Frigging hell! The price of train tickets to London!!

[Hellotoallmyfans]

Why have train tickets become so expensive? (I don't use public transport usually so not very aware of fluctuating prices)

Every couple of years or so I book for us to go to London as a family (2 adults, 3 dcs) to go see a show and take in some sights - the theatre tickets were £600(!) but I was expecting that as I know that's what it costs for decent seats, ditto the hotel which is £500 for two rooms for one night. But what I wasn't expecting was to then have to pay another £340 on top for train tickets from Manchester to get there! Last time we went, before covid, the train was £90 for a family ticket! There doesn't seem to be any options for family tickets and all the websites I've looked at are showing the same price.

I don't know what I'm looking for here, just having a moan really! Or maybe the name of a secret website that does cheap train tickets?

Everything is so bloody expensive isn't it? I guess I will have to suck it up and pay as I've booked the theatre tickets now which I'm sure will non-refundable. It's just gutting that I am looking at close to a grand just to get there and stay for one night. We could literally have flights/hotel for a week in Europe for that! Not taking into account the theatre tickets and the £££+ we will probably end up spending on food/drink and other attractions (wanted to maybe do a boat ride and some museums).

It's going to be at least £2k+ spent on one night in London! I don't know if it's even worth it? Grrr.

I hate all this, 'If you buy a certain railcard, go on a certain website, buy a ticket nine weeks in advance for a train that travels at 11:45 a.m. from a station 30 miles from your house, and if you change trains three times and don't miss any of these trains, then you can find reasonably priced journeys.' I just want to buy an affordable ticket in a straightforward way, like in one of those war films where an escaped British P.O.W. says, 'Paris,' to the clerk and just slips the money across the counter. I want it to be that simple.

I would always buy theatre tickets with TodayTix (has a great app). Train through Trainline (with a railcard) and hotel with Premier Inn. I know it all adds up, and I'm only 1 hr train from London but I think this is the best way to keep costs down. Also, from where I live, it sometimes pays to drive part of the way and then get the train.

Decent seats for a London show are expensive. I paid £240 for 2 tickets at London Palladium recently, however DD and I loved every minute. The same show is coming to our local city theatre next year and tickets are only £53 for the same show. Unfortunately London theatres just cost more.

Holiday Inn Regents Park is a fab hotel near Picadilly Circus so central for theatres. Use tesco vouchers to triple your points via clubcard and it is really reasonable. We stayed there on a Saturday when a euros match was going on but it was so quiet, we all slept really well. Excellent breakfast too.

@EsmaCannonball

I hate all this, 'If you buy a certain railcard, go on a certain website, buy a ticket nine weeks in advance for a train that travels at 11:45 a.m. from a station 30 miles from your house, and if you change trains three times and don't miss any of these trains, then you can find reasonably priced journeys.' I just want to buy an affordable ticket in a straightforward way, like in one of those war films where an escaped British P.O.W. says, 'Paris,' to the clerk and just slips the money across the counter. I want it to be that simple.

Exactly. This sums up what is wrong with train travel in this country. I bet there is no other country in Europe, or possibly the world, where the simple act of buying a train ticket is so complicated.

@EsmaCannonball

👏🏼 Best post I've read on Mumsnet in awhile! I agree 100%!

@EsmaCannonball

I hate all this, 'If you buy a certain railcard, go on a certain website, buy a ticket nine weeks in advance for a train that travels at 11:45 a.m. from a station 30 miles from your house, and if you change trains three times and don't miss any of these trains, then you can find reasonably priced journeys.' I just want to buy an affordable ticket in a straightforward way, like in one of those war films where an escaped British P.O.W. says, 'Paris,' to the clerk and just slips the money across the counter. I want it to be that simple.

Exactly. We're suffering an epidemic of "mug pricing" everywhere you look. "Headline" prices for virtually everything are stupidly high, but you can almost always find ways of getting discounts. Whether it's a new car, a pizza meal, breakdown cover, insurance or whatever really. The whole ethos is that people who don't care about money (mugs) will pay the "headline" price. People who do care will spend a few minutes online to find discount codes or vouchers or whatever.

I would have thought its fairly common knowledge that advance fares are cheaper and if you travel at peak times its going to cost you more than in you go off peak.
If you take that as your starting point its surely not that complicated?
Railcards can save you a small fortune, worth the investment even if you only use it a couple of times a year.
Sadly my son is too old now for us to have a family and friends railcard so we have a TwoTogether card which saves a third off tickets.

I don’t drive and travel all over the country by train. The railcards have saved us thousands of pounds over the years.
We have been to London for £15 return. One year I got us from the west midlands to Liverpool, then up to Edinburgh and back home for £56 in total. Its really not that hard

@StoneofDestiny

As long as this pricing continues the government is never going to get people to leave their cars at home. It's cheaper to fly to Europe than get a train between Britain's cities. We don't need HS2 - we need more rail lines between places and cheaper fares.

On the contrary, this is exactly why we do need HS2. Trains down the West Coast Main Line are routinely full. There is no room for any more, nor is there any scope on the existing infrastructure to lengthen them beyond the existing lengths and certainly no room to double-deck. At the moment, all that the operators can do is price off demand. Build HS2 on the other hand and you hugely increase the supply, both in terms of frequency and in terms of length and height (HS2 is being built to European standards which means you can fit double-deck trains in). Therefore tickets can be priced more competitively.