Newcastle to Horden railcard

[A S Leib]

Is a 16-25 railcard discounted off-peak day return from Newcastle to Horden valid from the 09:40 departure or the 10:40? BR fares says from 09:00 but the Northern website and app won't apply the discount until the 10:40 departure. The anytime day return without a railcard is £11.50; would that have an effect?

 

[jfollows]

Minimum fare £12 04:30-10:00 Monday-Friday except holidays and July-August.

Railcard Terms & Conditions - 16-25 Railcard

A 16-25 Railcard costs just �30 and it'll save you 1/3 on rail fares throughout Great Britain for a whole year.

www.16-25railcard.co.uk

 

[A S Leib]

Thank you.

 

[Watershed]

The underlying fare has restriction code B3, which means it's valid from 09:00. However the 16-25 Railcard has a minimum fare of £12 for travel before 10am on weekdays. Therefore, since the undiscounted fare is under £12, you can't get the Railcard discount unless you travel after 10am. You will note that BR Fares has an asterisk denoting fares to which the minimum fare rule applies.

The 16-25 minimum fare rule doesn't apply during the months of July or August, or to Advance tickets. So you might like to consider the latter; in my experience, Northern Advances are often available on the day. Note that other Railcards have different time restrictions or minimum fare rules - it is all rather a mess!

 

[A S Leib]

I normally get Advances for my first journey of the day, such as Newcastle to Carlisle for journeys to Lancaster or Glasgow; my plan this time was only going to Horden / Seaham, without knowing when I wanted to come back, which is why I want to avoid Advances this time.

 

[Watershed]

Fair enough. However, you could literally buy an Advance ticket as you're walking up to the station - they're available until just a couple of minutes before departure for Northern. In my experience, with Northern's low Advance prices, even a pair of on-the-day Advances will often work out cheaper than an Off-Peak Day Return.

 

[janb]

Fair enough. However, you could literally buy an Advance ticket as you're walking up to the station - they're available until just a couple of minutes before departure for Northern.

15 minutes now the cut off across all platforms for Northern.