Complicated journey, can anyone please help with best ticket price

[suzanneparis]

i need to travel from leicester 1 july to stansted airport. then 1 july stansted airport to london (any but liverpool st best). then london to leicester on 2 july. i have a senior railcard.

is there any way to buy a ticket that would do such a journey? or more to the point what is the cheapest ticket(s) to do that?

many thanks

 

[Haywain]

You could buy a Leicester - Stansted Off Peak Return ticket routed 'not via London', and excess the return portion to a route '+Any Permitted' Super Off Peak Return; total price would be £60.00. The cheapest way of doing it might be with Advance fares.

 

[Kilopylae]

The cheapest way of doing it might be with Advance fares.

Just to note that this is risky with aeroplanes as if your flight is delayed, you won't be allowed to use the ticket on a later train. You either need to book the Advance tickets to plan for a long boring layover in the Arrivals area at Stansted or be willing to risk a sudden expense.

 

[Watershed]

Just to note that this is risky with aeroplanes as if your flight is delayed, you won't be allowed to use the ticket on a later train. You either need to book the Advance tickets to plan for a long boring layover in the Arrivals area at Stansted or be willing to risk a sudden expense.

There aren't any train-specific Advance fares from Stansted to London (probably in recognition of this issue!). You can buy "Advance Discounted" tickets through the Stansted Express website, which are only tied to the booked date rather than a specific train, so there wouldn't an issue unless your flight is delayed overnight. I've only had an overnight flight delay once in my last 300 odd flights so it's not something worth worrying about.

 

[Haywain]

Just to note that this is risky with aeroplanes as if your flight is delayed, you won't be allowed to use the ticket on a later train.

The OP states they arrive at Stansted and leave on the same day, so I doubt they are flying. They may be meeting someone off a flight, of course, but if that's the case it would be useful to be told.

 

[suzanneparis]

Many thanks for all of your replies and so sorry to be slow at responding. I've had an issue at home.

I am sorry but my initial question wasn't worded well. More details:

I am travelling from Leicester to meet a mother and 15 year old off a plane at Stansted on 1 July and going with them to London.
I then stay one night in a different part of London then return to Leicester on 2 July.
BUT I also meet them again in London on the 7 July and stay overnight in London again.
I then travel to Stansted airport with them on 8 July (early) and see them off onto their plane. I then travel to Leicester.

In effect I have:
A return journey Leicester to Stansted airport out on 1 July, return on 8 July
A return journey from Stansted airport to London (hopefully Liverpool St) on 1 July and return from London to Stansted airport on 8 July
A return journey from London to Leicester, out on 2 July, return from Leicester to London on 7 July.

What would be the cheapest way to buy these tickets? I have a senior railcard. BUT additional complication: the family comprises mother and 15 year old. So I could buy a family and friends railcard - if that helps in any way.

An additional complication is that they are planning to make two day trips. One from London to Oxford on the 3 July and one from London to Bath on 6 July. If myself and the mother are named on the (electronic??) railcard presumably she can use it for herself and the 15 year old for the Oxford and Bath trips?

Finally. for getting around London on buses and tubes are they best to buy an oyster card and top it up (the mother doesn't want to use her debit card for tap on/off for some inexplicable reason). If so does she have to buy 2 oyster cards? Are there different oyster cards for under 15s. How can she buy these cards.

Many thanks again for all of your help

 

[Mainline421]

Many thanks for all of your replies and so sorry to be slow at responding. I've had an issue at home.

I am sorry but my initial question wasn't worded well. More details:

I am travelling from Leicester to meet a mother and 15 year old off a plane at Stansted on 1 July and going with them to London.
I then stay one night in a different part of London then return to Leicester on 2 July.
BUT I also meet them again in London on the 7 July and stay overnight in London again.
I then travel to Stansted airport with them on 8 July (early) and see them off onto their plane. I then travel to Leicester.

In effect I have:
A return journey Leicester to Stansted airport out on 1 July, return on 8 July
A return journey from Stansted airport to London (hopefully Liverpool St) on 1 July and return from London to Stansted airport on 8 July
A return journey from London to Leicester, out on 2 July, return from Leicester to London on 7 July.

