Highland Chieftain in October

[gord]

Myself and my wife are looking to travel on the Highland Chieftain on October 15th, London to Inverness 1st Class. I see that advance ticekts are already available for this date, (although not the cheapest tier, they must have gone).

Is it worth booking them now through VTEC or is there a chance they might be cheaper under LNER? I know companies set there own fares but realistically, what are the chances of LNER adjusting the prices?

Worried that if I book now, I may miss a cheaper fare in a month or 2 time.

 

[Wallsendmag]

The simple answer is nobody knows. The inverness and Aberdeen trains are always busy though.

 

[stuart]

Your travel date is in the period of the Scottish schools' "October Week" (varies by region) so demand for seats is likely to be higher than average. Worth checking out the option of split ticketing at Edinburgh. If you have an extra half hour to spare, you can sometimes save by getting the 1130 from Kings Cross and changing to the Chieftain at Newcastle or Edinburgh.

 

[robbeech]

They do fill up and the cheaper tiers go fast. I think it’s very unlikely (though not impossible) that cheaper tickets will appear. If you’re sure you want to go and the current price fits your budget then I’d suggest booking them. Booking on the VTEC website will allow you to pick your seats. Depending on the price, if you don’t already qualify for any of the many Railcard’s available it might work out cheaper to buy a two together railcard at £30 and both receive 1/3 off the fare.
Note that there are time restrictions when using the card, the down Chieftain that you talk about qualifies but the up Chieftain from Inverness towards London does not (in the week) but you may be able to get around that by splitting your ticket at Perth and buying the discounted ticket from there.
The railcard is valid for a year so you could likely benefit further from it.

 

[gord]

Thanks for the replies. Sadly splitting was no good for this date. However, I've gone ahead and booked it as it is in my budget as it stands and looking at how high it could go, it may not stay that way! We already have a Two Together Railcard.

This is all part of my 40th birthday adventure which is taking in the Highland Chieftain, the Night Riviera and the GWR pullman in the same week, most of which I now have booked! (including a night in the Mount Haven hotel near Penzance, which looks great). We're also hiring a car for the day from Penzance so we can explore.

When in Inverness, going to ride out to Kyle and back but tempted to get off in Plockton, it looks amazing and my wife loves fresh seafood, the restuarant there looks right up her street!

Can't believe I've persuaded her to do this trip with me. I am a lucky man!

 

[stuart]

Have fun! Plockton is wonderful, but so is the section of line between there and Kyle. Maybe consider going to Kyle, straight back to Plockton and then waiting for the next train (or local bus/taxi)?

 

[Deafdoggie]

I did the GWR sleeper at Easter, the refurbished berths are really good. By then the sleeper lounge should be open at Penzance, and you can use the 1st Class lounge at Paddington. Enjoy

 

[gord]

Didn't know they were putting a lounge in at Penzance. Could be handy while we're waiting for the hire car. Although the Mount Haven hotel sent me a lovely email sayng that if we're on the sleeper, they'll do their best to check us in early.

Going back to my original post, am very glad I booked the Highland Chieftain for that date. On the seat selector, I managed to get the last table of 2 going in 1st class and the rest of the carriage looked pretty full. Let's hope LNER provide a decent first class service!

 

[Deafdoggie]

Didn't know they were putting a lounge in at Penzance. Could be handy while we're waiting for the hire car. Although the Mount Haven hotel sent me a lovely email sayng that if we're on the sleeper, they'll do their best to check us in early.

Going back to my original post, am very glad I booked the Highland Chieftain for that date. On the seat selector, I managed to get the last table of 2 going in 1st class and the rest of the carriage looked pretty full. Let's hope LNER provide a decent first class service!

Unlikely to make the fares ant cheaper then if it is already pretty full.

There is also a sleeper lounge opening in Truro. Most accommodation providers are used to their guests arriving early/departing late on the sleeper.

 

[gord]

So it turns out I was wrong to book the Highland Chieftain early!

When I booked the tickets a month ago, I paid £152 for two in first class using our Two Together Railcard.

Just checked the same journey on the 15th October now it's LNER, it's now £118! I should have gambled and waited after all! Despite the fact when I booked it looked as though there weren't many seats left. Quite annoyed with myself now. However, not thinking about myself for a second and looking at the bigger picture, I suppose it's good they are reducing prices. It's just annoying for me!

Edit: Sent a polite, (I'm not one of these shouty internet people!) email to LNER asking why this is the case. I know what answer I'll get but no harm in asking.

 

[Romilly]

There's something more complex going on, I think. For London-Edinburgh on LNER there's a big change from 15 October onwards with lots of lower-priced Advances not being made available (yet???) from that date onwards.

 

[Wallsendmag]

They were opened the best part of two months ago.

 

[Romilly]

They were opened the best part of two months ago.

Thank you. However, the prices for this November (and the second half of October) that I was looking at are currently at the level they were when bookings opened, which means that there are lots of services where the opening price for an Advance in November 2017 was £47.50 but the opening price for the same service in November 2018 is £70.50 (having gone through £49 and £59 in the meantime). To my simple mind, that's a hefty 50% annual price rise (or 48.42% to be more accurate). Ouch!

 

[gord]

I got a reply from LNER. As I expected really, they explained this is the nature of Advanced tickets and that they can choose to lower prices nearer the date of travel if there are still unsold seats.

Still seems unfair to me but I'll just have to swallow this one. Leaves me a bit confused for booking future rail travel...just when is the best time to book because earlier clearly isn't better in all cases.

 

[alistairlees]

I got a reply from LNER. As I expected really, they explained this is the nature of Advanced tickets and that they can choose to lower prices nearer the date of travel if there are still unsold seats.

Still seems unfair to me but I'll just have to swallow this one. Leaves me a bit confused for booking future rail travel...just when is the best time to book because earlier clearly isn't better in all cases.

I'm pretty sure that they are not supposed to do that, for exactly the reason you have suggested.