Website for train tickets, recommendations please

[TellerTuesday]

Long, long time since I booked train tickets. I'm sure I just used National Rail last time but the dates I'm putting keeps coming up with hardly any fares and the ones that are available are really expensive.

I'm taking DD to London (we live in North Yorkshire) the first weekend in September.

Any recommendations please for the best websites to look on.

Thanks in advance

Take a look at Trainline.

Trainline and Trainpal.

I like Trainpal. I used to use Splitticketing but found it never showed all the options.

For that journey I would just book direct with LNER from York to London. Use local trains to get to York if needed, you shouldn't need to book ahead for those.

I tend to use TrainPal. Getting a family and friends railcard will bring the gist down and usually pays for itself very quickly (you can use Tesco points to get one even cheaper)

Remember that Trainline charges fees.

You can still buy tickets from National Rail. I've just compared the prices for a journey and they're the same on Trainline and National Rail.

It depends where I’m going but for London I’d check lner.

Iv booked direct with them a couple of times. I would think you would probably get the direct London train from York so lner would probably be the company you’re going to travel with.

iv used trainline loads of times with no problems they automatically look for split tickets if you click yes.

if nothing else use traveline to search your journey it’ll give you a price but also if you look at the journey it’ll tell you the company and if it’s all the same company for the whole journey (for example lner) you can check then their website to see if you can book cheaper through the company direct without the fees trainline charges.

also book seats as it’s guarantees you a seat but be prepared to have to tell someone to move. If you don’t there is a chance you’ll have to stand.

and yes look at rail passes, there are different ones so you’ll have to look which one works for you’re circumstances.

check the journey with and without it you may find the savings will pay for the pass and still save the journey

For your particular case I would use Grand Central.

Get the Trainline app, you can then get the tickets on your phone which is much easier than faffing with a machine at the station!

I use the Trainline App for research, then pop over to Splitmyfare to see if I can get any cheaper.
A 2 together railcard sounds the best Railcard for you. My daughter has her own 16-25 one but as we often travel together and I'm not old enough or young enough for anything else, we have one of those too. Pays for itself for us with usually one journey tbh.

I'd use the LNER app. We recently had a train from York to London cancelled, and had to catch the next train an hour later. I'd had the refund confirmation email before we even eventually set off. I was also able to book seats on the train we ended up catching on the app, so we had somewhere to sit!
I've never seen York-London any cheaper anywhere else. And definitely look at railcards.

We also travel on the east coast mainline and the LNER website seems to be the best.

As someone else pointed out, Trainline charges a booking fee, which is why I always book direct with the train company, which doesn't charge a booking fee (more often than not Cross Country in my case, but I'm sure others will be the same).

Do not use an app like trainline. You will find it near impossible to get a refund if you need one. I now always just go direct to the train company and buy off them, they are all online and you can download tickets to your phone.

Thanks everyone, will have a look on LNER this evening 😊

If you're not travelling until September the advance fares might not have been released yet. Worth looking to see the price in July for a similar journey and if September is more expensive then wait until the advance fares are released

I don't agree about refunds - I've had them from Avanti many times, sigh with no difficulty at all when I've booked the ticket through Trainline. Yes, there is a small booking fee. I don't mind that. I've got used to Trainline and I have my Senior Railcard on their app, which always seems to work well. I'm sure I could book direct with Avanti or LNER and save a couple of quid though.

Train pal for me too! Got a 2 together Railcard through them for me and my adult son, and the ticket price has halved for our upcoming trip. Family rail card will be great for you.

I use the LNER app regardless of where I’m going. No fees and they text you updates of your journey.

This.

They generally release the cheaper advance tickets 12 weeks ahead. LNER have an option to sign up for an email alert when your dates are released (although, also keep checking regularly, sometime the email doesn't come straight away)