What would be the cheapest way to buy these tickets? I have a senior railcard. BUT additional complication: the family comprises mother and 15 year old. So I could buy a family and friends railcard - if that helps in any way.

An additional complication is that they are planning to make two day trips. One from London to Oxford on the 3 July and one from London to Bath on 6 July. If myself and the mother are named on the (electronic??) railcard presumably she can use it for herself and the 15 year old for the Oxford and Bath trips?

Finally. for getting around London on buses and tubes are they best to buy an oyster card and top it up (the mother doesn't want to use her debit card for tap on/off for some inexplicable reason). If so does she have to buy 2 oyster cards? Are there different oyster cards for under 15s. How can she buy these cards.

Many thanks again for all of your help

Best option is probably as Haywain suggested in post #2 for you. And 4 days in a month Britrail London Plus passes for them, assuming they're not currently UK residents. This includes Bath even though it isn't very close to London.

Combined this is probably cheaper than getting a Railcard or separating legs into seperate tickets

 

[suzanneparis]

Many thanks Mainline421. I don't understand #2, i've never 'excessed a fare'.

Also I've never heard of Britrail London Plus passes . Where do they buy them and can they buy them in advance. Can they use them for the bath, oxford and two journey to/from stansted? Regards

 

[Mainline421]

Many thanks Mainline421. I don't understand #2, i've never 'excessed a fare'.

Also I've never heard of Britrail London Plus passes . Where do they buy them and can they buy them in advance. Can they use them for the bath, oxford and two journey to/from stansted? Regards

Britrail London PLus can be purchase via https://www.britrail.com/britrail-passes/britrail-london-plus-pass/ from a computer outside the UK.

For the excess:
Buy a Leicester–Stansted Off-Peak Return first. A machine is probably the simplest option, or a ticket office. Online retailers often make it harder to identify the exact ticket type you need.

After you've bought it, go to a ticket office and ask for a "half the difference change of route excess" for the Stansted–London direction only, changing the route to "Any Permitted". Any ticket office can do this, including the one at Stansted, although it may help if you can find a clerk who is experienced with excess fares.

It is technically possible to do this in the same transaction as buying the original ticket, but that is very likely to cause confusion. In practice, it is probably easier to buy the ticket first and then ask for the excess separately.

 

[gembercannelle]

I think mother and daughter should get either Two together railcard or Network railcard. They can get those either upon arrival at Stansted airport (if the ticket office is open) or online, via, e.g. trip.com or trainpal. MSE (moneysavingexpert) sometimes get codes for new users, so they might be able to get a digital railcard for 20 quid. The two different railcards have different restrictions, in particular, Two together means they should travel together. Both allow them to save 1/3 on train fares. They can then use them immediately to Stansted airport to London zone 1 (if underground is needed). The Network railcard is valid as far as Oxford. The Two together railcard is valid nationwide.

 

[blimmo]

It is technically possible to do this in the same transaction as buying the original ticket, but that is very likely to cause confusion. In practice, it is probably easier to buy the ticket first and then ask for the excess separately

In my experience you are better off trying to do it in one transaction since if the ticket office simply refused to acknowledge that route excesses exist (this has happened to me twice) then you'll be stuck with a ticket that isn't really any use.

 

[Haywain]

In effect I have:
A return journey Leicester to Stansted airport out on 1 July, return on 8 July
A return journey from Stansted airport to London (hopefully Liverpool St) on 1 July and return from London to Stansted airport on 8 July
A return journey from London to Leicester, out on 2 July, return from Leicester to London on 7 July.

What would be the cheapest way to buy these tickets?

With the benefit of this additional information, I think you can safely forget about excess fares. Essentially, you have broken your travel down to three elements: a period return from Leicester to Stansted (Off Peak Return £50.00 route 'not via London'), a single each way (there's no period return) between Stansted and London (Off Peak Day Single £13.95 each way), and a period return from London to Leicester (Super Off Peak Return £54.10). All fares quoted are with a Senior Railcard and are through fares. These could potentially be beaten by split ticketing - for example Leicester to Cambridge Off Peak return at £46.45 and Cambridge to London Off Peak Return route 'Greater Anglia only' at £25.50) - or by Advance tickets.

 

[30907]

As the teenager is 15, they travel free with the Pass, so it's unlikely a F and F railcard will be a better option.

