Special Offers Discussion

[Joe Paxton]

Shame it's the usual offer, from London only and no railcard discounts.

Baring in mind Southeastern's ticket prices, I can't imagine there's many people in Southeastern-land without a railcard, so it's another offer that is no use to most.

I disagree - that is very much a regular rail user's mindset. I'm sure the overwhelming majority of people in Southeastern-land do not have a Railcard.

Also, this is aimed at London-dwellers, who may not have ever considered a Railcard - indeed may not realise they are even eligible for one (i.e. the Network Railcard).

 

[BluePenguin]

Shame it's the usual offer, from London only and no railcard discounts.

Baring in mind Southeastern's ticket prices, I can't imagine there's many people in Southeastern-land without a railcard, so it's another offer that is no use to most.

Me neither, nearly everyone I know has railcard too. This offer is rubbish for most of us who are already living in Kent. However we have it much better than the Londoners. With cheap tickets to visit anywhere on the "loop" and buying tickets set by Southern, we can visit our county a lot easier, quicker and cheaper than anyone from London could using this offer.

 

[BluePenguin]

I'm sure the overwhelming majority of people in Southeastern-land do not have a Railcard.

Also, this is aimed at London-dwellers, who may not have ever considered a Railcard - indeed may not realise they are even eligible for one (i.e. the Network Railcard).

What makes you so sure? At a guess I presume you mean the commuters with season tickets who make up the majority of passengers.

Bearing in mind that being right in the South Eastern corner of the country, most long distance journeys require travelling through London (unless you are going West and choose to coast through Sussex or faff around changing at Redhill) which makes having a railcard a must unless you can afford to pay expensive full fares from the likes of SouthEastern, Virgin and GWR.

 

[BluePenguin]

Over 13 if you count Canterbury West and East separately!

Over 14 if you also count Folkestone Central and West separately!

 

[andyc20050]

At first I had my hopes high, but then I saw it is one way (so £30 for a return). Can't see any mention of it on the website though.

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/destinations-and-offers/offers/summer-weekends

The offer runs until 1st July and is only valid from a handful of stations, let’s hope they increase the list once the school holidays start.

 

[AY1975]

Shame it's the usual offer, from London only and no railcard discounts.

Baring in mind Southeastern's ticket prices, I can't imagine there's many people in Southeastern-land without a railcard, so it's another offer that is no use to most.

Indeed, it would surely have made more sense to divide the Southeastern network into, say, three zones, and offered tickets for, say, £15 for travel within one zone, £20 for travel across two zones, and £25 for journeys across all three zones. That way the offer would be available for travel anywhere in Southeastern territory, to or from London or intermediately. There are plenty of popular visitor destinations and attractions that are not covered by the offer as it stands: Herne Bay, Tunbridge Wells, and Robertsbridge (for Bodiam Castle), for example.

 

[AY1975]

I disagree - that is very much a regular rail user's mindset. I'm sure the overwhelming majority of people in Southeastern-land do not have a Railcard.

Also, this is aimed at London-dwellers, who may not have ever considered a Railcard - indeed may not realise they are even eligible for one (i.e. the Network Railcard).

I would guess that it may also be aimed mainly at people who don't travel by train very often (except maybe for their journeys to and from work), the thinking being that it might influence such passengers to take the train who might otherwise drive or not make the journey at all.

 

[trevmonk]

Although Expedia are no longer offering any cashback on train tickets (how I miss that 5% so much!) they do seem to still do nectar points! I checked my Nectar account for the first time in ages and noticed that there were several amounts of 200 points listed from Expedia.

200 points = £1 so in some cases getting £1 back is the equivalent of 30-60% cashback on cheap tickets for local journeys. I hadn't managed to work out whether you get more nectar points if you buy more expensive tickets. For long distance tickets for which £1 back is nothing I still use raileasy for 2.21%.

Does anyone else recommend any other sites that offer more nectar points?

Are you sure you were getting the 200 points for rail tickets? I too was using the 5% cashback offer for daily tickets but it never offered me the opportunity to enter my Nectar card details (although the Nectar logo does appear on the initial rail booking page it disappears by the payment stage). With a car hire booking there is a confirmation that 200 Nectar points will be awarded at the payment stage. In the Expedia page about Nectar it mentions flights, hotels and other types of bookings but rail is notably absent.

