I see on the National Rail UK website that they do not have tickets for sale yet for my day of travel in May. I know that it's not quite the 11 weeks out yet, but the Trainline APP does have advance tickets for my date now. Has anyone had experience booking advance tickets on Trainline? Right now the tickets from them are $96.25 for two tickets. Should I wait for my date to open up on the National Rail Site?
Also, I was wondering about the advance tickets for the Churchill War Room and Museum. I've seen that you should get them in advance, but how far in advance? Is a week to 10 days enough?
Posted by
Sweden
6343 posts
You can check www.gwr.com, the company that operates the trains. Stay away from Trainline.
Posted by
OP
Texas
34 posts
Did you have a bad experience with them?
Posted by
OP
Texas
34 posts
I think that I will wait a few days to buy my tickets, and go with National Rail or www.gwr.com
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5326 posts
Advance tickets have been released up until 15 May weekdays on GWR. If you journey is after that you can only buy off-peak (or anytime) tickets wherever you buy them from.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Go for the national rail site. This will actually jump you to the correct rail company (GWR): https://www.gwr.com/
If the tickets are not yet available, trainline can't get them either. What they are doing is taking your money now, sitting on it and they will actually buy the tickets when they become available.
When you buy, what you will get is an alphanumeric code to pick up the tickets at the station. You pick them up from any ticket machine. You will need the credit card you used for the purchase and the code, then it will print your tickets.
Posted by
OP
Texas
34 posts
Thanks for the great information! I'm glad that I asked the Forum before I made the purchase.
Posted by
United Kingdom
119 posts
For the CWR, you choose a timed entry slot offered from 10am, it means you have priority entry and no queuing on the day, the morning slots disappear first, you dont want to be left with a rushed late PM slot.
Keep in mind May 8th and 25th are public holidays, so this means a long weekend with off peak train fares (or engineering work) for many people visiting London.
May 8th is the 3 day VE Day 75 year commemoration weekend.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16185 posts
" The Trainline APP does have advance tickets for my date now."
Be very careful with the terminology for U.K. Train tickets. There is a fare class named Advance with a capital A and that is what you want---they are by far the cheapest. And that is NOT what Trainline was offering you. They were offering tickets "in advance".
The actual ( named) Advance tickets are not released before the 12-week mark, which is May 5. Using the National Rail website, http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/personal/home/search I see Advance tickets for May 5 as low as £18.50. Not all Advance fares that day are that low, but many are.
Just be aware that Advance tix are only good on that specific train. They are non-changeable and non-refundable.
I do not like the GWR website as it is very slow to load on my iPad, and rather quirky. I always start with the National Rail website for my U.K. train purchases
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5326 posts
Sometimes though there are seat sales for tickets that are only available directly from GWR, typically £10 each way.