[trainingday]

Hi – I’m looking to buy tickets from London to Liverpool, out on Friday September 1, and back on Sunday September 3.

I understand that Virgin operates a 24-week booking window, but only for weekday services – for weekends it’s 12 weeks?

Tickets for the outbound service are now available (as of today), but the cheapest being quoted for a late morning departure is £82.80 for a single which seems extortionate – no advance fare available, just off-peak and anytime. Does this mean all the advance fares have already gone, or have they just not been posted yet?

What do posters advise? Should I wait until 12 weeks out when the weekend tickets will be available, and purchase a return at that point? Although my understanding is that rail tickets work at half the return price for a single, so is there any advantage to be had waiting to book the outbound?

[FaroFlyer]

Hi TrainingDay,

I understand that the optimum window is probably about 8 weeks out. I just booked a Euston to BHI in First for £17 but the outbound, on the day before, a Sunday, still hangs stubbornly at £75. I shall wait a while and maybe book London Midland.

My train travel is infrequent, but I use trainline.com to check, then book direct.

[BugAdvisor]

I use the trainline website to search for tickets and that also allows you to set up email alerts for when the cheapest tickets become available. Having received the alert, I then go to the Virgin site to actually book as they don’t charge anything to post the tickets, plus you can add your Virgin Flying Club number in to earn points.

[canucklad]

Morning trainingday
A couple more suggestions for you….

Firstly ,splitting your journey might be an option. Try searching for options to Manchester/Stockport and then a local trip onward.
As you’re returning on Sunday,check if Virgin do a relatively cheap on board weekend upgrade to first.
Sign up to Virgins newsletters,you’d be amazed at some of the exclusive offers chucked what you.
Finally you can save a bundle by bizarrely purchasing separate legs but staying on the same train. I’m sure it was Bath-Vip that posted a link to a website that does the work for you.

Hope that helps

[trainingday]

Thank you all for your advice – having done some more digging it looks like the cheapest Advance fares won’t be available until around 12 weeks out, so I will hold off booking until then (but will keep an eye on prices just in case, and take into account some of your suggestions above).

[theavidtraveller]

Definitely wait. There will be plenty of advance tickets available nearer the time.

I normally book 4 weeks out without any problem.

You should book all train travel via virgin trains website as they use the same platform as thetrainline but unlike the train line they don’t charge any admin fee.

Jon

[Ah,Mr.Bond]

Trainline is a waste of time and question why it even exists. There is only one operator on the route I normally travel which is Virgin. Fares are exactly the same as the Virgin website, so how can they advertise cheaper tickets?
Back to the original issue, I am trying to get from Euston to Carlisle in May, not long now, and have never seen anything other than the standard £116 economy rtn [out of choice would never do] or an utterly ridiculous £375 for First Class.
Who is setting this pricing? ….. I could drive for less.
I would normally pay £140-50 for an advance F return, and quite frankly would not pay a penny more for a 3 hr train trip.

[AMcWhirter]

AHMrBond – When are you travelling in May ? If over a holiday weekend it could be that Virgin Trains (VT) has not yet released Advance ticket availability. Certainly I have found Advance ticket availability on other dates in May.

[TheLion]

[quote quote=796906]Trainline is a waste of time and question why it even exists. There is only one operator on the route I normally travel which is Virgin. Fares are exactly the same as the Virgin website, so how can they advertise cheaper tickets?
[/quote]

Trainline is a booking site which you can also use to compare all services on a given route. Most operators will only show only their own services, so Trainline is useful for showing alternate routes, which will often be cheaper.

[Author]

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