Best Train Booking App

Just use the National rail site. nationalrail.co.uk

It’ll take you to the individual train operating company to buy tickets. I agree it’s a pain to have to register for multiple train companies.

Dale - Thanks for the reply. One of the confusing aspects for me is that the NationalRail site won't allow me to see any ticket options after June 7th. However the Trainline site would allow me to buy a ticket already for an August trip. I'm assuming that Transpennine (who these tickets are for) must release their advance tickets earlier than other lines? The app also allows you to download e-tickets which is a really nice option. Do all of the lines allow e-ticketing now or is that a Trainline value ad? Thanks again.

Many routes allow e-tickets, but not all. It depends whether the on-train staff (and stations) have been equipped the the correct technology.

For times and tickets definitely use http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ This automatically jumps you to the correct rail company site depending on which route you are travelling.
7th June is still a long way off, not surprised tickets are not yet available. To quote the incomparable "Man in Seat 61":

Europeans use trains to go shopping, attend business meetings or visit Granny, everyday activities that are usually planned only days or weeks ahead, not 6 months. For example, 90% of all UK train tickets are bought less than a month before travel.

I am not sure, but I suspect Trainline is taking your money up front and will buy the tickets when they are available from the railway company. If Transpennine hasn't released the tickets, they don't exist.

I see the TP express site allows you to buy Advance tickets on some routes for dates in August while National rail only has dates until June. So, I guess you have to visit each train operator’s website to get the earliest of the earliest Advance tickets. If you compare the prices you're not saving any money, as the ones on sale in June are the same price as those in August. You're just handing over money earlier than you need to.

Buying train tickets isn’t like buying tickets to a Streisand concert where you have to be ready to buy one second after midnight as soon as they go on sale. Yes, you can use Trainline if you want, and pay their booking fee. Otherwise don’t overthink this and just use the national rail portal.

ramblin' on I appreciate your comments. A little background from me might be helpful. I've convinced a group of friends to join me on this trip. None have traveled to the UK before so I feel a responsibility to provide them with some tools to make the trip as successful as possible.

To me a good app seems like a valuable tool. Good for making last minute changes and choices and avoiding lines with an e-ticket. It's not about getting the absolute best advance ticket price but being able to cross some things off the planning list.

The booking fees on Trainline seem very fair, there is a $1.05 for one leg I've looked at so I'd gladly pay that if it's truly a onestop shop.

I'd just love to know if anybody does this better than anybody else. If the National site is the best one that's cool it just seems a lot of developers are putting some time into this and I'm hoping someone has it figured out.

Be careful with those Advance tickets shown on the Transpenine website. I looked at August 7, picking a random route (London to York) and saw mostly full fare tickets at 132.50. But there were two trains showing a low “Advance” fare of 54 GBP.

However, that is still 3X the lowest cost of a “real” Advance ticket to York purchased 11-12 weeks in advance through nationalrail.uk (which will send you to LNER for the actual booking). The Advance tickets for June 3 are as low as 18 GBP. And that price is available on many of the trains that day.

So do not be in too much of a hurry in booking your tickets. Study the route a bit in advance to see what the lowest Advance fare is, and when it is usually released. I have never seen it released sooner than 11-12 weeks out for any of the routes we have used.

This week I saved nearly 200 pounds by booking our tickets to Dorset for 31 May and 3 June at 13.50 each, instead of 62.50. It was worth the effort to figure it out rather than relying on a app, or going to a website that will let me book too early to get the best price.

Just a comment on those fares on the TP express site from London to York -they’re not Advance tickets they are the standard walk-up tickets offered by LNER and Grand Central on the routes they operate on the east coast man line.

TP Express does have Advance tickets for some of its routes in August e.g. from Manchester to York.

In summary if you want to drill down into the minutiae of all ticket options, I guess it’s best to look on each train operator’s website for the routes it operates if you really want to buy tickets earlier than you need to. But sometimes life’s too short….

OP if you let us know what journeys you're thinking of then you might get specific advice.

As for e tickets and apps – it depends on the train company. The Trainline is the most advertised third party website but I’m too tight to pay the extra fee!

Further bedtime reading

https://www.seat61.com/UK-train-travel.htm#How%20to%20buy%20train%20tickets%20online

Another third party seller

https://loco2.com/en-gb

Thanks for the nighttime reading!

This is the best summation/explanation that I've seen.

Other independent ticket retailers usually add a booking fee... There
are various other independent retailers including
www.thetrainline.com, www.raileasy.com, www.mytrainticket.co.uk,
www.redspottedhanky.com, www.takethetrain.co.uk. There's no need to
check them all as they all sell exactly the same tickets at exactly
the same prices from exactly the same National Rail fares database
used by the train operators' websites. However, all these third-party
retailers charge a small booking fee on top of the ticket price. For
example www.thetrainline.com charges booking fee of around £1.50 on
top of the ticket price when you book at their website.
www.raileasy.com charges a fee of around £2.50.