 

[suzanneparis]

"child for free"
on the Britrail retailer site one of the retailers offer child for free. but on another site it seems up ot 15 cost 72 euro.
What is the difference.?
thanks for any help

 

[Mainline421]

"child for free"
on the Britrail retailer site one of the retailers offer child for free. but on another site it seems up ot 15 cost 72 euro.
What is the difference.?
thanks for any help

My understanding is that you can get one “Free Child” Pass per adult.

Child-discounted passes are also available for any additional children travelling. For example, if there is 1 adult and 2 children, one child could travel on a free pass, while the second child would need a child-discounted pass.

Even a child travelling for free still needs their own ticket (Britrail pass) it's just free of charge.

 

[gembercannelle]

"child for free"
on the Britrail retailer site one of the retailers offer child for free. but on another site it seems up ot 15 cost 72 euro.
What is the difference.?
thanks for any help

I am currently abroad so I tried acprail.com. It seems to me that when you say that you need a pass for one adult and one child under 15, it does not affect the price at all. Out of curiosity, I compared the fare with Two Together railcard. The pass seems to offer about the same value. Stansted to London + London to Oxford return + London to Bath return off-peak with Two Together railcard comes to about 180GBP, which is about the cost of the pass for 4 days.

 

[suzanneparis]

Many thanks. Interesting. They have 4 days of travel: Stan to Lond. Lond to Oxford return. London to Bath return. London to Stansted.
Furthermore, it would be better if they can travel at the more expensive peak times to Ox and Bath - does the Britrail allow peak time travel? If so then it would probably ? be cheaper than two together/family and friends.

Also, what is the process for the Britrail. They go to the site. During the process give an email address and phone number. Then do they get sent an email with a 'code' ? to enter into some kind of Britrail app on their phone?

Sub question. Can I, as a treat, do it all for them - obviously using their names on their passports. But paying for it using my debit/credit card? If so should I give my email and phone number or the mother?

Thanks for any help. Best wishes

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Jun 2026 ==

Ah just checked and it seems it is cheaper to buy a return from Stansted Airport to London for all 3 of us. Then for them to have a 2 days britrail pass.

Regarding the process it seems that I can pay for it for them. But it seems to want my passport details too which is odd as i am not using the pass. Anyone know about the process of buying a britrail pass. Which is the best 'shop' to buy it from? Thanks again

 

[gembercannelle]

Many thanks. Interesting. They have 4 days of travel: Stan to Lond. Lond to Oxford return. London to Bath return. London to Stansted.
Furthermore, it would be better if they can travel at the more expensive peak times to Ox and Bath - does the Britrail allow peak time travel? If so then it would probably ? be cheaper than two together/family and friends.

Also, what is the process for the Britrail. They go to the site. During the process give an email address and phone number. Then do they get sent an email with a 'code' ? to enter into some kind of Britrail app on their phone?

Sub question. Can I, as a treat, do it all for them - obviously using their names on their passports. But paying for it using my debit/credit card? If so should I give my email and phone number or the mother?

Thanks for any help. Best wishes

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Jun 2026 ==

Ah just checked and it seems it is cheaper to buy a return from Stansted Airport to London for all 3 of us. Then for them to have a 2 days britrail pass.

Regarding the process it seems that I can pay for it for them. But it seems to want my passport details too which is odd as i am not using the pass. Anyone know about the process of buying a britrail pass. Which is the best 'shop' to buy it from? Thanks again

Note that the pass allows you to buy a railcard for 10GBP. This would probably allow to save on a journey to/from Stansted, and if the both legs are off-peak, the saving is likely to be over 10GBP. (One Network railcard will cover all of you).

 

[CyrusWuff]

Note that the pass allows you to buy a railcard for 10GBP. This would probably allow to save on a journey to/from Stansted, and if the both legs are off-peak, the saving is likely to be over 10GBP. (One Network railcard will cover all of you).

Do you have a source for this? The only thing I'm aware of that entitles you to buy a Railcard for £10 is an Annual Season Ticket that's issued as a Gold Card.

 

[suzanneparis]

IF I buy a return Stansted airport to London and back to Stansted at peak time , how can I ensure the return I buy is suitable for peak time in the morning for the return journey?

