Special Offers Discussion

[LUYMun]

Nor does any Open Access Operator partake.

 

[Adam Williams]

Lumo apparently isn't taking part



Source https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/article...gs-of-50-on-off-peak-and-advance-fares-86539/

It's odd to me they persist in calling it the Great British Rail Sale when both ScotRail and TfW are absent from the list.

 

[Deerfold]

Does the Sale usually include First Class fares?

It's odd to me they persist in calling it the Great British Rail Sale when both ScotRail and TfW are absent from the list.

The operators are excluded, but presumably you can buy for services in Wales and Scotland (or crossing the border) priced by other operators.

 

[hexagon789]

Does the Sale usually include First Class fares?

Yes it does.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Jan 2026 ==

The operators are excluded, but presumabky you can buy for services in Wales and Scotland (or crossing the border) priced by other operators.

Well quite, because there are usually sale fares to/from Scotland by Avanti, LNER, TPE and XC and to/from Wales certainly with GWR (maybe XC into/out of Cardiff?) but I would've thought the odd tickets with Avanti along the North Wales coast too.

 

[trainophile]

50% off train fares with Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway (GWR) is joining the trend for New Year Sales with 225,000 train tickets for sale at up to 50% off.

www.railadvent.co.uk

Thanks for this, I didn't know about it. £5 Paignton to Penzance can't be bad! Also some good 1st Class fares if you hunt for them. No railcard discounts, but at those prices I'm not at all disappointed.

 

[redreni]

Given it's massively abstractive (if anyone says that offering a 50% discount is generative, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you), you won't get more flexibility than that on most operators.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Dec 2025 ==


Being an Open Access Operator with known capacity issues, I doubt it. Stranger things have happened though!

We shall see about the Rail Sale, but if it's any consolation, the long-planned trip into GWR land I'd been waiting until January to book isn't any cheaper as a result of the GWR 50% off offer. I'm sure there are cheap fares to be found if you're prepared to organise your trip around their availability, but if you have fixed plans you'd have to be pretty lucky to make any saving whatsoever.

I'm looking at 28th Feb - there's only availability in one direction, and it's 50% off the seventh-cheapest tier. And no availability to or from Didcot Parkway, so you can't split Advances there. It is cheaper to buy split CDRs.

 

[glenbogle]

Plenty of good first class offerings. I’ve managed to buy -

£16 Paddington to Hereford
£11 Cardiff to Taunton
£13 Exeter to Penzance
£56 Penzance to Paddington

Standard Class

£6 Penzance to Barnstaple takes some beating.

Any other good ones about?

 

[156401]

Plenty of good first class offerings. I’ve managed to buy -

£16 Paddington to Hereford
£11 Cardiff to Taunton
£13 Exeter to Penzance
£56 Penzance to Paddington

Standard Class

£6 Penzance to Barnstaple takes some beating.

Any other good ones about?

£6 Severn beach to Portsmouth harbour standard class

 

[trainophile]

Paignton to St Austell, 1st Class each way, £9.95 each. (Granted some legs don't have 1st Class but good enough for me.)

 

[cambsy]

Just booked for Monday 19th Jan, Exeter- Paddington 2nd Class £32, then Paddington-Plymouth 1st Class £55 so can do Pullman dining, which very good prices. Doing the Great British Railway Sale next week, booking LNER, EMR and Avanti trips.

 

[cambsy]

Is the Great British Railway sale bookable through a central site or is it through individual TOC’s? And if through individual TOC’. Apart from this Forums ticketing site, which TOC booking site is best To book all my trips on?

 

[tram21]

Is the Great British Railway sale bookable through a central site or is it through individual TOC’s? And if through individual TOC’. Apart from this Forums ticketing site, which TOC booking site is best To book all my trips on?

Through all the usual channels (including this site).

There is no 'best' really- I quite like the user interface of LNER and Avanti, but depending on who you are travelling with you might get some rewards if you book with them. Avanti, LNER and GWR have a rewards scheme on their website when booking (their trains only) through their site.

