King's Cross to York ticket pricing oddity

[impfreely]

Hello,

I'm in the process of trying to buy tickets for Saturday 18th January for the following:

0811 King's Cross to York (Sunderland) outbound (Grand Central)

2044 (Aberdeen) York to King's Cross inbound (East Coast)

I have 3 passengers with 3 16-25 Railcards.

NRE advertises the outbound journey price as and Advance fare of £18.80, and the inbound journey prices as an Advance fare of £14.25. The cost for both tickets therefore being £33.05.

If I purchase 2 sets of these tickets, it costs £66.10 as expected. However, according to NRE, if I purchase 3 sets, the cost is £117.00. (Screenshots attached)

Any ideas what could cause this? Is there a workaround? If the tickets are purchased separately, does that mean we won't be seated together?

Your advice much appreciated,
Iain

 

[causton]

It is probably that one 'tier' of advances are sold out. There is only a certain number of tickets at each price for Advances, and you may have found out the number of tickets left for one of your trains is 2!

 

[pennine]

Hi there!

Personally I've never used the Nation Rail Website when it comes to seraching for fares. Eastcoast website tends to provide more reliable results

Hello,

I'm in the process of trying to buy tickets for Saturday 18th January for the following:

0811 King's Cross to York (Sunderland) outbound (Grand Central)

2044 (Aberdeen) York to King's Cross inbound (East Coast)

I have 3 passengers with 3 16-25 Railcards.

NRE advertises the outbound journey price as and Advance fare of £18.80, and the inbound journey prices as an Advance fare of £14.25. The cost for both tickets therefore being £33.05.

If I purchase 2 sets of these tickets, it costs £66.10 as expected. However, according to NRE, if I purchase 3 sets, the cost is £117.00. (Screenshots attached)

Any ideas what could cause this? Is there a workaround? If the tickets are purchased separately, does that mean we won't be seated together?

Your advice much appreciated,
Iain

 

[impfreely]

It is probably that one 'tier' of advances are sold out. There is only a certain number of tickets at each price for Advances, and you may have found out the number of tickets left for one of your trains is 2!

I think you may be correct. The cheapest fare now starts at £39 for the same journey that was £33.05 earlier. Best buy the tickets sooner rather than later!

 

[tony_mac]

If somebody (including you) has added the cheaper tickets to their basket, but didn't buy them, then they will be available again 2 hours later.

 

[bb21]

I suspect that the lower price tier (£18.80) may only have two tickets left, so if you ask for three tickets together, it will sell you three tickets at the next available price tier which has a minimum of three tickets left, which is £24.75 in your case.

You need to book the two tickets and one ticket separately to take advantage of the £18.80 tickets. Of course there is no guarantee that you will get seats together in that case.

 

[yorkie]

The lower priced GC tickets are now either sold out, or in someone's basket.

For a group booking, the website will only sell tickets at the same tier, per journey leg. If you wish to take advantage of lower tiers being available for part of the group you need to add the tickets to your basket separately.

Where did you plan to buy the tickets?

It is cheaper on the EC website. If searching for a group, it is best just to initially search for one person to determine availability. The EC website will warn you 'x seats at this price' if availability is limited. You will also get an online EC discount, in many cases, for EC services. There's also the ability to select your seat.

It is only £5 per single each way in the EC sale, but you would have to take an EC train both ways to get that price.

 

[IanXC]

Its worth pointing out that if the railcard holders also have NUS Extra cards a further discount is available on the Grand Central leg by booking via the CrossCountry website! (EC provide a discount on their advances on their own site so buy those there)

 

[impfreely]

The lower priced GC tickets are now either sold out, or in someone's basket.

For a group booking, the website will only sell tickets at the same tier, per journey leg. If you wish to take advantage of lower tiers being available for part of the group you need to add the tickets to your basket separately.

Where did you plan to buy the tickets?

It is cheaper on the EC website. If searching for a group, it is best just to initially search for one person to determine availability. The EC website will warn you 'x seats at this price' if availability is limited. You will also get an online EC discount, in many cases, for EC services. There's also the ability to select your seat.

It is only £5 per single each way in the EC sale, but you would have to take an EC train both ways to get that price.

Invaluable information, thank you. Unforunately I booked last night at the cost of £116, whereas obviously the same journey is available for £30. I've emailed East Coast to see whether I can have a refund, then purchase the tickets at the sale price.

Many thanks.

 

[island]

It is cheaper on the EC website. If searching for a group, it is best just to initially search for one person to determine availability. The EC website will warn you 'x seats at this price' if availability is limited. You will also get an online EC discount, in many cases, for EC services. There's also the ability to select your seat.

But not if you're booking the last seat(s) at a given price

 

[yorkie]

Invaluable information, thank you. Unforunately I booked last night at the cost of £116, whereas obviously the same journey is available for £30. I've emailed East Coast to see whether I can have a refund, then purchase the tickets at the sale price.

Many thanks.

Advance tickets are not refundable unfortunately. I doubt they will agree to this.

It is worth checking our online offers sticky thread (you can subscribe for updates automatically if you like) as the offer was mentioned on here before you booked,

 

[impfreely]

Advance tickets are not refundable unfortunately. I doubt they will agree to this.

It is worth checking our online offers sticky thread (you can subscribe for updates automatically if you like) as the offer was mentioned on here before you booked,

Yes, I doubt it'll work! But worth a try, I'll subscribe to that sticky now, thank you.