 

[30907]

IF I buy a return Stansted airport to London and back to Stansted at peak time , how can I ensure the return I buy is suitable for peak time in the morning for the return journey?

I think you have already found the Anytime Group fare?
The only other return is an Offpeak Day Return which is irrelevant.

 

[pelli]

I believe the Group 3 Return ticket is only available in Anytime form so there's no risk that you'd mistakenly get an Off-Peak version, but you should check that the price you're charged is £75.80. You can also buy the ticket online from your favourite website, selecting the specific trains you intend to take (make sure the price is correct, and that you're not getting a split ticket or an advance ticket), but the ticket is of course valid on any train. (There is no period return for a single person.)

However, I don't think that's the best way to do things.

Looking at the Britrail website, the London Plus pass is shown as only having 3,4,8-day flexi passes. I can only see an option for 2 days for the Great Britain pass. So the options (for a German, as quoted by traintickets.com) (EDIT: found some GBP prices at internationalrail.com) seem to be:
Great Britain 2 days: EUR 131
London Plus 3 days: EUR 141 (£116)
London Plus 4 days: EUR 172 (£142)
If this is correct then it just costs your visitors EUR 41 extra to add 2 days to cover the Stansted travel.

Your travel is fully covered by the combination
Leicester - Stansted Airport Off-peak Return Not via London: £50.00
Stansted Airport - Leicester Super Off-peak Return Any Permitted: £69.90 (Appears to be valid during peak between Stansted and London - peak restrictions only apply on the main leg between London and Leicester)
Total: £119.90
(Sorry this doesn't work due to the need for two overnight breaks of journey, as you have pointed out below)

Using the group ticket for Stansted would cost
Leicester - Stansted Airport Off-peak Return Not via London: £50.00
London Terminals - Leicester Super Off-peak Return: £54.10
Stansted Airport - London Terminals Anytime Group 3 (Return): £75.80
Total: £179.90
So this costs £60 extra and saves EUR 41 - not a good deal.

Another aspect to consider is the risk that you unexpectedly become unable to undertake the second trip. If you have used a bunch of outbound legs on the first trip then you can't refund the return legs, and your visitors would not be able to use the group return ticket without you so would have to pay again for new tickets.

So it's better to keep your tickets separate, and further if you're willing to go through the faff then you should get Haywain's originally suggested version (LEI-SSD Not Via London, changing the return leg to Any Permitted for the first trip, then get the same ticket again but changing the outbound leg to Any Permitted for the second trip). This costs the same (up to rounding) as the two separate LEI<->SSD tickets, one with each route, but allows the second trip to be refunded if you become incapacitated. (Sorry this doesn't work either)

Even if your visitors get a 2-day pass and need to pay separately for Stansted Travel, standard Singles for an Adult and a Child would cost (£21+£10.50) off-peak + (£23+£11.50) peak = £66 (with potential additional savings from any connecting leg to/from Liverpool Street being combined with the Stansted Express fare, which happens automatically if the adult uses contactless), so the total would be at most £6 more than using the Group 3 ticket for Stansted.

 

[gembercannelle]

Do you have a source for this? The only thing I'm aware of that entitles you to buy a Railcard for £10 is an Annual Season Ticket that's issued as a Gold Card.

Nope. In fact, I was considering investing in a Gold Card myself, so it could easily be the case that two things got mixed up in my mind. Thank you so very much for pointing this.

 

[suzanneparis]

I believe the Group 3 Return ticket is only available in Anytime form so there's no risk that you'd mistakenly get an Off-Peak version, but you should check that the price you're charged is £75.80. You can also buy the ticket online from your favourite website, selecting the specific trains you intend to take (make sure the price is correct, and that you're not getting a split ticket or an advance ticket), but the ticket is of course valid on any train. (There is no period return for a single person.)

However, I don't think that's the best way to do things.

Looking at the Britrail website, the London Plus pass is shown as only having 3,4,8-day flexi passes. I can only see an option for 2 days for the Great Britain pass. So the options (for a German, as quoted by traintickets.com) (EDIT: found some GBP prices at internationalrail.com) seem to be:
Great Britain 2 days: EUR 131
London Plus 3 days: EUR 141 (£116)
London Plus 4 days: EUR 172 (£142)
If this is correct then it just costs your visitors EUR 41 extra to add 2 days to cover the Stansted travel.

