How to Save Hundreds of Pounds on UK Train Tickets
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- čas přidán 19. 12. 2021
- This won't be a great revelation to those who regularly use the UK rail network, but if you are an occasional user then you might want to check this out. In addition to buying tickets well in advance, by going directly to the rail companies and using their special ticket types, you can actually save yourself a small fortune.
In this video I compare a walk-up fare and advanced purchasing using a railcard for two people travelling from Eridge to Lincoln. The difference is staggering with a saving of over £340!!!
Also, just for your info, London terminal tickets are all valid on Thameslink. Let’s say you get a Nottingham to London Terminals Ticket, you can change at London St Pancras for the Thameslink, and that’s valid down to London Bridge. What some people don’t know, is that it’s even possible to get to Waterloo. By changing at London St Pancras for Thameslink, changing at London Bridge for southeastern to Waterloo east, and walking to Waterloo. I’ve tried this, and the ticket machines let me out at St Pancras, let me back in for Thameslink, and then let me out at Waterloo east. This works for most terminal stations.
You’re a legend, Andy! 😃
Top tip on the Tesco voucher trick for the railcard! --CharlieW
Great job Andy. The sooner we sort out our railways the better for all, what a total shambles franchising and it's ticketing has been. I love using the east coast mainline, so fast, quiet, clean trains, in public hands, employees seem happier too. 👌
Thanks for taking the time to comment on the video. I'm also a big fan of the East Coast Mainline and since moving to Morpeth I've been using it a lot. The new Lumo trains are especially well thought out (apart from luggage space).
This video helps me a lot!! Last time, my friends told me a way to get great discounts for rail trips.
Hardly concise at first, but very good info, and so clever!
Wow! Fantastic Video!! Thank you!!!
Great video! Some creative manoeuvring going on in here. I’m fairly switched on with railcards and split ticketing, but you took it to a new level with that Thameslink tip and the buying of a return ticket to make a single journey! Mind blown!
I live in Lincoln btw! Coincidence. A once sleepy and backwater city utterly transformed by the university
Lincoln is a lovely city with, in my opinion, the most impressive cathedral in the country. My daughter went there for university and never left.
@@acamsell if I'm not mistaken, that cathedral was once the tallest building in the world until its spire collapsed in 1548.
@@AymanTravelTransport Not sure of the details but certainly wouldn't surprise me. It is one of the most imposing buildings in the country perched up on the hill there.
Love this Andy. It's always been this way traveling around Britain. I'm an Essex boy living in the States now and those habits you used stayed with me. I booked flights from Atlanta to London via Boston and Dublin a couple of years ago for $350 all in for two. I'm still waiting for the return of the 10 p red bus rover...but don't tell me mum I'm bouncing around London at 10 years old.
10p Red Bus Rover! You're showing your age now. 🙂 Been spending a lot of time in Essex recently as I now live in Northumberland but we're working on a large project in Dagenham. Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for taking the time to comment.
Super helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for taking the time comment. Glad you found it useful.
Please make a video on london to Portsmouth for international students
I've found that buying train tickets at a discount on trainpal can also save a bit of budget！ 😊so anyone who needs this can ask me for a discount code～
theres also rover and rangers tickets that can potentially drop the cost further. bit of a lottery those, they are very patchwork on the areas they cover
Thank you Andy, im travelling from Sydney to your country soon and the train stuff is quite complicated when im trying to save a bit
The trains themselves are pretty easy to use, it's just trying to get the cheap fares that'll give you a headache. There is a really good app called Railboard which allows you to see live train times, plan journies and buy cheap tickets. I use it all the time and can highly recommend it.
That’s nice.Actually there’s a 5 percent discount that you can apply for buying train tickets now.
Tourist here. Very useful information. Thank you.
nice video，helps me plan a cheap trip. 😊And buying train tickets with the discount on trainpal can also save some budget, if anyone needs this, they can ask me for a discount code❤
I've also discovered a really good discount
Thank you for sharing this information.Actually there’s a 5 percent discount that you can apply for buying train tickets now.
