crosscountry trains

[saj]

I've been looking into getting a cheap single back home to wales and on the crosscountry website i found these are the cheapest>

from dundee to bristol parkway

ADVANCE SINGLE
This ticket is only valid on CrossCountry services.
1 FAMILY AND FRIENDS RAILCARD Adult(s) @ £46.85 : £46.85
1 FAMILY AND FRIENDS RAILCARD Child(ren) @ £13.50 : £13.50
Total: £60.35

then from bristol prkway to llanelli

ADVANCE SINGLE
This ticket is only valid for travel on Great Western services only.
1 FAMILY AND FRIENDS RAILCARD Adult(s) @ £3.30 : £3.30
1 FAMILY AND FRIENDS RAILCARD Child(ren) @ £1.00 : £1.00
Total: £4.30

i've never bought tickets off the internet, for some reason i allways find it better just to go to the train station to get them....so my question is can i still get these tickets for the same price at the train station ?? (really hope so what a bargain )

sorry if this is a dumb question but i am train illiterate

 

[Mike395]

Yes you can, however they're subject to availability, and in any case can only be bought prior to the day of travel - also XC (CrossCountry) offer a small online discount for their own tickets IIRC

 

[gordonthemoron]

you should be able to get these tickets at a station, except where there is a special web discount (like East Coast's one for their own advance tickets)

 

[ainsworth74]

Yes you can buy them from a train station (assuming it has a booking office), but you can't buy them on the day of travel. So if you go down to your local booking office today you will probably be able to buy them at that price (unless the quota of advance tickets at that price sells out) but if you wait say a few days then the price will go up both online and at the station as the tickets get sold.

I would suggest taking a note of what tickets you want on which trains and how much they cost to make sure you're getting the right ones. Also it's not a dumb question we were all new to railway ticket buying at some point!

 

[bb21]

You'll know if these are CrossCountry-discounted fares for buying on their own website if you check the price on another TOC's website, eg. London Midland, First Great Western, etc. If the price is the same then there is no special discount for buying from CrossCountry website, which means the same price from ticket offices. Otherwise the prices you obtain from the websites of other TOC's will be the price you pay at the ticket office.

 

[Yew]

I think there is a 25% off offer for internet purchases. Did we put it in the discouts thread?

 

[bb21]

I think there is a 25% off offer for internet purchases. Did we put it in the discouts thread?

But I thought XC have sussed it out. See this.

 

[saj]

You'll know if these are CrossCountry-discounted fares for buying on their own website if you check the price on another TOC's website, eg. London Midland, First Great Western, etc. If the price is the same then there is no special discount for buying from CrossCountry website, which means the same price from ticket offices. Otherwise the prices you obtain from the websites of other TOC's will be the price you pay at the ticket office.

just checked great western website and the only difference is the ticket from bristol parkway is 6.80....... so i'm very happy thanks !!!

 

[bb21]

just checked great western website and the only difference is the ticket from bristol parkway is 6.80....... so i'm very happy thanks !!!

Do you mean that a ticket between Bristol Parkway and Llanelli (on Great Western trains) is more expensive from Great Western website? hock:

 

[saj]

Do you mean that a ticket between Bristol Parkway and Llanelli (on Great Western trains) is more expensive from Great Western website? hock:

yes on great western website it's £6.80 but on cross country website it's £4.80 ...

 

[island]

Are these Advances?

 

[saj]

Are these Advances?

yes!! is that bad ? there cheap though can't be all that bad

 

[bnm]

Picking a random date (23/6) both XC and FGWs website give me £4.30 for 1 adult 1 child with F&F Railcard on the 1907 Bristol Parkway to Llanelli, which is the only direct train on a weekday and appears to be the only service where advance fares are available.

Saj, could you tell us date and time of travel? Far easier then to check.

 

[saj]

Picking a random date (23/6) both XC and FGWs website give me £4.30 for 1 adult 1 child with F&F Railcard on the 1907 Bristol Parkway to Llanelli, which is the only direct train on a weekday and appears to be the only service where advance fares are available.

Saj, could you tell us date and time of travel? Far easier then to check.

sorry of course.... hopefully i'm travelling home on monday that will be the 9th may at 19.10

Journey price £6.80
1 Adult(s) 1 Child(ren)
Out:
19:10 (Mon 09 May)
Bristol Parkway (BPW) to Llanelli (LLE)
0 change(s)

 

[island]

I've just put that through NRE, FGW, and XC and all are coming back £5.30 for adult and £1.50 for child with F&F Railcard, on the FGW slow train to Carmarthen. Would you mind attaching a screenshot of the £4.80?

 

[saj]

I've just put that through NRE, FGW, and XC and all are coming back £5.30 for adult and £1.50 for child with F&F Railcard, on the FGW slow train to Carmarthen. Would you mind attaching a screenshot of the £4.80?

Thats really weird, i've just searched again on the cross country website and now it's coming up as £6.80, how is that possible?

 

[bnm]

It's possible that at the time you first checked, the £4.30 fare were the last seats available at that price. Checking one booking engine then another can have the effect of showing a price difference in this instance. The first booking engine 'holds' the tickets so that they can't be sold elsewhere meaning if that was the last of the availability then the price will be different elsewhere.

When comparing Advance fares across booking engines you need to stop the search on the first website and close the page, before checking another.

Thats really weird, i've just searched again on the cross country website and now it's coming up as £6.80, how is that possible?

Someone's bought the seats at the cheaper price point.

 

[bb21]

I've just put that through NRE, FGW, and XC and all are coming back £5.30 for adult and £1.50 for child with F&F Railcard, on the FGW slow train to Carmarthen. Would you mind attaching a screenshot of the £4.80?

I'm getting £6.80 too. Maybe someone bought the last one of the £4.30 quota?

Edit: Doh! Didn't see bnm's post.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

When comparing Advance fares across booking engines you need to stop the search on the first website and close the page, before checking another.

I didn't think that closing the browser would end the 'hold' on the seat. When you close the browser, surely it does not send info to the website to end the session? I was under the impression that once a seat is being 'held', it is only released when the purchase is not complete after a certain amount of pre-defined time, or if the session is timed out due to inactivity.

 

[yorkie]

I didn't think that closing the browser would end the 'hold' on the seat. When you close the browser, surely it does not send info to the website to end the session? I was under the impression that once a seat is being 'held', it is only released when the purchase is not complete after a certain amount of pre-defined time, or if the session is timed out due to inactivity.

Agreed. WebTIS gives you a time at which the reservation will 'expire'. Unless you remove the ticket from your basket before that point, then you have until that time before the seat (and, potentially that quota of advance ticket) becomes available to book again.