Newcastle to Petersfield

[Peter Mugridge]

There is a lady on the e-Bay "Family Home and Garden" forum who lives in Newcastle and is looking to make regular trips to visit her daughter in Petersfield.

The cheapest advance fare she can find appears to be £136 which doesn't sound right to me, so I said I would ask the experts on here ( ie you lot ) to help her find a cheaper fare.

She hasn't said what sort of time of day she is travelling, though I think we can assume off peak. I am guessing that splitting is probably her best option, but that is not an area in which I am very expert...

 

[MikeWh]

Just done a very quick check on NRES using March 16/17 with no splitting. Advances of £41.50 are available on almost all options, so that's £83 for the return. There's also an off-peak return available for £130, so if advances are going to cost more than that they aren't worth it.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

That's a pretty big difference already - thanks for that.

I've given her a link to watch this thread on so don't worry if I don't pop in every time someone replies; she will be reading it and I'll post some feedback from her in due course.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Ah, this might be one for my respose as a regular Newcastle-London-Brighton traveller.
It will be worth checking that she doesn't qualify for a Railcard.

I'll leave others to look in detail at the London-Petersfield section, but the old truths about advances hold true: book as soon as they become available and book via the EC website.
To illustrate:
I've just looked at a couple of random dates in April - there are still Advance singles on nearly every EC service for just £12 (or £8 with railcard) on the weekend, and for £12 or £15 on weekdays.
But most of those have already gone for dates in March, where the best Advance singles are between £31 and £49.
Whereas this month, Feb, (and at the end of the month) they are mostly £40 - £48.

When I have to travel at short notice, I frequently split my tickets at Grantham or Peterborough to make a saving of £10 or more (and I can assure everyone that all EC guards are very happy to accept split tickets, just as long as the service actually stops at the station where the 2 tickets meet). I don't recall ever finding a split anywhere else being cheaper. Even for travel in just 2 weeks time, its possible to book advances, splitting at Grantham or Peterborough (and at sensible times of day) for about £50 and £30.

[all the above is just Newcastle - KingsCross. London - Petersfield appears to be simpler, but expensive, at £34:50 for an open return]

 

[button_boxer]

and I can assure everyone that all EC guards are very happy to accept split tickets, just as long as the service actually stops at the station where the 2 tickets meet

I would be extremely concerned if they didn't, given the Conditions of Carriage...