Thanks Andy
I am going to be regularly travelling between Cardiff and London. Can you please give me some tip that, how I can plan my journey to save money.
You can buy and use the 30% discount card if you live overseas. Just show some ID at the station and you are in.
can you actually?
@@Ben-fg2hu Yes, I did it a couple of years. I live in the US.
If you are a tourist, you can calculate which is more cost-effective, whether you take the train or buy a railcard. If it is not cost-effective, use the nearest discount.
Thank you so much for sharing, very useful information!❤By the way I know of a train ticket discount if someone is planning to travel in the UK by train, I’d like to share,hope it helps!😊
Once you use all the discounts, you can really save a lot of money in a year, such as the recent discount activities.
I'm travelling from south wales to blackpool in august but the tickets haven't been released yet so would you know when they release them
I tried to renew my Senior Rail Card today using my Tesco Rewards as I have been for the past six years or more, only to find they no longer do the plastic type. As I only use my phone for calls and info whenever I can find free Wi-Fi, I had to spend £30 at my local railway station for a plastic card to take advantage of the price reduction. I'm not sure if I've done the right thing, as I normaly only use the trains at the weekends, and over the past four years, due to the never-ending engineering works and strikes, I've only been able to use the trains a couple of times per year. If the ticket offices close next year, I'm not sure if I'll be able to renew at all.
I knew for a while that Southern offer bargain prices for same day return. I used to buy my tickets on Trainline before buying directly from Southern since last year.
But damn, now that you mention it, I wish I got myself a railcard, even at those bargain fares, I would've broke even from my volume of journeys.
I have a Network Railcard which works really well for me because I don't live in the South East now. The Network Railcard provides a 1/3rd discount on off-peak fares so when I travel down from the north, I won't be arriving in London until off-peak times so I can use my Railcard for the onward journey to Sussex. Ironically, when I lived in Sussex, it was about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike as my journey would start in Sussex during the peak hours.
Something else worth bearing in mind with a Network Railcard is that you can use them to buy your train ticket with a zone 1-6 travelcard. A travelcard allows you to use the Elizabeth Line and LHR is in zone 6. The network Railcard will also give you discounts on Britains most expensive line, The Heathrow Express. This can be as much as £7 off a one-way ticket.
Yes, it is more cost-effective for people who buy train tickets all year round, but tourists are more practical to bargain fare. It seems to be available again recently.
Looked at Bournemouth to Leeds tickets and had a heart attack, the difference doing your method is astonishing
I'm glad you found the video useful. It really shoudln't be so complicated to buy train tickets.
Actually there is a 5 percent discount that you can apply for buying train tickets now.
Great job,Andy how can i travel from london,south east to southend central cheaper?
That's going to depend on where your starting point is in London and what day you need to travel on. If you have a Network Railcard then you can get day returns from Liverpool Street to Southend Central for £8.35 on a Saturday. That's actually cheaper than a one-way fare. I have no idea how that works.
Insightful! Thank you! Do you have any advice for a single traveler/tourist for saving up on UK railways?? Anyone pls?
Only just catching up on the comments on my videos. Glad you found some of this useful. Most of my top tips are in this video but if you are a solo traveller then age is going to be a defining factor when getting a Railcard. If you are under 25 then you can get the 16-25 Railcard which will give you 1/3rd off most travel. If you are aged 26-30 thent the 26-30 Railcard will give you 1/3rd discount on off-peak fares. The only other solo traveller Railcard is for the over 60's. You can get a Network Railcard as a solo traveller which is not age restricted which will get you a 1/3 discount on off-peak fares but only in the South-East of England (including London).
The best advice I have for rail travel is to book in advance if you can. The travel will be less flexible as you will need to be on your pre-booked train but this is where you will find the best prices (and you can still use Railcard discounts).
