Buying train tickets in advance

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Smythe

Active member
Oct 8, 2008
1,434
Brightonian in Manchester
I dont normally buy train tickets in advance for away games but thinking of doing it for the last 2 or 3 away games....what is the best site to get good deals.....thanks in advance.
 




Paxton Dazo

Up The Spurs.
Mar 11, 2007
9,719
Any. They all end up same price. Just National Rail it, then once you've selected the tickets you want, it'll re-direct to the relevant site.
Some cracking deals out there...Brighton to Wigan £21.10 return next weekend :wink: BOOM.
 


Pantani

Il Pirata
Dec 3, 2008
5,445
Newcastle
Not necessarily true there Paxton. I have definitely found cheaper trains than National Rail come up with. I would recommend going to One Stop Travel either at the Station or the end of St James Street as they will tend to find you the best deal available.
 


Paxton Dazo

Up The Spurs.
Mar 11, 2007
9,719
Not necessarily true there Paxton. I have definitely found cheaper trains than National Rail come up with. I would recommend going to One Stop Travel either at the Station or the end of St James Street as they will tend to find you the best deal available.

Ah, fair enough! Will bare that in mind in the future.
 






Smythe

Active member
Oct 8, 2008
1,434
Brightonian in Manchester
Not necessarily true there Paxton. I have definitely found cheaper trains than National Rail come up with. I would recommend going to One Stop Travel either at the Station or the end of St James Street as they will tend to find you the best deal available.

ill go in there tomorrow and see whats available ...... cheers for that
 


robbie c

Member
Jan 30, 2008
632
Leighton buzzard
play with the start and end destinations [ if you have time] it may be cheaper to go from Haywards Heath for example and get a local ticket for the remainder of the journey
 


sully

Dunscouting
Jul 7, 2003
7,939
Worthing
I also found that going to the specific rail company's website can often land you with a bargain.

I actually used to think the same as Paxton Dazo, but proved myself wrong recently when organising tickets for The Grub to go back to Sussex to visit her brother.
 




Thetrainline.com will search all networks, but to be honest the franchise websites for the route you want to use tend to have the easiest to follow instructions.

But they [TTL] charge credit/debit cards and for postage. Others, like eastcoast.co.uk, don't.
 


Martinf

SeenTheBlue&WhiteLight
Mar 13, 2008
2,774
Lewes
southernrailway.com are pretty good. Already got my return from London to Nottingham for the promotion party at Notts County (£29). Plus a friend at work recently got London to Birmingham tickets for £6 each way. Some good deals if you search around and get in early enough.
 


Sussex Nomad

Well-known member
Aug 26, 2010
18,185
EP
Good thread. I'll be doing the London-Brighton next season, and have been told I can get a 7 quid jobby in advance.
 




kevo

Well-known member
Mar 8, 2008
9,811
trainline charge you £1 booking fee, which you don't have to pay if you book through the national rail site.
 




Renns

Renns Junior
Nov 8, 2006
934
Huddersfield/Birmingham
Redspottedhanky.com is by far the best and cheapest i've found. You build up loyalty points for money off next bookings. Have managed to get Birmingham to London for less than £10 reeturn before, just book well in advance.
 




Sussex Nomad

Well-known member
Aug 26, 2010
18,185
EP
I'll be booking all my tickets in bulk when the fixtures come out for next season.
 


Tomnorthi

New member
Jan 2, 2010
2,107
BN15
If your looking to do Colchester on the train there is engineering works.
 


Pantani

Il Pirata
Dec 3, 2008
5,445
Newcastle
Good thread. I'll be doing the London-Brighton next season, and have been told I can get a 7 quid jobby in advance.

£3.70 each way. These are normally available pretty close to the day as well if you are traveling at unpopular times. I always buy these separate to the rest of my away day travel as it rare that you can get them this cheap through anyone else, they normally charge you £10 for the Brighton to London (and back) part of the journey.
 


Sussex Nomad

Well-known member
Aug 26, 2010
18,185
EP
£3.70 each way. These are normally available pretty close to the day as well if you are traveling at unpopular times. I always buy these separate to the rest of my away day travel as it rare that you can get them this cheap through anyone else, they normally charge you £10 for the Brighton to London (and back) part of the journey.

That's what I heard, excellent prices, cheaper than doing Angmering Station to Brighton!
 






LadySeagull

Well-known member
Jan 21, 2011
1,256
Portslade
Just to mention GroupSave4 - not sure how much of the Country it covers or if it's off-peak times only - but may be worth checking out for away matches?

If there are 4 adults travelling together (or Group save3 if there are only 3 of you) can be a good deal because 4 (or 3) people travel for the price of 2:

National Rail Enquiries - GroupSave Calendar

It was a bargain the other Sunday for my 16 year old DD and her 15/16 year old friends to go to Thorpe Park by train. Four of them being 16 were considered adults, so we bought a GroupSave4 saving half the fares and then there were a couple of 15 year olds who were charged a quid ('kids for a quid' to London).

Southern Railways wouldn't let us book online but we just went to Brighton station and paid on the day. I do often buy Advance tickets but you don't always want to be restricted to an exact train in case you miss it.
 


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