Split Train Tickets

What I am seeing is two options-
either a split fare using the Elizabeth line to Tottenham Court Road, then tube to Charing Cross when most people would take the tube from Heathrow to the Embankment (with a cross platform change on route), then basically go upstairs to Charing Cross.
Tube fare of £5.90 + the walk up fare of £35.50= £41.40

or-
Heathrow Express to Paddington then tube then HS1.
That can be done cheaper by buying a £10 early bird fare on the Hex, then the tube fare of £2.80, then a walk up fare of £43 from St Pancras OR Elizabeth line/tube £13.90 + £43; or even cheaper by £5.90 tube to Kings Cross +£43

In both cases there is a 10 to 15 minute time penalty of using the tube over the Elizabeth Line.

Forgetting the commission doing the manual split yourself is cheaper. I find that time and time again. On longer journeys I have saved £20+ by doing manual splits- what the split ticket websites offer is very rarely the best option in my quite widespread experience.

As an example in May I have to go from Peterborough to West Cumbria. I've got that for under £20 with a railcard. No split ticket site on one split can get anywhere near that fare.

Thanks for the reply, but not sure if we can figure this out after a 9 hour flight.. Any big advantage to buying more expensive tickets?? Thx

Split tickets are not an illusion but very much based on the fact that in many cases, it is cheaper to split the tickets for a journey rather than purchase a through ticket from a to b. isn31c knows the system inside out because he is a former rail employee and knows how to buy the cheapest tickets direct. The average person - especially foreigners - are not able to work this out - hence using the split ticketing sites can work out the cheapest way of getting from a to b. The downside of using the split ticketing sites is that they (apart from Scotrail) charge a commission of the about saved - which can be peanuts compared to the amount saved. (Scotrail only come up with one split per journey).

I have just checked for a journey from Heathrow to Canterbury on a split ticketing website and buying now for travel departing around 9am get a price of £62.25. Purchasing now for 2 weeks ahead I get a price of £42.28. (Both of these do not include any Railcard discount).

https://www.traintickets.com/?/ is one of the easiest of the split ticket websites and even comes up with a diagrammatic map showing the route. All the split ticketing websites clearly tell you what trains to use and where to change - something that you would need to do as you are travelling from Heathrow in west London to Canterbury out east in the County of Kent.

Martin Lewis is a highly respected economist in the UK and virtually every Brit would recognise him in the street. You may like to read what he has to say about split ticketing:>https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-train-tickets/

The saving is an illusion. The split ticket companies are making money out of people who are ignorant of the facts. This happens all the time.

And having the cheek to charge a £2.65 commission fee in this case. Strip that out and the fare quoted becomes £59.60.

The £62.25 fare is based on taking the Elizabeth line to Faringdon. tube to St Pancras then HS1 to Canterbury West.

It is a fact that by that combination of trains the Elizabeth Line/Tube costs £13.90 (always the same, no peak and off peak fares) and a Super Off Peak Single (turn up and buy ticket) from St Pancras to Canterbury West costs £43- a total of £56.90.

If you took the tube (an option the split ticket companies don't offer because they can't ticket it) it would be £5.90 for the tube all the way (again doesn't vary by time) + £43.

I don't doubt that Heathrow to Hayes and Harlington Day Single is £7.90 and Hayes to Canterbury Off Peak Day Single is £51.80, but that isn't the cheapest way of doing it.

Don't book advance tickets- on a timed ticket- as the £42.28 fare in two weeks time is based on- if you miss your timed train from St Pancras to Canterbury due to a late flight you have to buy a new ticket.

And they are telling a bunch of lies about the fares- They say it is £15.80 Heathrow to Faringdon, and £4.10 Faringdon to St Pancras when the through fare is £13.90 as stated above, then charge a £6.18 commission. This is comically bad. But there are suckers it seems for this nonsense.
So if you wanted to risk the timed train you actually pay £13.90 + £16.20 doing it yourself- a total of £30.10.

You don't need to figure this out after a flight- all the tickets (except the tube) you can buy for yourself on line before leaving home.

So I should just buy each leg of the trip seperately? And two weeks out? Steve

Yes, buy the two legs separately.

And at anytime at all from twelve weeks out. As the St Pancras to Canterbury ticket is fully flexible it doesn't matter what time you get to St Pancras as you can take any train and there are no seat assignments anyway. They are just commuter trains- high speed ones, but just commuter trains. 95% of people just buy tickets on arrival.

Personally I really wouldn't be buying the LHR to St Pancras ticket ahead at all. People just tap and pay (or use Oyster or a travelcard, or cash) and take whatever is the best train on the day. Yesterday morning for instance, the Elizabeth Line/Heathrow Express was closed for about 90 minutes due to a lineside fire. If you were just doing tap and pay you would simply pivot to the underground/tube. Pre purchasing tickets means you lose that flexibility.

The Super Off Peak Single from London (St.Pancras) to Canterbury costs of £43 but the question is - are you going to return a few days later from Canterbury to London? If so, you should buy an off peak return for £49.60 (assuming not travelling during the peak times of day - such as before 9.30am on a weekday).