London Trip

[Muggertea]

Hi, first time post so be gentle with me. We’re staying at Luton Airport Parkway Friday and intend travelling into London Friday and Saturday. Trying to find the cheapest way to travel on both days with some tube travel each day. We have a Two Together railcard. Is it best to buy daily travel cards or pay for returns to London each day and use contactless debit card as we go? Any advice will be appreciated, thanks.

 

[81A]

For the Saturday, it looks like the best option would be Super off-peak day Travelcards (only valid weekends on this route) using your railcard. This would cost £17 per person. If only making a few tube journeys, there is a Super off-peak day Return to “London Thameslink” (also only weekends) for £10.05 each with your railcard. Then you could use contactless for the tube (only cheaper than the travelcard if doing very limited tube travel). For the Friday, it depends a bit on timings as peak restrictions apply.

 

[walkingsophie]

For Friday, off peak day travel card from Luton instead of Luton airport costs the same amount, but is valid earlier in the day.

 

[Haywain]

but is valid earlier in the day.

A whole 18 minutes departing from Parkway, but as much as 28 minutes arriving into St Pancras..

 

[Watershed]

Because you have a Two Together Railcard, traditional tickets will likely be cheaper than contactless since you can't get a Railcard discount on contactless.

As above, a Travelcard from Luton, rather than Luton Airport Parkway, would theoretically allow you want to be able to take an earlier train in the morning: the 09:02 arriving STP at 09:34, rather than the 09:32 arriving STP at 10:04 (which would be the first valid train on a Luton Airport Parkway Travelcard).

However, since your Two Together Railcard isn't valid for travel before 09:30 (regardless of when the underlying ticket becomes valid) you wouldn't be able to make use of the earlier validity if you wanted to make use of the Railcard discount. So I imagine it's unlikely to be worthwhile for you.

 

[Muggertea]

Thanks for your help everyone, I appreciate you taking the time to help me.