Train from London to Edinburgh - why no discounts?
 

I plan to go to Edinburgh from London on Jul 12 and have been on http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk website to search for their advance purchase tickets. However, the cheapest ticket showing up (one way) from London to Edinbrugh on Jul 12 is upwards of 100 GBP! However, if I go back to Jul 8 (just 4 days earlier!), I see tickets going for as cheap as 50 GBP, even cheaper tickets (18 GBP) are showing up for late June. Is this because Jul 12 is a high season and no advance tickets are availble (or already sold out)? or is it just that the advance tickets are not yet shown?

The latest date I can purchase for as of today is July 13 according to the nationalrail website and there are no "advance purchase" tickets showing up either. Only the expensive +100 GBP one way. Am I already too late for the advance purchase tickets or have they just simply not yet "shown up" on the website?

Your help is appreciated!

I do not know if Edinburgh is served, but Megatrain operates in the UK and if Edinburgh is served and on the day you need the savings could be considerable. Problem is, you can't check a schedule for megatrain more than 45 days before travel. www.megatrain.uk

Sorry - my mistake. That URL should be www.megatrain.com

Booking for cheap tickets is only up to the 9th July - see eastcoast.co.uk which runs those trains but also tells you when they are booking up till.

Check: http://www.scotrail.co.uk/

Piccolina:

I don't know how you did your search. When I tried to check fares from London to Edinburgh for July 12, the lowest fare is £14.50.

I suggest you try again.

Phil.

This is a good site for advance tickets for all train companies. Alan's date agrees with what is showing i.e. advance tickets are for sale only up to and including 9th July.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_..._horizons.html

I checked this address daily and saved a lot of bucks last year when our date of travel showed and I booked the same morning using the rail company's own site i.e. first class travel Manchester to Glasgow £19.75

I checked also and came up with same prices as Phil for July 12.

Cheap Advance fares are usually loaded on the system 12 weeks ahead, so July 12th should be available by now, but sometimes it's less than 12 weeks, like 9 weeks. So as suggested, keep checking the fare sites and cheaper tickets will soon become bookable.

Thank you everyone for the tips.

Phil - I think the advanced tickets literally just became available! Thanks for letting me know. I now see them going for GBP14!

thetrainline.com is also an option. I usually use it to find the cheap fares and then book the tickets on the train companies website as it saves the surcharge. Then again it is only like £1 but what can I say - I'm Scottish we're known for being tight with our money ;-)

In my experience it's always cheaper to fly - check BA to LHR / LGW / LCY, bmi to LHR or (most likely to be cheapest) Easyjet to LGW. I haven't got the train for years. There are theoretically cheap fares but I think there must be something like 2 seats a day at those prices and they sell out the minute they go on sale.