Cheapest Return Fare Darlington-Southampton

[Skylark]

Now Gents,

4 Adults travelling from Hartlepool to Southampton Sat 13th Feb and return the following day, Sunday 14th Feb. Can depart from Darlington as probably more options and cheaper.
Available to depart from 6am, cheapest route, and from 10am from Southampton.
No Railcards, just the cheapest option please.
Any ideas?
Best I can find is around £100.00!

Thanks in advance

 

[142094]

I tried to find fares using Grand Central from Hartlepool, and also splitting at York but couldn't find much. Someone else may be a bit better than me.

 

[yorkie]

If that's £100 each then that's not great, but it's a bit late for Advance Purchase. That can't be £100 for the group, surely?

The cheapest non-Day off peak return ticket from London to Southampton is routed "Southern Only" and is £56.00 for a group of 4, using Group Save. (In Avantix Traveller NFM05 search for: Origin: 1702. Destination: SOU. Discount: GS4. Adults: 4). This works out at £14 each.

An Off Peak return from Hartlepool (HPL) to London is £69 per person on Grand Central only.

These tickets are all available on the day, and in theory all can be bought on GC (but GC may have difficulty with the Group Save), and is a total of £83 each.

This is far better than using the awful, overcrowded Cross Country route operated by cramped 4-car DMUs that rattle and stagger zig-zagging over the country acting as inter-urban trains between neighbouring towns and cities. And cheaper than the through "Not London" ticket priced by Cross Country, at £113.40 (a rip-off).

Hope that helps, and enjoy your trip on a decent train!

(If speed is an issue, then it's £70.20 for 4 people from Waterloo to Southampton on South West Trains using Group Save 4, this is £14.20 extra for the group, or £3.55 extra per person)

You will need to get across London. For 4 people you could consider a taxi. If you want to take the tube, then don't pay rip-off LU cash fares of £4 each way per person (total £32!), instead either use Oyster PAYG or buy a ticket from Finsbury Park to Southampton on Group Save, this is £76.80 for the group (£19.20 per person) and includes the Underground and is valid on SWT or Southern to Southampton.

 

[sammyg901]

If you really need to do it cheaper and time isnt so much of an issue than Megabus and National Express have some £20 return fares from Middlesbrough to Victoria.

From there you could pick up the Group Save 4 from the ticket office in the train station (few mins walk) - no need to buy in advance as there are no seat reservations on Southern.

 

[Evvy73]

@Skylark - you weren't planning on coming down for the football were you? The scheduled fixture was Saints v Hartlepool, however as Saints have made it through to the 5th round of the FA Cup (and a home tie against that lot from down the M27) the Hartlepool game will have to be re-scheduled.

Hopefully (if this was the reason for your journey) you haven't bought any tickets yet.

 

[yorkie]

For football fixtures, I highly recommend Grand Central buy on board and do not pay in advance, for the reasons stated by Evvy73. Quite a few football fans have realised this. No more splitting day tickets at Grantham/Newark, as it's roughly the same price on GC and without having to change at Donny to make it affordable. The 1907 from King's Cross helps for southern based journeys.

 

[paul1609]

Please note that Southern dont serve Southampton on a Sunday (yet).
To be honest for Southampton if you are coming from Central London Southern is an awful long way round. It passes my house 60 miles from London about 1 hr 20 mins after leaving Victoria and its a further hour for the 53 miles on to Southampton.
The idea of the service is that it joins together several overlapping journeys such as Chichester to London and Southampton to Gatwick airport.

 

[tony_mac]

That makes it no use, but for future reference, 2 group daysaves would be cheaper for travel on Southern trains only if you can book 7 days in advance.

 

[yorkie]

That makes it no use, but for future reference, 2 group daysaves would be cheaper for travel on Southern trains only if you can book 7 days in advance.

Good point! But considering the slowness of the service, and what Paul said about Sundays, and given the need to cross London, I think the £76.80 Group Save 4 tickets from Finsbury Park are the best deal overall. I had forgotten about the group daysaves.