We will be arriving in September at Gatwick Airport on a Wednesday at 11:00 am. From my research it appears using Southern Rail to London Victoria would be the best mode of transportation (Gatwick Express only saves about 10 mins & costs about 5£ more) Here is where I need help. When I enter a dummy date into Southern's ticketing request I get a number of possible trains and various ticket options. One option is the Anytime Single ticket which it was my understanding could be used anytime on the date purchased for that route. However, the price changes with the train selected (12:26 vs 12:30pm departure for example) and if you follow through for payment it then seems to indicate the Anytime ticket is only good for the train you chose.
Can someone tell me if the Anytime Single ticket is actually good Anytime or is it Only for the specific train purchased? Do the prices stay the same or are these special fares? In other words any advantage to pre ordering or can I expect to pay the same at a ticket machine the day of?
Thanks!
Heidi
Posted by
Royaume-Uni nul points, pas plus
2600 posts
The cheapest tickets are called Advance tickets, which as the make implies must be bought in advance and are train specific. You can see these are available for £12.
http://www.southernrailway.com/
An Anytime ticket can be used at anytime and is the walk up fare. The ones for £15.40 are only valid on Southern trains. The ones that cost £19.90 are also valid on Gatwick Express trains (you can get a 10% discount if you buy them from the Gatwick Express website).
There are also tickets for £15.50 and looking on the national rail website these seem to be off peak day returns. Though the Southern site lists them as Anytime Singles (don't know what's going on there).
So, simplest would be to buy a ticket for a Southern train at the station for £15.40 (unless you want to commit to a £12 Advance ticket).
Bloomin' complicated isn't it?
Posted by
OP
North Carolina, US
90 posts
Thank you Ramblin' this makes much more sense now. And your insight that the Anytime ticket is available as a walk up for 15.40£ let's me feel better of just waiting until we land to purchase our rail tickets.