Train from London to Stratford
May 21st, 2003, 02:20 PM
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Train from London to Stratford
Help from Ben Haines or others!!! Trying to do a return trip from London Paddington to Stratford to see two shows on June 12. I'm not planning on doing any other rail trips or passes. Is 140 pounds each the best I can do? The morning train leaves London at 9:18 and aren't "cheap day" tickets only good after 9:30? Any other way to go about this? There used to be something called the Stratford Connection, but I can't find anything about this.
May 21st, 2003, 06:43 PM
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Patrick, according to TheTrainLine, cheap day returns are available for the 9:18 train and cost £23 per person. The most expensive you can buy is £70.40 per person for a first open return. Whomever is offering you the £140 per person must be trying to sell you the whole train. By the way, the "rule" that cheap day returns always start at 9:30 existed in the days of British Rail. Under the privatized system, each operator sets its own rates however it wants.
May 21st, 2003, 07:22 PM
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Thanks for the information, Ron. Sounds good to me, and I assume I can buy those cheap day tickets about an hour or less before the train on the day of using it?
As to the outrageous price -- every web site I go to, including the links from BritRail for individual fares, lead me to Qjump. That's where I keep coming up with that 140 pound price, and couldn't find any site that gives me other fares. I know I haven't paid that much in the past.
As to the outrageous price -- every web site I go to, including the links from BritRail for individual fares, lead me to Qjump. That's where I keep coming up with that 140 pound price, and couldn't find any site that gives me other fares. I know I haven't paid that much in the past.
May 21st, 2003, 10:24 PM
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Patrick:
I tried Qjump, and got 23 pounds. But some odd things happened: it was very easy to select "first open" accidentally, you had to look quite hard at the screen to select the right choices. And the price the screen showed was the TOTAL. So if there were two of you, it would show 140 pounds, but you could easily think that was 140 per person.
No rip-off. Just a badly designed site.
I tried Qjump, and got 23 pounds. But some odd things happened: it was very easy to select "first open" accidentally, you had to look quite hard at the screen to select the right choices. And the price the screen showed was the TOTAL. So if there were two of you, it would show 140 pounds, but you could easily think that was 140 per person.
No rip-off. Just a badly designed site.
May 22nd, 2003, 04:18 AM
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Try http://www.thetrainline.com
It seems pretty easy to navigate, and if you leave "ticket type" blank, it shows all the ticket prices.
It does say that Cheap Saver Return and Saver Return (same price) may have restrictions for trains into and out of London Monday-Friday peak times, but it doesn't say what the peak times are. It could be 9am or more commonly 9.30am. Try calling Paddington to find out.
It seems pretty easy to navigate, and if you leave "ticket type" blank, it shows all the ticket prices.
It does say that Cheap Saver Return and Saver Return (same price) may have restrictions for trains into and out of London Monday-Friday peak times, but it doesn't say what the peak times are. It could be 9am or more commonly 9.30am. Try calling Paddington to find out.
May 22nd, 2003, 04:59 AM
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Yes, Patrick you can buy the tickets at the station that morning.
This discussion shows that train-ticket buying in the UK is still a mysterious art. From my experience, to be sure that you find the best price, you need to search both the Qjump and thetrainline websites. And, if your trip is solely with one train operating company, you should also check the website of that train company. While its ticket selling service will use either the Qjump or thetrainline engine, it may have fares in its database that are not in the main database. Or it may tell you about non-web specials, such as Chiltern Railways brilliant <Tenner after 10> offer.
I am leaving for London next week and taking a train to Carlisle. The best price on Qjump was £46.80; I purchased my tickets from the Virgin Trains website for £24.40 (both cases using a senior rail card).
This discussion shows that train-ticket buying in the UK is still a mysterious art. From my experience, to be sure that you find the best price, you need to search both the Qjump and thetrainline websites. And, if your trip is solely with one train operating company, you should also check the website of that train company. While its ticket selling service will use either the Qjump or thetrainline engine, it may have fares in its database that are not in the main database. Or it may tell you about non-web specials, such as Chiltern Railways brilliant <Tenner after 10> offer.
I am leaving for London next week and taking a train to Carlisle. The best price on Qjump was £46.80; I purchased my tickets from the Virgin Trains website for £24.40 (both cases using a senior rail card).
