What's the best deal you've ever got?

[els]

So what ticket/deal has turned out to be your proudest moment? I'm sure there's some very savvy people on here!!

 

[ainsworth74]

My personal favorite that I've found for myself was when I needed to make an emergency journey from Longbeck to Derby (literally I found out I needed to go at about 8pm the night before travel!). I had to travel early in the morning so the off-peak return wasn't valid and the anytime return was an extortionate £84.50 (that's with a railcard!). So split ticketing to the rescue I ended up buying a bunch of day returns along the entire route I had LGK - MBR, MBR- YRK, YRK - DON, DON - SHF and SHF - DBY. All those day returns cost me a total of £27.80 which means a total saving of £56.70. It wasn't particularly clever but saving more than £50 certainly makes it notable for me at least!

Actually it also made me wonder how many people are traveling between somewhere like Middlesbrough or York to places like Derby and returning the same day yet are being forced to buy open returns that cost far more than buying a chain of day returns.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Freebie return on Virgin Trains from London Euston to/from Manchester courtesy of a Daily Mirror / Virgin Trains promotion (this time last year) which was posted on here (!)

 

[Mojo]

When I discovered how to to London to Bristol and Birmingham to Bristol for less than £25 for an Off-peak return (with Railcard).

 

[Eng274]

The railcard has always been a fantastic investment if you use it often enough. Any rail/sail tickets I've bought have been outstanding value compared to buying individually. In early 2007 Edinburgh - Isle of Man return was £45! The ferry tickets alone must have been around £37 back then. And flexible to either Heysham or Liverpool.

The fTPE 1st class advances Edinburgh - Lancaster for £9.55 each way were pretty good as well. Whenever I'm going anywhere on a trunk route then branching off I always try to split it accordingly, i.e. Edinburgh - Wigan, Wigan - Liverpool to get a dirt cheapish VT advance, or even a rock-bottom fTPE advance to Preston then a standard fare to Wigan.

 

[HST Power]

My best moment?

On board a 2:00am train back home from Kings Cross and being allowed to sit in First Class even though I only had a standard ticket. The Collector said he didn't mind, the train was half empty after all!

 

[Smethwickian]

As a bog standard paying punter with no relevant railcard or staff discount I don't think you can beat the Megatrain fares between Birmingham and Edinburgh.

I've had a couple of great days and weekends out for various prices between £2 and £5 each way since they first started.

 

[HST Power]

FCC do many excellent deals for train travel into London over Easter.

Certainly makes a difference when you add it all up.

 

[Yew]

As a bog standard paying punter with no relevant railcard or staff discount I don't think you can beat the Megatrain fares between Birmingham and Edinburgh.

I've had a couple of great days and weekends out for various prices between £2 and £5 each way since they first started.

Isnt megatrain down at the minuite?

I think some of the Lincoln london fares are pretty cheap, we where getting £6.60 each way

 

[dorsetman]

So what ticket/deal has turned out to be your proudest moment? I'm sure there's some very savvy people on here!!

In 2006 my wife and I went from Bournemouth to Prestwick for 2p return each!
It was with Ryanair!!

And before you say "What about the extras?" At that time Ryanair didn't charge extras, nor did they charge taxes or credit card charge. My credit card account showed a total of 4p! Beat that!

 

[4SRKT]

My personal favourite has to be Penzance > Gunnislake advance for £3. Around £1 per hour for high quality railway enjoyment.

 

[EM2]

King's Cross to Edinburgh single, for a tenner.
Me and the wife, Megatrain return, from St Pancras to Nottingham, £19 for the pair of us.
Victoria to Brighton (and vice-versa), two singles, three quid each.
And way back in 2000 or so, Brighton to Abergavenny return for fifteen quid.

 

[moonrakerz]

Westbury to Penzance and return, 1st Class. £14. With ticket splitting and some free FGW £5 vouchers. (Railcard)

 

[WestCoast]

I once did Preston to London for £13.50 return (with railcard) - using cheap advance offers and a promotional voucher.

But I've done Preston to Edinburgh for £6.50 return on a megatrain ticket - that was probably the cheapest!

I've been on a flight which cost just £2 return to Belfast with Ryanair - no taxes or fess and all conditions met.

 

[wintonian]

This offer from FGW 1 £35ish season ticket and 2 weekends of free 1st class travel Inc. the Night Riviera (seated) on the whole FGW network.

Otherwise the £6.90 1st single I bought from Kings Cross to Sheffield on new years eve about 10 years ago 2 days before travel.

 

[Mvann]

Young persons railcard used to do an offer years ago to travel anywhere for £10.

 

[voyagerdude220]

The fTPE 1st class advances Edinburgh - Lancaster for £9.55 each way were pretty good as well.

