Oxford - Heswall with 3 Vs 2 adults

[4COR]

Looking ahead to a trip from Oxford to Heswall with a friend on the first weekend of July, and trying to think about prices.

Will go out on Fri, and back on Sunday, both travelling late morning/lunchtime-ish.

Any advances won't be out yet, but so far found itinerary with off-peak return splits at Leamington Spa and Shrewsbury for about £65 each including the cost of a Two Together card (the Railcard cost we'd get back in a single use).

A third friend wants to join us - obviously he can't take advantage of the 1/3 off, that the original 2 can. Groupsave doesn't appear to apply on any of these fares.

Assuming we don't undercut it with advances, can anyone come up with an improvement over £205.70 for the 3 of us?

 

[JonathanH]

Groupsave doesn't appear to apply on any of these fares.

Groupsave isn't available on CrossCountry, Avanti, Merseyrail, TfW, and a number of other operators. That practically means the closest Groupsave can get you to Heswall is Liverpool.

You may be able to find a cheaper itinerary going (and splitting) via Worcester and Smethwick Galton Bridge avoiding CrossCountry or using GWR to Banbury to pick up Chiltern from there and then LNR (but I haven't checked).

 

[4COR]

Thanks - I had a go at the above - the cheapest I think I could do that route to Liverpool is about £72pp with groupsave (via Worcester Shrub Hill, Birmingham (or Smethwick Galton Bridge)). Doubt I'll get much better in that case than the previous best - at least we have a mark for flexible fare costs, and so the only option is hoping for a half decent advance fare both ways - there are tiers on both Avanti and Cross COuntry set fares that will just about undercut the above, but you'd need the good tiers both ways, and I guess it's less likely to happen with travelling on Friday and Sunday....