Weekly travel from Manchester to LONDON EUSTON

[tobyC]

I travel from Manchester to London once a week and used to book tickets via Perkbox, which offered special discounts if purchased 7 days in advance. Unfortunately, it seems Avanti has discontinued this offer after March 31st. Now, even when booking three months ahead, the prices are still quite high.

I need to be in the office in the morning, so the Avanti Superfare time slots don’t work for me. Does anyone have suggestions for more affordable ticket options? Also, if any Avanti staff are here, is there any way to access discounted fares?

 

[Rail Ranger]

If you can travel on a Friday it is off peak all day. An Off Peak Return is valid on any train.

 

[tobyC]

Thanks. But I usually have to back to London on Tue and back to Man on Thu

 

[Merseysider]

Are you eligible for any railcards? 16-25 / 26-30 / Senior / Disabled for example?

You may also want to look at ticket splitting websites such as Trainsplit - you may be offered a cheaper combination of fares whilst still staying on the same train throughout.

For example, it is often cheaper to buy a ticket Manchester to Crewe and then another for Crewe to London.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If you don't mind losing an evening, book a Premier Inn or Travelodge somewhere within the Network SouthEast area* for the night before and travel down in the evening. Milton Keynes has huge hotel capacity so can be cheap but there are plenty of options. This plus the Off Peak ticket and the ticket in the morning will add up to less than an Anytime Return, often a lot less.

For going back, similarly if you don't mind losing an evening, travel after 1900ish.

* Specifically this because Anytime fares are regulated within this area so are less swingeing for getting in in the morning.

 

[tobyC]

Sad, I am not eligible for any railcards. Tried the splitting website, but not good at all. The thing is it's really hard to buy roundtrip ticket 7days in advance and within £70.
Cause there will be occasional events I might have to attend with short notice.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Feb 2025 ==

If you don't mind losing an evening, book a Premier Inn or Travelodge somewhere within the Network SouthEast area* for the night before and travel down in the evening. Milton Keynes has huge hotel capacity so can be cheap but there are plenty of options. This plus the Off Peak ticket and the ticket in the morning will add up to less than an Anytime Return, often a lot less.

For going back, similarly if you don't mind losing an evening, travel after 1900ish.

* Specifically this because Anytime fares are regulated within this area so are less swingeing for getting in in the morning.

Thanks, but I already have a share room in London.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sad, I am not eligible for any railcards. Tried the splitting website, but not good at all. The thing is it's really hard to buy roundtrip ticket 7days in advance and within £70.
Cause there will be occasional events I might have to attend with short notice.

Under £70 is a really big ask - the Off Peak Return is more than that. If you're that budget constrained you may wish to look at coach or even consider driving if you have a small economical car - park up somewhere like Tring and take the train in for the last bit to avoid the horror of driving in London.

 

[tobyC]

Under £70 is a really big ask - the Off Peak Return is more than that. If you're that budget constrained you may wish to look at coach.

Cause the discount link I used to have, which is £50 for a round trip

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thanks, but I already have a share room in London.

In that case the answer is to travel the evening before, not on the morning. Late evening fares southbound on the last couple of trains are usually quite low.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Feb 2025 ==

Cause the discount link I used to have, which is £50 for a round trip

You won't get that any more I'm afraid. No doubt it was costing them far too much. You'll struggle getting that on a coach. If you have a small one litre diesel or turbopetrol car you might manage to keep the fuel to that though.

You may also get it under that if you use West Midlands Trains' services from Crewe to Euston but they're slower and you'll have to change. There are through fares, though you have to specify if you want to use Northern or TfW between Manchester and Crewe, there isn't one valid on both. You won't be able to travel at peak times and keep the fare that low though.

 

[tobyC]

Feel like buying the train ticket is a rip off

 

[Bletchleyite]

Feel like buying the train ticket is a rip off

Trains in the UK are certainly expensive. Perhaps Flixbus, Megabus or National Express are worth a look.

 

[tobyC]

Trains in the UK are certainly expensive. Perhaps Flixbus, Megabus or National Express are worth a look.

I tried the national express before. I think the only issue is "hard to back to office on morning"

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Feb 2025 ==

That's why I am just wondering will there any Avanti staff able to offer me discount fare. I could definitely offer some benefit from my company in return.

it's just hard to plan the timetable 3 months in advance

 

[Watershed]

Avanti staff can only get discounts for themselves and their immediate family (spouse/cohabiting partner and children/dependents), or for other people who are travelling together with them. So I'm afraid that even if a member of staff was willing to help you out, there isn't anything they could offer you.

