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UK Rail Ticket Curiosity

Posted by (Paris) on

I swear I have read this somewhere on this forum, but of course in searching I can't find reference to it, so I am posing the question again, my apologies.

Is it correct that for (some? all?) rail tickets in the UK, they become available on/around 12 weeks before travel . . .but when the tickets first become available, only the more expensive tickets are available, and it's only a few (days? weeks?) afterwards that the lower Advance tickets become available?

I was doing some "test" bookings for trains and this seems to be borne out by what I find for say June 15 or July 30, in comparison to August 3 (the very latest day for which bookings are currently available). That is, there were actually cheaper tickets available for the dates that are closer to now than for the dates that have just opened up.

Nigel or Marco or others, can you please advise whether I'm nuts and just dreamed this up and happened to search the very two tickets that seemed to follow this "rule," or whether it really is the case? And then for curiosity's sake if it IS true, why do they price the tickets this way, and at what point after the official release of the tickets do the less expensive Advance tickets generally become available?

Also, if any non-UK-rail-experts but better-than-me-at-searching-the-Forum-experts remember a post like this and can point me in that direction, that would be great too.

Thanks!

Posted by
5518 posts

This National Rail page indicates when Advance tickets have been released. It isn't necessarily the same for each company, and sometimes weekends can be very different from weekday release. Possibility of engineering work is often the reason behind this.

Advances are released at most 12 weeks before travel.

Posted by
16896 posts

Kim, yes, I have seen the issue that you report when I've been testing to "reconfirm" the maximum sales window. I have seen just full fares for the latest dates but advance discounts for a few days before that. I guessed that loading all the schedules into the ticket database is one step and activating the discount rates is a second step. But Marco's explanation may hit more relevant details.

Posted by
10658 posts

Thanks! That's a fascinating table, Marco, and I'm reassured that you found the same results, Laura -- and what you say makes sense.

I'm just a few days away from having peak purchasing power for our early August trip to Scotland! (not the time I'd prefer to go, but the time my restaurant-working husband can get off work and my camp-going nieces are done with camp but not yet started back to school!)

Thanks!

Posted by
17612 posts

It probably depends on the train company. When I bought our tickets to York and back for our current trip, I bought online at the twelve-week mark, when they first went on sale. I paid around £96 for two Advance tickets up to York, using a Two Together rail card. Then I noticed that several days later the price had dropped considerably. So I waited and watched before buying our tickets for the return---and got them for around £38 for the two of us. This was on Virgin East Coast trains.

Posted by
10658 posts

Thanks for (apparently) more confirmation Lola. This is just fascinating to me! It appears that one should NOT buy immediately upon the tickets' becoming available, but wait a little while until the lower prices are loaded in. I never would have thought of this.

Posted by
17612 posts

Kim, it may have been my post you saw on this. The bottom line is, it depends on the train company. Some load the best Advance fare at 12 weeks, some a few days or a week later, and some . . . Never. At least that is my experience. As the travel planner in our family. Now what I do is watch for a pattern on the National Rail website, and also sign up for alerts on the specific run I want.

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