London to South Coast inter-available return

[grumblingalong]

Evening all,

To assist with fares planning for an upcoming day trip could anyone advise if there is a return from London Terminals to the south coast that would permit the below itinerary? I fear two singles may be required.

London Bridge - Brighton - Havant - Portsmouth Harbour - London Waterloo

I appreciate short singles for the Portsmouth Harbour and possibly Brighton sections may be needed, but is there a location that would permit the bulk of the trip on one return?

 

[30907]

Off the top of my head an Any Permitted ticket to Portsmouth is valid via Brighton - it certainly must be via Hove.

 

[grumblingalong]

Off the top of my head an Any Permitted ticket to Portsmouth is valid via Brighton - it certainly must be via Hove.

Thanks! Is this commonly used as a route or would I be suspected?

 

[Hadders]

I agree that a London Terminals to Portsmouth Stations will suffice. Webtis sites will give a route if you specify via Brighton.

A saving can be made by purchasing a 'route Three Bridges' ticket and doing a change of route excess to 'Any Permitted' for the return portion.

 

[Romilly]

National Rail Enquiries and WEBTIS-based journey planners are happy that a London-Portsmouth Harbour ticket is valid via Brighton. But as you won't be returning via Three Bridges, do make sure you get the £38.30 offpeak day return or the £40.30 anytime day return (rather than a cheaper ticket that is valid only via Three Bridges).

And if you booked through new.trainsplit.com you would be able to use the Advanced Options to specify different via points for the two legs of your journey in order to get an itinerary for exactly what you propose to do.

 

[Hadders]

National Rail Enquiries and WEBTIS-based journey planners are happy that a London-Portsmouth Harbour ticket is valid via Brighton. But as you won't be returning via Three Bridges, do make sure you get the £38.30 offpeak day return or the £40.30 anytime day return (rather than a cheaper ticket that is valid only via Three Bridges)

It's perfectly acceptable to purchase the 'via Three Bridges' ticket and obtain a Change of Route Excess to 'Any Permitted' for the return portion. This costs half the difference in price between the two fares for a one-way change.

For example, using the Off Peak Day Return:

Via Three Bridges £30.50
Any Permitted £38.30
A change of route excess for one portion would cost £3.90, making the cost of the overall journey £34.40.

Journeys like this are exactly why change of route excess facility exists.

 

[grumblingalong]

Many thanks all, shan't worry about the change of route excess, not enough saving for the hassle on this occasion.

You have however saved me a good tenner overall compared to my previous plans so I am grateful for your better knowledge of routing points than I.

 

[30907]

Many thanks all, shan't worry about the change of route excess, not enough saving for the hassle on this occasion.

You have however saved me a good tenner overall compared to my previous plans so I am grateful for your better knowledge of routing points than I.

It's an accident of history that the Brighton company tried to compete for Portsmouth traffic from a very early stage - in fact they got to Havant first, and the Portsmouth Direct route was the interloper (Google "Battle of Havant!") - with very useful results for modern travellers.

 

[grumblingalong]

It's an accident of history that the Brighton company tried to compete for Portsmouth traffic from a very early stage - in fact they got to Havant first, and the Portsmouth Direct route was the interloper (Google "Battle of Havant!") - with very useful results for modern travellers.

Very interesting! Here's hoping the locals don't do something similar tomorrow