Expensive East Coast Advance

[ChrisTheRef]

Hi.

Looking to travel from York to Kingston next Monday 6th Feb.

The cheapest advance ticket available is £28.20 single. Travelling from Liverpool it's less than half of that.

Anybody got any ideas on how to make it cheaper please? It'll be arriving into Kingston for around 5pm, leaving as late as possible on the same day. Thanks.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Once the cheapest Advances have gone, then they're gone.

However, you will sometimes find that there are still cheaper Advances for legs of the journey which, when combined, amount to 'splitting' your ticket (eg at Peterborough or other intermediate stop at which the services you're looking at will stop).
Sometimes you just have to widen the timeframe of your journey to find some remaining cheaper fares (we have to remember that the low cost tickets are there to increase passenger numbers at the quietest times of day).
In extreme cases, its even been worth getting off somewhere such as Doncaster and continuing on another operator's trains (Hull, GC) or a less popular EC train.

I suggest you keep trying, though at £28 I doubt you're going to find much cheaper than that! I wouldn't call that particularly expensive for a 200 mile high speed journey.

 

[John @ home]

Sometimes it's cheaper to buy the cheapest York - London ticket, then use Oyster Pay-as-You-Go London - Kingston.

 

[telstarbox]

Chris - haven't got time to look it up but try specifying the journey via Sheffield and going down the MML.

 

[4SRKT]

£28.20 York to Kingston is an absolute bargain IMHO, particularly with less than a week to go.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

£28.20 York to Kingston is an absolute bargain IMHO, particularly with less than a week to go.

I agree it could be a lot worse, but compared to similar distances on the WCML or MML, it's pretty hefty

 

[All Line Rover]

I agree it could be a lot worse, but compared to similar distances on the WCML or MML, it's pretty hefty

WHAT!?? That's a bargain! The cheapest Manchester to London Advance available on Monday 6th Feb is £25.

It is almost impossible to find the very cheapest Advance tickets (lowest and second lowest tiers) this close prior to travel. They are not a "right," after all. They are there to fill up capacity on the quietest trains.

I still say that £28.20 is a bargain - compared to petrol, and compared to rail fares just a few decades ago. I find it amazing that in this day and age we can travel such long distances for such little money.

 

[tsr]

WHAT!?? That's a bargain! The cheapest Manchester to London Advance available on Monday 6th Feb is £25.

...I find it amazing that in this day and age we can travel such long distances for such little money.

Yes indeed, considering I made a journey during the morning peak today from Redhill to East Croydon (and back again!). The Anytime Return cost me £10.50. By comparison, that's simply expensive, although Southern and NR are making visible improvements, so I don't mind too much. This isn't EC - I understand!