 

[AY1975]

It's odd to me they persist in calling it the Great British Rail Sale when both ScotRail and TfW are absent from the list.

Caledonian Sleeper is also excluded from the offer. Can't remember if they took part in previous years.

Nor does any Open Access Operator partake.

Interestingly Grand Central took part in last year's Rail Sale but isn't listed as doing so this time. As far as I recall Hull Trains and Lumo didn't take part last year either, though.

 

[trainophile]

How reliable are the refreshments in GWR 1st Class? I know there's nothing on the Cardiff trains, but I've booked on the Paddington ones (between Newton Abbot and Penzance in both directions) so wondering whether to get breakfast before I board. Would there be any reduction in rations on the sale price tickets I wonder?

 

[Buzby]

Anyone know what time the sale prices apply? Is it 00:00 on 6th or later in the day? I recall last year it was around 0700-ish before the discounted pricing showed up….

 

[Adam Williams]

In 2025, plenty were sold before 7am (e.g. 8 minutes past midnight).

Hell, last year tickets were sold before the sale even begun. You'd think that the reservation system would prevent TOCs accidentally causing that to happen, wouldn't you?

 

[voyagerdude220]

How reliable are the refreshments in GWR 1st Class? I know there's nothing on the Cardiff trains, but I've booked on the Paddington ones (between Newton Abbot and Penzance in both directions) so wondering whether to get breakfast before I board. Would there be any reduction in rations on the sale price tickets I wonder?

I don't know how reliable GWR is at offering it's advertised First Class menu, however, personally I wouldn't rely on it simply because it's so basic:

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/travelling-with-us/First-Class/GWR-First-Class-Menu-2025.pdf

 

[CyrusWuff]

Anyone know what time the sale prices apply? Is it 00:00 on 6th or later in the day? I recall last year it was around 0700-ish before the discounted pricing showed up….

It depends on the TOC. Some will likely be 00:00; others could be as late as 10:00 if that's when they normally release Advance tickets.

 

[Buzby]

It depends on the TOC. Some will likely be 00:00;

Makes you wonder if the Forum’s site will be early or late…

 

[Adam Williams]

The forum's site has no say in it, it's down to what the train operator configures in their S3 Passenger instance.

 

[Pacef8]

Not seen any offers yet out of lime street.

 

[Adam Williams]

It's odd to me they persist in calling it the Great British Rail Sale when both ScotRail and TfW are absent from the list.

TfW aren't actually absent, I'm not sure why/how Ian got it wrong.

 

[Mike395]

Not seen any offers yet out of lime street.

The sale starts tomorrow

 

[father_jack]

£6 Severn beach to Portsmouth harbour standard class

No room for normal punters there any day, so that's really helpful. A 2 car of some flavour was put out on a Pompey yesterday on cruise ship dock day until the guard refused to work it unless they found something to couple to it (they did).

 

[Citybreak1]

Google AI says ticket sales start at 12am for great British sale is this right?

 

[Joe Paxton]

Google AI says ticket sales start at 12am for great British sale is this right?

My stock answer to a question that begins like that is "likely no".

 

[Adam Williams]

For reasons I still don't understand, there is no centralised or co-ordinated control of when the sale tickets are released so the answer is a giant "It depends".

LNER were around 9am last year, Avanti were earlier.

 

[alistairlees]

For reasons I still don't understand, there is no centralised or co-ordinated control of when the sale tickets are released so the answer is a giant "It depends".

LNER were around 9am last year, Avanti were earlier.

Indeed, I have no idea why a single start time cannot be agreed. It's supposed to be a single national sale, after all.

 

[Citybreak1]

For reasons I still don't understand, there is no centralised or co-ordinated control of when the sale tickets are released so the answer is a giant "It depends".

LNER were around 9am last year, Avanti were earlier.

How do I know what’s sale price I guess it will show cheaper on some apps? I’d rather be in early to book tickets I remember they went quick last year

 

[Adam Williams]

How do I know what’s sale price I guess it will show cheaper on some apps? I’d rather be in early to book tickets I remember they went quick last year

Most apps/sites will highlight it as being a fare from the sale.