Your travel is fully covered by the combination
Leicester - Stansted Airport Off-peak Return Not via London: £50.00
Stansted Airport - Leicester Super Off-peak Return Any Permitted: £69.90 (Appears to be valid during peak between Stansted and London - peak restrictions only apply on the main leg between London and Leicester)
Total: £119.90

Using the group ticket for Stansted would cost
Leicester - Stansted Airport Off-peak Return Not via London: £50.00
London Terminals - Leicester Super Off-peak Return: £54.10
Stansted Airport - London Terminals Anytime Group 3 (Return): £75.80
Total: £179.90
So this costs £60 extra and saves EUR 41 - not a good deal.

Another aspect to consider is the risk that you unexpectedly become unable to undertake the second trip. If you have used a bunch of outbound legs on the first trip then you can't refund the return legs, and your visitors would not be able to use the group return ticket without you so would have to pay again for new tickets.

So it's better to keep your tickets separate, and further if you're willing to go through the faff then you should get Haywain's originally suggested version (LEI-SSD Not Via London, changing the return leg to Any Permitted for the first trip, then get the same ticket again but changing the outbound leg to Any Permitted for the second trip). This costs the same (up to rounding) as the two separate LEI<->SSD tickets, one with each route, but allows the second trip to be refunded if you become incapacitated.

Even if your visitors get a 2-day pass and need to pay separately for Stansted Travel, standard Singles for an Adult and a Child would cost (£21+£10.50) off-peak + (£23+£11.50) peak = £66 (with potential additional savings from any connecting leg to/from Liverpool Street being combined with the Stansted Express fare, which happens automatically if the adult uses contactless), so the total would be at most £6 more than using the Group 3 ticket for Stansted.

Many thanks for your very comprehenisive reply. Very kind of you to go to all that trouble. I am sorry but I don't know what you mean by the 'group 3 return ticket' and I couldn't find a return ticket for Stansted airport to London. Detail are: Stansted Air depart after 4pm to London on 1 July. London to Stansted air on 8 July about 7am. Are you able to please point me to the return price? Many hanks and I very much appreciate your efforts.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Jun 2026 ==

Additional reply. Looking at your clever way of buying my tickets. Stansted to Leicester super off peak via london. Does that allow break of journey in london for one or two nights (in both directions)? Thanks

 

[pelli]

Additional reply. Looking at your clever way of buying my tickets. Stansted to Leicester super off peak via london. Does that allow break of journey in london for one or two nights (in both directions)? Thanks

My apologies, my suggestion doesn't work because you can't break your journey overnight on the outbound leg of the tickets (unless the journey couldn't be completed in one day, but that's a tricky rule to exploit so I wouldn't recommend it...). I'll edit my post accordingly. Haywain's original suggestion for the first trip worked specifically because you were only breaking the journey on the return leg, but with the two trips there's no way to place both breaks on the return leg. Then it's no longer clear to me which option is best.

For my suggestion with one route-excessed return ticket for each trip, then on trip 2 you'd have to buy an extra Anytime Single LON-SSD for £23.00 (no Senior Railcard discount applicable) since your outbound ticket is dated for the previous day when you use it to travel LEI-LON. The total for you would then be around £50.00 + £69.90 + £23.00 = £142.90 (retaining the benefit that if you can't make the second trip there's no tickets wasted).

If you don't separate the trips but just use a LEI-SSD Not via London return plus a SSD-LEI Any Permitted return, then it's on trip 1 that you need an extra Stansted ticket (as you want to save the outbound on your SSD-LEI ticket to travel LON-LEI the next day), and that's cheaper at £13.95 since it's off-peak and railcard discountable. The total for you would be £50.00 + £69.90 + £13.95 = £133.85.

Haywain's later suggestion, based on your idea of considering your trips as three return journeys, but with one Stansted trip being Anytime, would cost £50.00 + (£13.95 + £23.00) + £54.10 = £141.05 without splitting. I don't think their suggested split would work due to the need for the Anytime ticket.

(Edit: The LEI-SSD Off-Peak Return for £50.00 can be replaced by a split at Peterborough into LEI-PBO £19.80 + PBO-SSD £22.10 = £41.90 saving £8.10, thus reducing the two latter options to £125.75 and £132.95, respectively. The first option excesses the LEI-SSD tickets, so cannot be split in the same way.)