 

[wibble1989]

You can now get 3x value on red spotted hanky via Tesco club card which is pretty good despite booking fees

 

[Puffing Devil]

You can now get 3x value on red spotted hanky via Tesco club card which is pretty good despite booking fees

Better value now that the Restaurant Redemptions, where the discounts can often be achieved with other online vouchers. I think the booking fee is around £1, which isn't too bad for the value of the vouchers.

 

[BigCj34]

Are you sure you were getting the 200 points for rail tickets? I too was using the 5% cashback offer for daily tickets but it never offered me the opportunity to enter my Nectar card details (although the Nectar logo does appear on the initial rail booking page it disappears by the payment stage). With a car hire booking there is a confirmation that 200 Nectar points will be awarded at the payment stage. In the Expedia page about Nectar it mentions flights, hotels and other types of bookings but rail is notably absent.

I have used Expedia many times to book trains, never got Nectar points. The 5% cashback was still worth it though!

 

[hawk1911]

You can now get 3x value on red spotted hanky via Tesco club card which is pretty good despite booking fees

Yes, I save up my Tesco points and convert them around once per annum, then book a few trips, via Red Spotted Hanky, at the same time, to minimise the impact of the booking fee.

I've just converted the latest lot of Tesco points at 3x value so, for me, the Tesco Clubcard changes are definite positive.

 

[peri]

I may have missed this being announced earlier, but The First Trans Pennine North of England Rover has two types now:
https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/special-offers/north-of-england-rover
https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/special-offers/north-of-england-rover

The first, called "North of England 4 in 8-day Rover", covers Liverpool, Manchester, Manchester Airport, Leeds and Hull for £79.00 with £52.15 for cards.

The second, called "North of England City Experience 4 in 8-day Rover", adds Newcastle for £99.00 with £65.30 for cards.

After 09.30 Mon - Fri, anytime Sat, Sun and Bank holidays.

I think they could have thrown in Middlesbrough and Scarborough.

 

[ModernRailways]

If you're in the right place, LNER have been giving out 30% discount cards. I wasn't able to grab one myself so if anyone manages to get one and report back if it's a generic code or a one time use code.

 

[BluePenguin]

Are you sure you were getting the 200 points for rail tickets? I too was using the 5% cashback offer for daily tickets but it never offered me the opportunity to enter my Nectar card details (although the Nectar logo does appear on the initial rail booking page it disappears by the payment stage). With a car hire booking there is a confirmation that 200 Nectar points will be awarded at the payment stage. In the Expedia page about Nectar it mentions flights, hotels and other types of bookings but rail is notably absent.

Yes I am sure as having checked the dates on my Nectar statement againt my Expedia trips, the two match

 

[AnkleBoots]

£5 off £50 spend at Virgin West Coast with selected Amex cards. Presumably any UK route will be OK.

 

[JaJaWa]

CrossCountry sale valid with Railcard

We're giving you first-look at our Big Getaway Sale!

Get 15% off CrossCountry Advance tickets when you book between 2-23 July 2018. Simply choose the e-Ticket delivery option when you book an Advance train ticket online or via our app.

Simply use the promo code below to get your 15% discount and go see your mates, visit a beach, or just for a getaway.

Use promo code: JULY

Use promotional code "JULY" to get 15% off CrossCountry Advance tickets. Tickets can be bought until 12:00pm on Monday 23 July 2018 for travel between 22 July and 2 Sept 2018 (inclusive). The discount only applies to First Class and Standard CrossCountry Advance single tickets purchased through the CrossCountry site (desktop or mobile) and Train Tickets App. The discount is only available for the e-Ticket fulfilment option. Advance tickets are subject to availability and the discount will be applied to a maximum of 18 tickets per transaction. The discount can be used in conjunction with a Railcard. Further terms and conditions apply, and full terms and conditions are available to view at crosscountrytrains.co.uk/july.

 

[ys123]

7 x nectar points on advance TPE/GWR/SWR tickets
I don't know if it is a targeted offer

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

7 x nectar points on advance TPE/GWR/SWR tickets
I don't know if it is a targeted offer

That's effectively 7% cashback (if redeemed as Sainsbury's vouchers or LNER I think?). Not bad if it's actually a general offer.

