Trains - Can someone find me a bargain

[Greedyfly]

Hello,

My partner needs to go to the Birmingham NEC on 24th May anytime after 9am. I need two return tickets from York to the NEC that day. All we can find are tickets for £40 each. Ridiculous. Can anyone of you fantastic Answerbankers find me a better deal?

Thanks in advance

[bednobs]

forty quid seems quite reasonable to me !

[Greedyfly]

No way lol, I can get to London for around £5 each way most times we go.

[cherrychapstick]

think you should have got them when they were 40 , they are now 48 ,what station do you have to get off at and what time are you planning your return journey?

[cherrychapstick]

£5 from york to london sorry just checked and they are approxmatly 83 return and over 100 single??

[Greedyfly]

Yeah been to both London and Edinburgh for around a fiver each way a few times now. Guess you just have to book when the bargains are on?! Will probably go on the Friday instead - cheaper than Monday at least.

[hippyhoppy]

The cheapest in the train line is £95!!

http://www.thetrainli...spx?Command=TimeTable

[Eve]

I thought that was pretty good for National Rail.

National Express is cheaper but takes a lot longer.

You might be able to source cheaper city to city tickets from Leeds to Brum then just pay the additional train fare to Leeds and back.

[Eve]

On National Express Funfares you can do Leeds to Brum for £15 return on specific coaches eg

Leave York: 06:45

Leave Brum:19:00

[cherrychapstick]

the cheapest ticket i have had is 6 and that was going from glasgow to Carlisle , i seen one for the monday but leaves at 845 16 there and cannot remember time but one for coming back is 1650

[Eve]

Cheapest train fare I can find is £48.90. Guess it's too late for the cheaper advance tickets thugh worth checking for offers unless you have to book now to get the £40 fares.

[Greedyfly]

Thanks for trying guys. Looks like he will have to go on Friday instead =(

[Eve]

You can do Leeds to Brum for £5 each way on megabus, only takes 3 hours.

[Eve]

What's wrong with the bus?

[Greedyfly]

Bus maybe the way Jenna - forgot all about Megabus, thanks

[Buenchico]

If your partner will need to return on Friday, as well as making the outbound trip on that day, he might still find high fares.

I used to run a railway station and I know that the two periods when it's usually totally pointless looking for cheap fares are on Monday mornings and Friday evenings. (That's when the greatest number of business people are travelling). As Hippyhoppy indicates, the Anytime Return fare (in Standard class) is £95. Anything under £50 is definitely a bargain.

Chris

[Greedyfly]

Apparantly we have a winner at £30 return Monday - not sure what website it is just yet. The fella he is travelling with just rang. Thanks everyone for your help.

[dzug2]

It may be worth looking at rebooking at New Street if that £30 return (more likely two singles) fails to materialise. Not guranteed better - but a chance.

But your original £40 a head is entirely reasonable for that route

[Greedyfly]

Thanks everyone for you help. Managed to get two return tickets Monday for £50 total - not to bad. The trick is to book them seperate it would seem, as long as you don't mind not sitting together that is.