One thing worth noting is that UK buses outside of London are currently offering a capped single fare at £2 per journey. Buses are run by lots of different companies but this is a nationwide piece of legislation so any single bus journey you take will not cost more than £2. Buses are a bit tricky to use at times but right now they are great value for money.
@@acamsell Thank you so much! 🙏🏽❤️🙏🏽
Haha 😂Well, this almost scared a Norwegian away from travelling by train in England!! This was really helpfull though.... Is it possible for a Norwegian to buy theese Railcards ?
I am told that Railcards are available to anyone. I've had a couple of people from The USA and one from Canada who told me they could buy them. Can't promise the view from the window will be as spectacular as the Flåm Railway though. :-)
@@acamsell but the price would probably be the same 😅.
If ever in Norway, do rent a car. You get to se a lot more of those hidden little gems that are here!
Here is an interesting one, I used to travel from Cambridge to Warrington weekly, down on a Sunday, up on a Friday. If I wanted to catch the 5.30pm train from Euston it was about £400 because it was considered peak. IF though, I booked the same train but put my destination as Oxenholme, suddenly it was no longer peak, and I could take the same train for £130. It still stopped at my station.
Another thing is to look at apps that split your tickets, it makes no sense but it can be cheaper.
Also, I just looked at a return to Maastrict from London, £180 on the trainline app, but London to Brussels return from eurostar direct cost me £76 and additional £40 return from Brussels to Maastrict. You'll pay for the ease of it being 1 app with the trainline, as convenient as it is.
The hoops you have to jump through to get cheap tickets are astonishing. I have recently discovered that if you want to travel from Newcastle to London it can sometimes, for no reason at all, be cheaper to buy a ticket from Morpeth to London (Morpeth being the next main station north of Newcastle).
I've found a very similar thing to you with the split ticketing apps. The problem with them is that they'll only offer journeys with short connection times. By doing it your way you can often find cheaper fares using the same split but with slightly longer waiting times. It shouldn't be this difficult.
Why split your journey? Get off a train only to wait for one that won't turn up? Idiocy
@acamsell You misunderstood totally, go read again.
I didn't split my journey at all. And spkut tickets also don't make you get off the train!
Ah.. I see what you mean and that is nuts. I didn't realise you could use split-ticketing to get a peak and off-peak journey on the same train. I was going to say that makes sense, but it actually makes no sense at all.
@@nigelbenn4642 nope, splitting tickets does NOT necessarily mean splitting your journey; as long as the train stops at the station you're splitting at, then you can stay on the same train for both legs. For example, travelling from Bristol to Birmingham will be well over a tenner cheaper if you split your tickets at Cheltenham Spa (so you book BHM-CNM and CNM-BRI instead of a straight BHM-BRI) but you don't have to get off at Cheltenham Spa to wait for another train onwards to Bristol, as ALL trains between Birmingham and Bristol stop at Cheltenham Spa so both tickets will be valid on the same train.
I mean, the big question is, why aren't Trainline picking these fares up? Their website obviously isn't good enough.
Hi there. I actually looked into creating an app to look at all train fare permutations between two destinations and is absurdly difficult to do. The main issue is that with every additional stop along the way, the numer of available ways of achieving the overall journey goes up exponentially. With a direct train there is one variant, by the time you get to eight intermediate stops, there are 256 seperate journey combinations to assess. Ultimately the way fares are calculated in the UK is just nuts. It would be so much better if it was simply calculated on distance travelled. The Trainline actually does a pretty good job of spotting split-tickets these days but it still has some way to go.
Maybe you can also see the tickets on trainpal, it help me to plan cheapest tour and it has a discount buying the railcard
❤ Thank you very much... I even got a better price somehow🎉🎉
I'm aware of a great discount too
Living in Manchester, I travel home to Ireland on SailRail via Holyhead - Dublin and I prefer direct trains where possible - can I save money on SailRail tickets to Ireland?
