridiculous I qualify but I do!) - anyway I have to travel into london on peak three times a week.
Using trainpal with split tickets and the railcard is so much cheaper than a season ticket it is ridiculous.
Someones trainpal issues some very interesting tickets ..... for example you choose the 5:30am train for super cheap train ticket (I guess because it's half empty) but when you go through to checkout see what tickets it's going to issue.
9 times out of 10 it's an anytime single rather than an advanced single, so you pay the advanced price but get a useful ticket. So I buy those and then get the 8am train - been ticket scanned many times and they always happy so it's legit.

So my advice to everyone is see if you can qualify for a railcard in any shape or form and use trainpal and look for that little cheat system.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@fouldsc. Welcome to the forum. If the journey is one way from Leicester to London (Terminals), what are you being issued with? A railcard discounted Anytime Day Single at £72.25? Something else? Any fees added on?

 

[fouldsc]

Split via market harbourgh - depends on what train you pick you get an advanced or anytime single , just play around with times till you get the ticket you want but the price remains around £75-80 return

 

[AlterEgo]

The forum's own site has a much better splitting engine. https://tickets.railforums.co.uk/

9 times out of 10 it's an anytime single rather than an advanced single, so you pay the advanced price but get a useful ticket.

There is no such thing as paying an "advanced price" for an Anytime Single, or a split of Anytimes. This is just ticket splitting!

 

[LittleRedTrain]

9 times out of 10 it's an anytime single rather than an advanced single, so you pay the advanced price but get a useful ticket. So I buy those and then get the 8am train - been ticket scanned many times and they always happy so it's legit.

So my advice to everyone is see if you can qualify for a railcard in any shape or form and use trainpal and look for that little cheat system.

Worth bearing in mind that the Disabled Railcard doesn't have any minimum fare or peak time restrictions on it, unlike most others (Senior, 16-25 etc).
Therefore, if you are issued an Anytime Single, be careful to check that it's actually valid at the time you want to use it, according to the T&Cs of the Railcard you hold.

 

[transportphoto]

Therefore, if you are issued an Anytime Single, be careful to check that it's actually valid at the time you want to use it, according to the T&Cs of the Railcard you hold.

The OP has a Disabled Persons Railcard. This adds no extra restriction so they do not need to be careful when using an anytime single (except to ensure the train stops at the split point, where relevant).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Therefore, if you are issued an Anytime Single, be careful to check that it's actually valid at the time you want to use it, according to the T&Cs of the Railcard you hold.

Also need to check that your train into London (from Leicester) does actually call at Market Harborough if using tickets which are split there, as @transportphoto has since noted. Many trains don't call at the station.

 

[hexagon789]

Worth bearing in mind that the Disabled Railcard doesn't have any minimum fare or peak time restrictions on it, unlike most others (Senior, 16-25 etc).
Therefore, if you are issued an Anytime Single, be careful to check that it's actually valid at the time you want to use it, according to the T&Cs of the Railcard you hold.

The OP has a Disabled Persons Railcard. This adds no extra restriction so they do not need to be careful when using an anytime single (except to ensure the train stops at the split point, where relevant).

I assume @LittleRedTrain means an Advance Single, not an Anytime?

 

[LittleRedTrain]

I was referring to the OP's suggestion that you should see if you qualify for any railcard in any way to benefit from these great prices.
I wanted to make it clear that not all railcards would allow you the option of using the Anytime Single on an earlier train, only the Disabled Railcard.

 

[transportphoto]

I was referring to the OP's suggestion that you should see if you qualify for any railcard in any way to benefit from these great prices.
I wanted to make it clear that not all railcards would allow you the option of using the Anytime Single on an earlier train, only the Disabled Railcard.

Ahhh. I’m with you, and makes sense given the context of being directed at others rather than the OP

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I wanted to make it clear that not all railcards would allow you the option of using the Anytime Single on an earlier train, only the Disabled Railcard.

So, what other railcards would potentially work with the Market Harborough split, albeit subject, perhaps, to a minimum fare? (Don't think a 'Two Together' railcard would normally ever be valid on a midweek morning before 9.30 a.m., so that's one that can be excluded).

 

[Silver Cobra]

So, what other railcards would potentially work with the Market Harborough split, albeit subject, perhaps, to a minimum fare? (Don't think a 'Two Together' railcard would normally ever be valid on a midweek morning before 9.30 a.m., so that's one that can be excluded).

The Senior Railcard should work, as the 9:30am restriction on that only applies to journeys wholly within the 'Network Area' (which in the case of the MML would be from Bedford southwards, so discounted tickets from Market Harborough are available before 9:30am).

 

[yorksrob]

So my advice to everyone is see if you can qualify for a railcard in any shape or form and use trainpal and look for that little cheat system.

Unfortunately, my wonky eyes don't qualify me. The industry is determined to prevent me from obtaining a network wide railcard under any circumstance.

 

[fouldsc]

The forum's own site has a much better splitting engine. https://tickets.railforums.co.uk/


There is no such thing as paying an "advanced price" for an Anytime Single, or a split of Anytimes. This is just ticket splitting!

I think you misunderstand or I explained badly. There is a a 'quirk' to some of the apps - you select an advance fare but when it comes to pay and you double check the tickets they actually just give you an anytime ticket.

 

[Hadders]

We could do with seeing some examples but I’d be surprised if anyone is offering better splits that the forum’s own site.

 

[1D54]

I travel Leicester - London with a railcard quite a lot and have never split at Harborough, always do it at Kettering.

 

[Starmill]

I think you misunderstand or I explained badly. There is a a 'quirk' to some of the apps - you select an advance fare but when it comes to pay and you double check the tickets they actually just give you an anytime ticket.

Can you give me a price for an example form your previous occasion of this happening please?

 

[MrJeeves]

There is a a 'quirk' to some of the apps - you select an advance fare but when it comes to pay and you double check the tickets they actually just give you an anytime ticket.

You may well be advertised an "advance split" which includes a flexible ticket.

If it was advertised as anything else, it'd give the impression that there's no particular itinerary to follow when, in reality, you need to get that train/those trains listed for that advance.

Most people don't care about the specific tickets they are sold, and just want to get from A to B for cheap.

 

[fouldsc]

We could do with seeing some examples but I’d be surprised if anyone is offering better splits that the forum’s own site.

It’s cheaper elsewhere as this place charges a commission and others don’t

 

[Hadders]

It’s cheaper elsewhere as this place charges a commission and others don’t

You’re being a bit obstructive here. Trainsplit doesn’t charge a commission but a share of savings fee.

It is possible that another site might be cheaper if it found the same splits as Trainsplit but doesn’t charge a share of savings fee.

But that isn’t what you highlighted in your opening post.

What we could do with seeing are some examples and as yet you haven’t given any.

 

[yorkie]

So my advice to everyone is see if you can qualify for a railcard in any shape or form and use trainpal and look for that little cheat system.

Do you think this is an error, and that the fares on offer through this retailer are too cheap? Do you think that flexible / semi-flexible ('walk-up') fares are being offered at the Advance purchase price?