Greetings all. Have been reviewing old posts regarding the Great Western Railway and advance purchase tickets. Still confused about timing. Any advice on how far in advance to purchase our tickets? Thanks much!
Posted by
Lake District, England
7326 posts
Unless travel is at a weekend the answer is now, as they are available 12 weeks out.
But you would not book a through ticket- there do not seem to be through Advance Fares.
Rather you would book it as Oxford to London (Paddington or Marylebone, your choice) Advance and a separate "London" to Rye Advance.
You could leave "London" on the high speed line from St Pancras or the classic lines from Victoria or Charing Cross. The line from Victoria. Any which route there is one change.
Looking now Victoria is the cheapest, but longest route- starting at just £7 or £4.60 with a railcard for a nearly 2 1/2 hour journey.
Charing Cross is almost the same length of journey.
St Pancras is a 1 hour 10 minute journey for £16.50/£10.85
Then pay your own fare by usual methods for the cross London journey.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5425 posts
There is a bit of a wrinkle in that if you buy these Advance singles separately, even 2 transactions from the same seller, you are not formally covered for missing the 2nd train if the 1st one is late as you have a hole in the middle of your journey between London Terminals which separates them. You may receive goodwill in this instance, maybe not but expect a wrangle.
The way round this is either include payment for the Underground trip in one of the Advances, or buy them on a single itinerary.