Travelling with West Midlands Trains south of Crewe is likely to be the cheapest option, although it's obviously slower and less convenient. It's cheapest of all if you use Northern or TfW between Manchester and Crewe, but their first trains of the day wouldn't get you into London until after 9am. If you pay a little bit extra to travel with Avanti on that part, you can take the 05:05 from Piccadilly and change onto WMT at Crewe to reach Euston at 08:05.

It's also worth noting that even if you're not eligible for any age-based Railcards, you can still buy a Network Railcard for £30, or an annual season ticket that qualifies for a Gold Card for around £200. These would respectively provide discounts on your evening journey between London & Milton Keynes or London & Stafford (albeit the latter only on WMT, not on Avanti). You'd want split tickets at Milton Keynes or Stafford to get maximum use of those Railcards.

Another option worth considering is to buy a Manchester to Rugby Off-Peak Return, since this is effectively valid at any time (technically "not before 04:15"!). You could then combine this with Rugby-Milton Keynes and Milton Keynes-Euston tickets and use it on trains that stop at those stations (e.g. the 05:05 from Piccadilly, or 15:53 from Euston). If you buy a Network Railcard, this would cost £139.45 per return journey. Some trains in the evening peak have pick up/set down only restrictions at Milton Keynes or Rugby (although the "set down" calls at Rugby are advertised as normal calls at the station), so you'd want to buy a slightly different combination for those trains.

Finally, a slightly 'left field' option would be to consider flying from Manchester to Heathrow. If you buy the flights at least a month or so in advance they can be quite affordable, typically being around £90-100 return - even on 'commuter' timed flights. For the cheapest fares you'd want to 'nest' it so that each booking includes a Saturday night stay - so you might make one booking going out MAN-LHR on a Tuesday & returning LHR-MAN the following Thursday, and another booking going out LHR-MAN on a Thursday & returning MAN-LHR the following Tuesday, and so on.

Tickets for the Heathrow Express cost a fixed £10 each way if you buy them at least 45 days in advance, or alternatively you can buy a period return at any time for £39. The Elizabeth and Piccadilly lines are also slower alternatives that work out cheaper under most circumstances.

 

[tomoufc]

Avanti staff can only get discounts for themselves and their immediate family (spouse/cohabiting partner and children/dependents), or for other people who are travelling together with them. So I'm afraid that even if a member of staff was willing to help you out, there isn't anything they could offer you.

Travelling with West Midlands Trains south of Crewe is likely to be the cheapest option, although it's obviously slower and less convenient. It's cheapest of all if you use Northern or TfW between Manchester and Crewe, but their first trains of the day wouldn't get you into London until after 9am. If you pay a little bit extra to travel with Avanti on that part, you can take the 05:05 from Piccadilly and change onto WMT at Crewe to reach Euston at 08:05.

It's also worth noting that even if you're not eligible for any age-based Railcards, you can still buy a Network Railcard for £30, or an annual season ticket that qualifies for a Gold Card for around £200. These would respectively provide discounts on your evening journey between London & Milton Keynes or London & Stafford (albeit the latter only on WMT, not on Avanti). You'd want split tickets at Milton Keynes or Stafford to get maximum use of those Railcards.

Another option worth considering is to buy a Manchester to Rugby Off-Peak Return, since this is effectively valid at any time (technically "not before 04:15"!). You could then combine this with Rugby-Milton Keynes and Milton Keynes-Euston tickets and use it on trains that stop at those stations (e.g. the 05:05 from Piccadilly, or 15:53 from Euston). If you buy a Network Railcard, this would cost £139.45 per return journey. Some trains in the evening peak have pick up/set down only restrictions at Milton Keynes or Rugby (although the "set down" calls at Rugby are advertised as normal calls at the station), so you'd want to buy a slightly different combination for those trains.

Finally, a slightly 'left field' option would be to consider flying from Manchester to Heathrow. If you buy the flights at least a month or so in advance they can be quite affordable, typically being around £90-100 return - even on 'commuter' timed flights. For the cheapest fares you'd want to 'nest' it so that each booking includes a Saturday night stay - so you might make one booking going out MAN-LHR on a Tuesday & returning LHR-MAN the following Thursday, and another booking going out LHR-MAN on a Thursday & returning MAN-LHR the following Tuesday, and so on.

Tickets for the Heathrow Express cost a fixed £10 each way if you buy them at least 45 days in advance, or alternatively you can buy a period return at any time for £39. The Elizabeth and Piccadilly lines are also slower alternatives that work out cheaper under most circumstances.

This is great advice. Also, perhaps consider asking your employer for reasonable adjustments in terms of work location! Do you really have to go?