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My girlfriend wants to travel from haverfordwest in pembs to Manchester in March on the train. Cheapest price is £90 return. I thought that if you booked a long time in advance, there were cheaper ticket deals. Where are they hiding? or is £90 return considered a good deal?!
5 months away and fares go up in January.
It's around 12 weeks in advance when the 'Advance Fares' are released, so check then.
It's because of timetabling and engineering works. these are scheduled 3 months in advance, so trains are never confirmed until then. Of course the majority do run as planned, but, like this Summer, Wigan was blocked for 2 weeks, next year Watford will be closed for a number of weekends and the occasional full week, as well as London Bridge. They are the big ones, loads and loads of smaller works going on which will close lines.
Is it Easter when she is travelling?
If so, that's a major weekend for work.
thanks, thats very helpful. Its the 15th of March. As project has said, do price rises in Jan mean that advance tickets cant be bought until prices have increased?
No, Advance (reduced price) tickets (if available) can be bought from 12 weeks beforehand.
Some operators do do a longer time before, but the majority are 12 weeks.
A quick search shows the trip can be done in mid-November for £56. I'm sure there are cheaper tickets available if you search, but you wont be able to get any cheap tickets until 12 weeks before.
In your case, the price is going to be the March 15th price, whether you pay for it now or in March, the fare structure is already sorted, and the ticket selling website knows what the new, increased, price is now (for standard tickets).
If it means travelling on two or more trains the cheap advance tickets might not be available until 9-10 weeks prior to travel - it takes a while for things to sync up. Check each portion of the journey with the appropriate operator and don't be afraid to book lots of separate tickets.
Red spotted hanky is your friend.
+1 for booking the journey by splitting the journey up into a number of segments and buy tickets between the stations. A real PITA to book up, but I saved 50% on a journey between Derby and Leeds.
Pop along to your nearest staffed station and have a word with someone in the booking office - they'll be more than happy to sort you out with split tickets to keep the cost down.
Back in the 1980's.