 

[James H]

Kids for a quid on SWR

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/destinations-and-offers/offers/livebig

1. Promotional fare is a £1 Off Peak Day Return child ticket.

2. Fare available for children aged 5 to 15, when accompanying an adult with a valid ticket (see 3 and 4, below). The fare must have the same origin, destination and route as the adult fare. A maximum of 4 promotional fares are valid with each adult.

3. The fare is only valid when accompanying an adult holding the following ticket types (with, or without, a Railcard discount):
a. Off Peak Day Return or Off Peak Day Travelcard;
b. Super Off Peak Day Return or Super Off peak Day Travelcard; or,
c. Promotional Day Return fares offered by South Western Railway.

 

[BigCj34]

Moneysavingexpert have an exclusive offer through the Ice loyalty scheme, where if you sign up to them here: https://www.myice.com/?utm_source=mse&utm_medium=website, use the coupon MSE10 and register a MasterCard you can receive a signing-ope bonus of £10 worth of loyalty points. One of the participating retailers in Traingenius, so a very good deal even if they charge a £1 booking fee.

You can get also 2% cashback with them, though not sure if using the voucher might invalidate the cashback..

 

[Kite159]

First Class sale for Virgin Trains until Sunday.
https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/sale

Appears to for travel in August

 

[E759]

First Class sale for Virgin Trains until Sunday.
https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/sale

Appears to for travel in August

30 July to 31 August Monday-Friday only excluding Monday 27th.

 

[northwichcat]

Moneysavingexpert have an exclusive offer through the Ice loyalty scheme, where if you sign up to them here: https://www.myice.com/?utm_source=mse&utm_medium=website, use the coupon MSE10 and register a MasterCard you can receive a signing-ope bonus of £10 worth of loyalty points. One of the participating retailers in Traingenius, so a very good deal even if they charge a £1 booking fee.

You can get also 2% cashback with them, though not sure if using the voucher might invalidate the cashback..

For those who don't have Mastercard but have Visa and your provider is part of visaoffers.eu, there's a 3% cashback offer for a purchase via the Trainline app. If you purchase a normal single/return as a mobile ticket on the day of travel there's no booking fee. Not a lot but better than nothing.

 

[northwichcat]

That's effectively 7% cashback (if redeemed as Sainsbury's vouchers or LNER I think?). Not bad if it's actually a general offer.

TPE one is currently show in my account. The T&Cs say

1. 7x points offer applied to TransPennine Express Advance Purchase tickets booked from 00.01 on 14/06/2018 until 23.59 on 11/07/2018. 2. Only invited customers may participate. To qualify for 7x points you must purchase a ticket during the offer validity dates via the promotional link for the offer. 3. Bonus points will not be awarded on: season tickets, travel cards, Plus Bus or transactions paid for with National Rail vouchers. 4. TransPennine Express reserves the right to withdraw Nectar points in the case of fraudulent activity or issuance error, withhold issuing Nectar points, and change these terms at any time. 5. TransPennine Express and Nectar booking terms & conditions apply.

 

[James H]

South Western Railway currently offering 5 * normal Nectar points on all tickets (not just SWR ones). Equates to 5% discount.

 

[northwichcat]

South Western Railway currently offering 5 * normal Nectar points on all tickets (not just SWR ones). Equates to 5% discount.

Not showing up in my Nectar offers, the only rail one I have is 5 x points on TPE Advance tickets. Nectar offers vary between cardholders depending on your previous purchase history.

 

[James H]

It doesn't show up in my Nectar offers either - just booked a ticket and saw the offer. Described as "August Points Promo" on the booking confirmation email.

 

[BluePenguin]

South Western Railway currently offering 5 * normal Nectar points on all tickets (not just SWR ones). Equates to 5% discount.

I can't find this anywhere and the numbers don't add up to equal 5% off:

A £15 ticket normally equals 15 points (8p)
So with the 5x offer this becomes 75 points (75p)
But the Nectar points calculator says the points are only worth 38p

On Raileasy in comparison with 2.1% cashback you get 32p. It it not a huge difference but as they say at Tesco "Every little helps"

 

[Hadders]

I think the 5% claim relies on using a double up offer when cashing in the points.