I'm passing this on to raise awareness for those who book advance tickets so that they don't miss out, so I'd appreciate 'hot' votes even though these changes are more 'cold' for me. I just got this alert:
"You can now book tickets for travel on all Virgin Trains East Coast services up to Friday 2 June 2017.
Dates excluded from travel
25-26 December 2016
All weekends from 11 March 2017 onwards
13, 14, 17, 28 April 2017
1, 26 and 29 May 2017
So whatever you've got planned in a few months, get there with our cheapest fares - and have some extra pennies for your trip... or our delicious on-board treats."
Previously, only tickets to/from stations north of York were bookable 6 months in advance, from now it's all stations so this is an important change for those travelling to/from Leeds and more southerly stations).
Some pros and cons from a personal perspective:
Pro:
* if you know your plans 24 weeks in advance, and are travelling weekdays, you've got a better chance of getting the cheapest fares.
Cons:
* only weekdays plus other exclusions. I regularly travel down to London Friday, back Sunday, so now need to buy the Friday ticket 24 weeks in advance and the Sunday 12 weeks in advance.
* unlike the 12 week advance tickets, you can only book these to/from stations on the Virgin East Coast route. There is an extra expense to buying that journey separately (+£3.70 vs +50p each way in my case). Also Virgin are obligated to pay for a taxi to get you to the destination on your ticket if their delay causes you to miss your last connection (it's happened twice to me this year - taxi to the door got me there earlier than if I'd caught the train and walked home!)
* just from the dates I've looked at, there seem to be fewer trains on which the cheapest advance fares are available.
14 comments
edwardlylebrill
16 Dec 16#1
always a good idea for comic con in london thanks.
stanno
16 Dec 161#2
As I've said before, Virgin have increased advance fares on this line by 22% since taking over the franchise 3 years ago - bigger increases than any other operator and any other route. That's over 4 times inflation. Profiteering at the travelling public's expense.
huggychair to stanno
16 Dec 161#3
Well they can't get new trains built & leased then pluck a £3bn franchise fee out of thin air! Can't have GNER 2.0 :wink:
It's against the current Government's religion to either have the line 'state' run (even though it was quite successful after the GNER collapse, making a £1bn profit,) or invest in the Railways in general, which they don't at all after the fare pot and franchise payments. In fact they make a net gain to the exchequer, for the whole system. :disappointed:
only1
17 Dec 16#4
Am I missing something?
London to Edinburgh Feb 6 - Feb 9. Both mid week and not in the exclusion.
I've. Ever done this journey before but would like to avoid flying if I could. Where is this novice going wrong?
Nice find OP.
ToldGoat
17 Dec 16#5
problem with this is I live in city served by 1 vec train as usually have to change at Doncaster. This means it's triggered my seat reminder much sooner but only offers a 7am train so when rest of dates released with Northern connection all cheap seats gone already no doubt. plus noticed early price for Yorkshire to kgx used to be £14ish but now starts at £22. Not exactly a deal
scunny
18 Dec 16#6
Can't find how to look at dates beyond March. How do you look at May?
seaniboy to scunny
18 Dec 16#7
i had the same issue, then it cleared itself ??
scunny
19 Dec 16#8
Still can't see beyond March when I look.
seaniboy
19 Dec 161#9
use another browser, im on opera
seaniboy
19 Dec 16#10
No cheap fares for me, almost £80 london return April & May, i just did a £60 1st return last week
scunny
19 Dec 16#11
Thanks, did it on a friends tablet. Still no cheap fares for London. 2 Adults with a railcard day return June 3rd £120 WTF?
seaniboy
19 Dec 161#12
As above, DfT set up train leasing companies in 1994, these companies make MUCH more money than the train operating companies...we pay more in fares and tax for rail privatisation, its a joke. I can have a holiday in Europe sun for a week cheaper than the full price of a Scotland-London return.
Yes bring back BR the lot should be back state run at least the profit would be back to government
Freight side of railways is going bad time at moment not helped by government either
Unlike road haulage that,s funded by all our taxes
huggychair
20 Dec 16#14
A more refined version of BR, with better sandwiches, CS. Thats all anybody needs on the mains routes.
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
"You can now book tickets for travel on all Virgin Trains East Coast services up to Friday 2 June 2017.
Dates excluded from travel
25-26 December 2016
All weekends from 11 March 2017 onwards
13, 14, 17, 28 April 2017
1, 26 and 29 May 2017
So whatever you've got planned in a few months, get there with our cheapest fares - and have some extra pennies for your trip... or our delicious on-board treats."
Previously, only tickets to/from stations north of York were bookable 6 months in advance, from now it's all stations so this is an important change for those travelling to/from Leeds and more southerly stations).
Some pros and cons from a personal perspective:
Pro:
* if you know your plans 24 weeks in advance, and are travelling weekdays, you've got a better chance of getting the cheapest fares.
Cons:
* only weekdays plus other exclusions. I regularly travel down to London Friday, back Sunday, so now need to buy the Friday ticket 24 weeks in advance and the Sunday 12 weeks in advance.
* unlike the 12 week advance tickets, you can only book these to/from stations on the Virgin East Coast route. There is an extra expense to buying that journey separately (+£3.70 vs +50p each way in my case). Also Virgin are obligated to pay for a taxi to get you to the destination on your ticket if their delay causes you to miss your last connection (it's happened twice to me this year - taxi to the door got me there earlier than if I'd caught the train and walked home!)
* just from the dates I've looked at, there seem to be fewer trains on which the cheapest advance fares are available.
14 comments
It's against the current Government's religion to either have the line 'state' run (even though it was quite successful after the GNER collapse, making a £1bn profit,) or invest in the Railways in general, which they don't at all after the fare pot and franchise payments. In fact they make a net gain to the exchequer, for the whole system. :disappointed:
London to Edinburgh Feb 6 - Feb 9. Both mid week and not in the exclusion.
I've. Ever done this journey before but would like to avoid flying if I could. Where is this novice going wrong?
Nice find OP.
More info here http://www.rail.co.uk/rail-news/2015/who-really-owns-britains-trains/
Freight side of railways is going bad time at moment not helped by government either
Unlike road haulage that,s funded by all our taxes