Hi,
This deal is mostly about knowledge which I have linked together over my time at university.
Firstly, don't use a website like red spotted hanky/ trainline etc as the same ticket prices can often be found elsewhere.
The best I have found for this is Virgin Trains. But you can book for any train company by typing the origin/ destination into the search boxes.
They offer 1% cashback via topcashback (a website which attempts to claim back a portion of your spend) and the same ticket options as the 'discount retailers'. (Topcashback also sometimes offer a bonus discount weekends, generally around bank holidays where a 'top up' (normally between £2.50 and £5) is offered for a small spend.
Next I would always try to book in advance, the advance tickets tend to be considerably cheaper than the standard.
Next use a ticket splitting website (google it) to see if your ticket can be split up into different journeys to save some £££, if it can there is always a chance you can work out how without paying the fees they normally charge. To do this you reattempt your search criteria in the virgin website to shorter stints. For example Cardiff to Manchester Piccadilly can often be found cheaper when splitting at Shrewsberry. Then purchase these two tickets as above via Virgin Trains.
I would always recommend a railcard, these are currently offered free with a Santander student account and if your not but still eligible codes are regularly available online. Some journeys I have taken have more than covered the cost of the railcard in one trip.
Look out for operator specific discounts, which rarely appear on your operators website.
Finally I would suggest looking at any delayed departures, if your train is delayed by more than 30mins all train operators have to refund a portion of your ticket price, do not forget this as I have claimed in the past for delayed trains and have had up to 100% of the ticket cost returned!
I know its a bit exhausting looking at this list but I have saved significant amounts of money travelling using these methods in the past. An example of a trip where I saved alot would be between Cwmbran and Ormskirk. This trip would normally cost £70, but with the various discounts mentioned above can be as low as £15.
I hope this helps some of you!
I often do Blackpool - Nuneaton journey and found splitting to be brilliant, usually saving over half the fare, but sometimes it does add a little extra time taking a divertion thru Manchester. But thanks for the topcashback/virgin trains advice! I definitely will switch from train line now
Can you give me an example of a date to get cheap return tickets between Manchester and Cardiff please (via Shrewsbury?).
Thanks.
Hi Andy, I will have a look when I get in, but as I said these vary so don't always offer a saving/ go through a different station :/
Hi Andy, I have had a look and on the 1St of next month it appears trains from cwmbran will be cheaper via ticketsplitting through Shrewsbury, so if you can get there that would save you a couple of £'s
Dan
This is an excellent guide to getting cheap train tickets. Thank you for sharing.
Can someone explain splitting to me please x also I have a letter off my epilepsy nurse saying am entitled to a free rail card but when I took to the station they said they don't offer this. Can u make any light on this and when I can get my pass thanks kate
Hi Kate, I found a website that has information on it, but it looks like there is still a £20 charge. https://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/daily-life/benefits/disabled-persons-railcard . ticketsplitting is a website like this one: https://www.splitticketing.com/ . Use this website to search for tickets as normal. It looks at ways that it can make the ticket cheaper by splitting the trip into sections. It shows these on the next page which if you transfer back to a website such as virgin trains or northern to avoid booking fees
Good Luck
Money saving guides written by our experts
Join Latest Deals for free and get a hand-picked list of the best deals, delivered straight to your inbox. Fancy yourself as a bit of a bargain hunter? Share deals you find and earn Amazon vouchers!
Chief Bargain Hunter