How can I save money on Train Tickets online?

[JonnyBoy12]

Many of you who travel by train can not help having seen the adverts unkindly referring to all those poor customers who pay full fare for their train tickets as sheep. They boldly suggest that by booking online through them we will save an average of 39%. However, on further investigation of the following site I have not managed to save a single penny, and in the case of some fares they seem to be more.

Have any of our fellow ABers ever bought tickets through the following site, and if so how much did they save? Are there any other similar sites, and do they really save you money? I have already found out through previous postings that there is no Railcard for persons aged 26-60, so that is out of the question.

[Yorky Lass]

I buy from the station well in advance and save a huge amount that way. Often two singles are cheaper than one return.
About 12 weeks before the journey check out
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
All the fares are there. I've not used the site you mentioned but I can't see the fares being any cheaper than buying in advance from anyone.
I stand to be corrected of course.

[JonnyBoy12]

What site I mentioned? I have stupidly, in my haste, forgotten to state the website, which is as follows:

www.thetraveline.co.uk

www.thetrainline.co.uk


Sorry about that, but not sure these sites will help.

[Yorky Lass]

It was the sheep and 39% that gave it away. No names were necessary. Still doesn't make any difference to my reply knowing the name or not.

[Buenchico]

Advance booking discounts are offered for some (but by no means all) routes, directly by the train operating companies. The sites you refer to simply act as agencies and don't offer any fares that you can't get directly from the train operators. (The only 'extra' you get by using such agencies is the increased risk of a c0ck up. I used to run a railway station and saw plenty of tickets, issued by those agencies, which weren't valid for travel on any train).

As Yorky Lass indicates, the train operators release their ticket allocations about 12 weeks in advance. (The regulator requires that they must make them available at least 12 weeks in advance. In practice, most operators wait until the last possible minute before doing so).

Yorky Lass has provided you with the only link that you need to check fares. If you can travel at off-peak times (such as lunchtime on a Tuesday) you'll probably find plenty of discounts available. However, it's almost certainly pointless looking for discount fares at peak travel times (e.g. on Friday evenings). In particular, many train operators don't offer any cheap fares between (roughly) December 20th and January 2nd.

Chris

[dzug]

The discount these sites give you is that for advance booking which as already said you can also get by booking at the station and any of the rail company websites.

12 weeks is a bit of a myth - the cheap tickets are virtually never released as early as that..

So they are not offering you anything you cannot get elsewhere - and they add a booking fee, so actually cost more.

[madmaggot]

I booked on thetrainline; 4 months in advance and got Aberystwyth to B'ham New Street for �10.00 one way instead of up to �80.00.
On arriving at New Street a single to Bromsgrove (about 14 miles) was �5.50.

[kurdapya69]

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