If you buy from www.loco2.com or any train company website such as
www.virgintrains.co.uk you don't pay any booking fee. Same prices,
same tickets.

The Trainline - in offering you tickets as far ahead as August is in my reckoning charging you the full whack before the cheaper ‘Advance’ fares for specific pre-booked trains have been loaded to the system by the different train companies. (They normally get loaded around 11 weeks ahead but short journeys remain the same for pay on the day). I don’t know where you are planning on going but Trans-Pennine Express do not operate to London but any train company can sell tickets on the behalf of other companies. www.nationalrail.co.uk is the site that will show you in the best way who operates the trains - by clicking ‘details’. They usually then send you through to make your booking(s) with the relevant train operating company. Some of the train companies also have special deals that only appear on their webpages. If you have a group of people - you may be able to get a group discount rate if you have 3 to 9 people - BUT it is only for certain companies trains:>http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/archive/NFM29/times_fares/pr354fdc0a0400020101fea1769fbf60.html

Purchasing a Railcard can also reduce the fares:>https://www.railcard.co.uk

Thanks James - The railcard feature is really useful for help in anticipating the value of purchasing a card. The 2for1 card would be repaid on our first leg.

There are certainly some oddities for me to still understand. As previously pointed out the Advance Ticketing timing dates are shown on the Timeline app. One problem appears to be in accuracy. It was giving a couple of advance ticket release dates that were beyond the actual travel dates. :-) This whole ticket buying thing seems to have more moving pieces and players than it should or at least than I could have imagined! However the convenience and cost of traveling by rail in the UK is well worth figuring it out!

(My wife and I bought a German Rail Pass for travel in 2017 and it was a wonderful bargain. We didn't know where we were going many times until the day we traveled. The flexibility of stepping on any train we wished as we traveled all over Germany was wonderful. Never queuing up in a line to purchase a ticket saved us many hours of standing in line. However for this trip spread over a month with less travel. Learning to navigate the booking of advance ticketing seems to be a much more affordable option.)

Just beware that most of the Railcards have a restriction that forbids you to travel before 9.30am on weekdays. On some routes, it may pay to split the ticket. (It certainly pays to check if this is the case should you have to change trains/company mid journey. Even travelling on the same train and doing a split at a calling place can result in lower fares - even though you never leave the train)!

You may also find this map of the system useful in planning where you are going:>http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/images/structure/css/nationalrailnetworkmap.pdf

Might be a good idea to outline any proposed route as people on here might chip in with views.

Thanks James - I was aware of the peak travel time restrictions but was not aware that splitting tickets was a thing. That site will be a great tool to use in my planning.

Per James suggestion here are the legs of our travel that have been identified.

Journeys from London occur on August 20th will all arriving in Liverpool (Lime) on the 22nd. All leave Liverpool on the 28th.
One Group:
London - Bath
Bath - Liverpool
Liverpool to London (LHR)

Second Group:
London - Cambridge/Newmarket - London 'Day Trip' (There is a shuttle running from Cambridge to the race track in Newmarket. Not positive about its hours of operation.)
London - York
York - Liverpool
Liverpool - Edinburgh
The balance is still in development. :-)

Thanks!

For both groups - have you considered flying into Manchester as that is near to Liverpool?

Group 1: London Heathrow > Bath can be done by taking the Railair bus/coach to Reading & then express train to Bath or taking a train the short distance form the Airport to Hayes & Harlington where you change for another train to Reading for the express to Bath or you go into London Paddington & then direct express to Bath. The trouble is that to book the cheaper advance tickets, it is very difficult to predict exactly when you would be able to make the trip. Therefore, it might be better to just go the short distance to Windsor for 1 night and get over the journey. The following day - have a pre-booked advance ticket to Bath (from Windsor) - which will require at least one change fo train en-route.

To anybody going to Liverpool, I would also highly recommend visiting nearby Chester or even staying in Chester and commuting to Liverpool. It is also easy to travel by train from *Chester to Conwy (Conway) is north Wales to see King Edward 1st castle. Try splitting tickets at any point where you might change trains/company to see if it is cheaper - BUT remember - the cheap advance tickets only get loaded around 11 weeks ahead and you should pay on the day for short trips such as Liverpool to Chester. Do not go from Liverpool to Heathrow on a day of departure - too risky - be down in the London area at least the day before.

Group 2: Note that if you were to book into a hotel in Cambridge, that you would not have to return to London in order to proceed north to York. You would go Cambridge to Peterborough where you would change for a train to York - check price with a split at Pete v through ticket. York to Liverpool is slow going so it might be better to go York > Edinburgh and for this group to then go Edinburgh > Liverpool.
https://www.visitcheshire.com/chester
http://www.conwy.com

One thing I learned is advance fare tickets may not go on sale until 6 weeks out when a bank holiday is involved. As I understand it the May 24-27 train advance fares won't go on sale until April 1. Buying tickets now is really expensive.

Seat61guy says to always wait until advance fares pop up.