Help finding cheap tickets (Darlington - London)

[tony_mac]

I'm having some problems finding reasonable price tickets for a friend,

The journey I am looking for is
Darlington to London, 29th October, arrive around 4-5pm
London to Darlington, 30th October, depart around 8am
The times are not terribly flexible, and no railcards.

At the moment the best I can do is around £140 for advance tickets; (£92.50 out, £44.50 return) the return journey makes the super off-peak return a problem, and the outward journey has no cheap advance tickets. I may try and persuade her to wait until the 09:30 return service.
It's a shame that NXEC don't do the half-return ticket that Virgin do.

The only other possibility I can see that may be acceptable is a Darlington to York single and a GC-only York-London Single on the way down, then the Advance single on the return.

However, I am extremely concerned that if the connection is missed at York then it may cause a problem; she can't wait for the next GC service and NXEC may be difficult about accepting it. I really wouldn't want to put her in the position of having to buy a new ticket.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[Sir_Clagalot]

Go to Eaglescliffe and get at Grand Central service. 13:15 from Eaglescliffe, arriving into Kings Cross 16:05, £35 one way standard class. 08:04 fron Kings Cross, 10:58 Eaglescliffe, again £35 one way standard. £67 standard return. Not sure of the Darlington-Eaglescliffe fare but I doubt it will be much.
How do I know this... because I work for GC!!

 

[tony_mac]

Thanks, but that has the same problem as changing at York and possibly missing the connection. It also takes 60-90 minutes longer than travelling directly, which will probably be a problem.

I don't suppose that there are any GC+connections tickets hidden anywhere?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
actually, I have just seen that there is a reasonable advance ticket from York to London (arrive 16:46), so I guess I will go for a return Darlington to York with advance singles from York to London.

 

[John @ home]

The journey I am looking for is
Darlington to London, 29th October, arrive around 4-5pm
London to Darlington, 30th October, depart around 8am
The times are not terribly flexible, and no railcards. ...

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

By moving the outward journey by about one hour, Advance tickets become available:

29 October 2009
1202 Darlington - Kings Cross 1444 £44.50
30 October 2009
0800 Kings Cross - Darlington 1022 £44.50
Prices include NXEC's 11% online discount.

If it is essential to travel later, a little can be saved by splitting the outward ticket at Newark. Your friend even gets the first half of that journey First Class!

29 October 2009
Advance single: 1356 Darlington - Newark 1513 £45.50 First Class
(same train) Off-peak Day single: 1513 Newark - Kings Cross 1646 £37.40
30 October 2009
0800 Kings Cross - Darlington 1022 £44.50

John

 

[tony_mac]

Thanks for the help, I found that the only problem on the outward was Darlington to York.

So I now have Darlington to York £21 off-peak return
York to London 14:26, arrive 16:46 advance at £32.95
London to York 08:00, arrive 09:53 advance at £32.95

Which I think will be ok.

 

[Sir_Clagalot]

Darlington to Eaglescliffe singles are £3.60, Darlington to York start at £15.80 single.
John... Why would anyone want to move from first into standard halfway, especially on the same train!
Going via Eaglescliffe does give a lot of standing at Eaglescliffe between trains, unless the friend can find someone to give them a lift to and from Eaglescliffe.
Another way of using GC would be to change at Northallerton, which going north would mean half an hour at Northallerton, slightly less than at Eaglescliffe. Southbound there is a wait of nearly an hour.

 

[John @ home]

John... Why would anyone want to move from first into standard halfway, especially on the same train!

Because some train companies have irrational fares policies!

In this case there were First Class Advance tickets available Darlington - Newark but no Standard Advance tickets.

In my own case, I have to travel once or twice a month from south London to West Yorkshire in the evening peak. More often than not, the cheapest available ticket involves splitting somewhere, and quite often it includes a change of class on the same train.

John

 

[ntvinh986]

I'm having some problems finding reasonable price tickets for a friend,

The journey I am looking for is
Darlington to London, 29th October, arrive around 4-5pm
London to Darlington, 30th October, depart around 8am
The times are not terribly flexible, and no railcards.

At the moment the best I can do is around £140 for advance tickets; (£92.50 out, £44.50 return) the return journey makes the super off-peak return a problem, and the outward journey has no cheap advance tickets. I may try and persuade her to wait until the 09:30 return service.
It's a shame that NXEC don't do the half-return ticket that Virgin do.

The only other possibility I can see that may be acceptable is a Darlington to York single and a GC-only York-London Single on the way down, then the Advance single on the return.

However, I am extremely concerned that if the connection is missed at York then it may cause a problem; she can't wait for the next GC service and NXEC may be difficult about accepting it. I really wouldn't want to put her in the position of having to buy a new ticket.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Hi guys, Im a newbie. Nice to join this forum.