Mm usually the thru rail/sea journey, to/from any GB rail station, to/from any of the 3 main Irish ports (Dublin Port, Belfast Port or Rosslare) is a fixed and agreed-with-the-ferries- concerned, fare. So no railcard reduction. But one //might// be able to get a 1/3rd off the rail portion on its own (but then one would have to cost in the foot passenger port-to-port ferry fare separately). Also NB no longer any thu rail / sea / rail fares to / from any GB station, to / from any Irish one. Eg no longer Derby to Derry or Waterford to Wigan etc..
I've found that buying train tickets at a discount on trainpal can also save a bit of budget, so anyone who needs this can ask me for a discount code
Is there no discount for single traveller aged over 30?
My usual travel would be between Ipswich to London Liverpool Street
The short answer is no but there are possible savings. Once again, this highlights the ridiculous nature of our rai fare system. Assuming you are a solo traveller the only railcard you can get is a Network Railcard. Unfortunately, Ipswich is just outside of the coverage area but Colchester and Cambridge are not. I haven't done any research into the dates but if you make this journey regularly on off-peak services then you might want to look at this as an option. You would need to get a standard ticket for the first part of your journey and then a discounted ticket for the remainder, even though you might not even have to change trains. If you are making the journey with someone else then the Two Together Railcard has no geographical restrictions and is available to anyone of any age.
I heard that there is an activity on British railways recently, which can save a certain amount of money.
Thanks for sharing! And I also found a 5% off code for uk train tickets a few days ago 😂 just let me know if anybody need it
I'm aware of a great discount too
Sameee
me tooooo. I found 5% discount on trainpal.
I just stay in bed now. Cant afford to go anywhere anymore🥺
People who tried it does it actually work?
The examples I've used in theis video are real tickets which I've purchased. I assure it works. These aren't loopholes, these are just the ridiculous rules of the British train system. I've got some more videos of a similar type in the pipeline.
I am single and 43 so what rail card can I get? Nothing!
I feel your pain. Wouldn't it be so much easier if we could just have reasonably priced tickets for everyone? One thing everyone is eligible for is a Network Railcard but it is only of any use in the South-East of England. Like most things it gives you 1/3rd reduction on off-peak travel (including all-zones travelcards) for an annual fee of £30. Only really of any use if you travel in that geographical area though.
@@acamsell i live up North but would love to visit my friends in London, i cant get a ticket for less that £105 which i think is expensive to catch a train to London, no rail card applies to me or people like me at all, massively unfair
That is an obscene amount of money. I presume this is on the west side of the country served by Avanti? I had to travel from London to Warrington a while back and I was shocked at how much Avanti charge for their advance tickets. In stark contrast the East Coast Main Line down to London now has some stellar deals because there's genuine competition between Lumo and LNER. It really should be a permanently low cost way to travel though.
@@acamsell Totally agree, I live Northwest correct, It's Avanti, and there doesn't seem to be competition here, You are lucky you can access good deals, trains are supposed to be a cheap means of travel, but now they charge what it costs to fly somewhere, oh did I mention that's not even a direct train. direct trains are actually a lot more, direct from Liverpool lime street that is, i would still need to catch a train from here to there anyway
@@Awarebynature which part of the Northwest? If you can get to Crewe for a reasonable price, there's the LNWR semi-fast service (operated by West Midlands Trains) to Euston via the Trent Valley which offers far cheaper Crewe-Euston tickets (off-peak period returns are £50 for LNWR/WMR only) which is a very popular service. Much cheaper than Avanti and actually not that much slower either, taking just over 2 hours from Crewe (far faster than a coach) and the trains are reasonably comfortable and now with permanently declassified first class. Make sure you buy your ticket to Crewe separately to your Crewe-Euston ticket, so you can access that cheaper LNWR-only ticket.
How to save money in the U.K. why are you talking about other country’s wtf
did u even watch the full video lol
The train track should be closed and converted into roads
I know a sure way to save on train tickets. DONT GO ON THE TRAIN SIMPLE