(Edit: Also note that Advances will still be cheaper, if you can commit to specific trains. A search, with splitting, for LEI to SSD on 1 July returning a week later yields options around £25.00 return, and LON-LEI around £30.00 return.)

I am sorry but I don't know what you mean by the 'group 3 return ticket' and I couldn't find a return ticket for Stansted airport to London. Detail are: Stansted Air depart after 4pm to London on 1 July. London to Stansted air on 8 July about 7am. Are you able to please point me to the return price? Many hanks and I very much appreciate your efforts.

I must have misunderstood your previous posts in thinking you were referring to a group ticket priced at £75.80, which you can find if you search for a return journey from Stansted to London for 3 people, but I still don't think that's the cheapest.

If we ignore that group ticket, then there are no relevant return tickets offered between London and Stansted Airport, so *if* you want tickets for a return journey between Stansted and London then you should buy two separate single tickets. For you the price for the two singles would be £13.95 + £23.00 = £36.95 (as the off-peak trip is railcard-discounted while the peak one is not). The price for your visitors would be £21.00 + £23.00 = £44.00 for the adult and half that, £22.00, for the child, so adding two days to the Britrail pass should be much cheaper (something like EUR 41 if I got that right above). (Edit: Following Watershed's Advice, "Advance Discounted" tickets currently cost £20+£20 = £40 for the adult and £10+£10 = £20 for the child on the given dates.)

 

[suzanneparis]

Many thanks again. I couldn't quite see how to buy advanced disounted tickets especially at 07:15 in the morning departing from london travelling to stansted airport.

Another thought. If I travel from Leicester to Stansted to London could i buy a leicester to london return on any permitted route? would stansted be any permitted route. and if i bought the cheap off peak ticket would i be able to travel early - say departing leicester at 08.00 as i am going to stansted not london direct?

many thanks for all of your help

 

[Vexed]

could i buy a leicester to london return on any permitted route?

No, the permitted routes for Leicester to London are quite narrow. You basically have to stick to the MML (via Kettering & Luton).

 

[Deerfold]

No, the permitted routes for Leicester to London are quite narrow. You basically have to stick to the MML (via Kettering & Luton).

Presumably with some leniency at the moment?

 

[Vexed]

Presumably with some leniency at the moment?

There are planned engineering works this weekend (as well as the collision of course) but I don't think going via Stansted would be reasonable. It's too far east.

For the engineering work, there are buses from Bedford to Hitchin this weekend.

Regardless, trains started running between Bedford and Luton on Friday afternoon so this won't be relevant for the OP's travel dates.

 

[suzanneparis]

Many thanks everyone. Genuinely appreciate it all. I think I understand what I am doing now. But can I pleas ask for a little more help with my two friends coming to the uk.

How does the Britrail pass work? Both in terms of buying and using.

The intention is that I buy the pass for them. They've given me their passport numbers.

My intention is to go to the Britrail site then go to one of the suggested retailers (are they all equally good?) and buy the pass for them but giving my email as the email for the lead traveller (the mother).(will that potentially cause any problems for her)

Then after paying for the M-ticket does the following happen??
Britrail send an email (to me) with a link to click and start the pass working for each of the two travellers even though one of them is 15 and free.
Is it correct that the pass lasts for a month?
IF it does last for a month then presumably I can buy the pass tomorrow and register it tomorrow to start the month tomorrow for them. (they are only here for a week from 1-8 July). Does registering involve clicking on a website?? Or more complicated.
After doing that does Britrail then send a 'ticket' for each of the two travellers to my email address?
I can then do two things:
1. print out the two tickets (they want me to do that because they don't have a printer).
2. send them the two electronic m-tickets by email.
so they will end up with an electronic and printed version of their ticket

Is that correct and is the final ticket just a PDF document or do they need a special app on their phones to display it?

Finally, using the pass. Presumably their must be some system for the ticket collector/gateline staff to validate the ticket for travel that day so that they don't exceed their 4 days? Then for further interactions later that day they show either the printed or on mobile screen pdf of the ticket - either to ticket collectors or machines at the gateline?

Many thanks for any help with the above. Never done a britrail pass before.