My personal favourites, which I don't think i can do anymore are:

Blackburn to Aberdeen via Edinburgh- £14.50 First Class (YP)- Even better still on the day, I managed to wangle myself onto a later EC HST from Edinburgh, instead of the 170 from Haymarket.

Similarly, a few times i've bought Aberdeen to Bolton via Leeds/Manchester Picc Advance singles for £22.45, using the 14:5x HST all the way from Aberdeen to York- fantastic value IMO - Particularly considering that EC usually charge you £30-£50 for Aberdeen to York alone.

I've a feeling EC may have delibrately changed the fares over from the TPE+connections priced ones, to their own EC+connections ones, so they can charge more money & presumably get more of it for themselves.

 

[Donny Dave]

Best value trip I've had is Scunthorpe - Kings Cross - Inverness - Kings Cross, then St. Pancras - Sheffield - Scunthorpe, all for a meagre £52....

 

[Asian Demon]

For me has to be a megatrain booking from london to derby and back a week later for £2.50 overall. £1 each way and a 50p booking charge

 

[bb21]

Agree with most people. Got to be megatrain. A typical journey this year for me is:

06.57 1B13 EMT Leicester - St Pancras
09.20 (Greyhound) Victoria Green Line Terminal - Bournemouth
17.59 1W28 SWT Bournemouth - Waterloo
22.25 1F83 EMT St Pancras - Leicester

for a grand total of £4 (sometimes £3.65) plus two lots of 50p booking fee. I could have done for the second leg the 09.05 or 11.35 Waterloo - Bournemouth with SWT however the greyhound coaches were just more comfortable hock: and their timings suited me better.

Prior to this year I have to say that the Virgin Spring Sale fares about 10 years ago were unbeatable. I think I travelled quite a few times Coventry - Bristol (via Birmingham) for £1.65 single and Coventry - Exeter for £2.00 single.

Now the Southern sale doesn't look too bad ...

 

[wintonian]

Agree with most people. Got to be megatrain. A typical journey this year for me is:

06.57 1B13 EMT Leicester - St Pancras
09.20 (Greyhound) Victoria Green Line Terminal - Bournemouth
17.59 1W28 SWT Bournemouth - Waterloo
22.25 1F83 EMT St Pancras - Leicester

for a grand total of £4 (sometimes £3.65) plus two lots of 50p booking fee. I could have done for the second leg the 09.05 or 11.35 Waterloo - Bournemouth with SWT however the greyhound coaches were just more comfortable hock: and their timings suited me better.

Prior to this year I have to say that the Virgin Spring Sale fares about 10 years ago were unbeatable. I think I travelled quite a few times Coventry - Bristol (via Birmingham) for £1.65 single and Coventry - Exeter for £2.00 single.

Now the Southern sale doesn't look too bad ...

You can spot the students round here.

 

[bb21]

You can spot the students round here.

The 35% discount I got with greyhound was a give-away wasn't it?

 

[radamfi]

There was unlimited free travel throughout the country on one day in 1996 as compensation soon after the start of the franchise due to major staffing problems. It was open to anyone as long as you got your tickets from a SWT station. The clerks just issued tickets as usual but didn't take payment. Inevitably, I got several free trips to Thurso.

 

[wintonian]

There was unlimited free travel throughout the country on one day in 1996 as compensation soon after the start of the franchise due to major staffing problems. It was open to anyone as long as you got your tickets from a SWT station. The clerks just issued tickets as usual but didn't take payment. Inevitably, I got several free trips to Thurso.

I know I was at school!

 

[Sleepy]

Scottish Sleeper travel & berth for £2 !!!!

 

[TomJ93]

Onboard the 18:43 Friday departure to Crewe for £18:00 FC, shame I didn't get much food. Darn MKC commuters.

 

[trentside]

Recently booked a trip to try out the Chiltern loco hauled services. The advance fare from London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street (with 16-25 railcard) was £3.30.

Another recent journey, Nottingham to Luton Airport Parkway. The advance fare advertised (again with 16-25 railcard) was £14.50 in standard class. Checking the First advance fare revealed it to be £13.50 - saved myself £1 and avoided the over-crowding onboard the Meridian from Leicester.

 

[SS4]

Getting from Birmingham to Ipswich and back for less than £15 (4 advances at £3.30 each). It may have been more but since I had residual credit on my oyster card I don't count it xD

There have been times when First Advances have been cheaper than standard advances so I was lucky then. Never used megabus

 

[scotsman]

Edinburgh - Inverness with a Scotland for £18 voucher out of Sainsburys

Discovering the existence of the Ride Cornwall rover and doing Truro-Liskead-Looe-Liskeard-Plymouth-Penzance-Truro for £10

 

[Nym]

Bolton - Snaith for £9.55...

County Card (I already had) Bolton - Littlebrough
Split the rest at Leeds, for some reason Leeds - Snaith is cheaper than Leeds - Glasshaughton (an intermediate station)

That was on all standard tickets too...