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.

When the Tutankhamen exhibition was on at the Saatchi, us (family of four - one child and one classed as an adult) and our friends (also family of four where one child classed as adult fare) found it was actually cheaper to hire a huge fancy taxi (sort of small minibus) with a driver at our disposal all day and drive the five hour round trip than it was to get the train.

We drove to somewhere near by with a station, left the car in the car park, and took the train into London, cost about £60 in total.

Can you check online for different companies ? Trainline have a range of different deals starting at around £23 pp. OW what about driving down .Maybe stopping at a smaller town ie Luton /Watford or wherever.Parking in a quiet road and getting an Uber?

Drive to somewhere like Cockfosters and park on the long stay car park and get the tube in.

Haven't RTFT so possibly repeating, but...

Get a Family Railcard (pref on Tesco points) and book about 6-8 weeks in advance, probably cost about £100 if you're flexible about times.

I go to the theatre quite a lot and no way would I ever pay that much for a show. Use TKTS, TodayTix etc and book same day or a few days ahead. There are loads of cheap deals around at the moment, especially if you have a shortlist of 4 or 5 shows you'd like to see. You could easily get good tickets for under £50 each, often a lot less, eg we got stalls tickets for Anything Goes for £15 on the day.

Hotels - depends what kind of thing you expect, but I booked a central Premier Inn for the (cancelled) tube strike last month and paid about £70. I think it was the one at Blackfriars, and that was only a couple of days before. They usually do better deals if you book a couple of months in advance.

A lot of attractions do 2 for 1 entry with train tickets: www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london. And if you're going on a boat trip use the Uber/Thames Clippers - cheaper than the tourist boats.

Probably all too late for this trip, but next time plan well in advance and you'll probably pay a quarter of what you're paying for this trip.

@Comefromaway really? Just googled and £125 is top price for Phantom, £99 top price for Wicked, so I don't think I am miles out (tjo maybe those are cheapy shows?)

Definitely need only one family railcard and advance tickets don't go on sale until 12 weeks before the date!

We went in 2019 and drove.

Stayed in Greenwich in a 3 bed apartment for about £249 for the night

Parked up round the corner using a website that advertises people's drives. It cost about £15 to park for 24 hours.

Bus/tube to the theatres using Oyster card.

Megabus very cheap if booked well in advance

Travel on bus over night, then spend day in London, can travel back on night bus too, because it saves accommodation

We got a family ticket return from manchester to london for £99 only last week.
You have to book the outbound ticket but you can return whenever you like even at peak time.

This was direct from arriva website

Tram prices have gone a lot recently especially the cheaper off peak fare which are less regulated. Avanti are the worst by far, one thing to watch out for is if there are any football games around the time you are travelling as they often don’t release advance tickets for those trains as they have a captive market.

@InthearmyN0W21

Megabus very cheap if booked well in advance

Travel on bus over night, then spend day in London, can travel back on night bus too, because it saves accommodation

Are you on glue. Travelling overnight with kids and no accommodation/downtime/hours cooped up on a coach.

I'd prefer not to go at all.

YANBU - the cost is absolutely bonkers. And we wonder why so many people are reliant on cars!

I hope you manage to find a cheaper solution. Like PP I would have a look at flights - you can get surprisingly cheap ones!

I look on the train line website and found prices much more reasonable than that - are you being flexible with times? It does pay to book ahead though.

@aspiecat
Probably all too late for this trip, but next time plan well in advance and you'll probably pay a quarter of what you're paying for this trip

Exactly. I agree British train service is woeful, but you do need to plan in advance. A long journey for a family of 5 is going to cost so you need to book ahead. Prices for even an economy airline like Ryanair/Easyjet would be pretty high too if you leave it till a few days before.

Have not RTFT so someone probably mentioned it already, but trainsplit.com is great.

People are avoiding flying. Train companies have capitalised on that.

Try asking at the station. The trainline prices I was shown a couple of weeks ago were more than the actual price I paid at the station on the day.

DS has a Railcard his fares have more than doubled plus two or three changes with long waiting times, standing room only these days. The rail service is abysmal

@AmandaHugenkiss

I’d suggest going to the station, and asking a ticket seller. I’ve found that the online booking doesn’t always give you the discount options. Ask if they can find you a cheaper ticket through their system.

And I sympathise, I’m a rail commuter and the cost is crippling.

I did this in July, I went into the ticket office and got the tickets for less than I was seeing online.

@elbea
I went recently and ended up driving, I parked in Park Lane and it cost £28 for the day. Half the price of a train ticket and the same time driving as the train

Trains are seriously overpriced, but I’d rather lay more for the train than drive as a return train gives me 8 hours time I can relax/be productive rathe than focusing on a long drive. I’d happily pay £100 extra for that though I realize for some saving money trumps saving time.

@InthearmyN0W21

Megabus very cheap if booked well in advance

Travel on bus over night, then spend day in London, can travel back on night bus too, because it saves accommodation

They’re supposed to be going for a treat, not an endurance test.

Exactly. I agree British train service is woeful, but you do need to plan in advance. A long journey for a family of 5 is going to cost so you need to book ahead. Prices for even an economy airline like Ryanair/Easyjet would be pretty high too if you leave it till a few days before.

This is the thing I kind of resent. Why does booking a long distance train journey for less than £100 a head have to be a military operation? Requiringfastest finger first skills, setting up an alert for when cheaper tickets might become available, which isn’t 8-9 weeks any more because of COVID but might be, checking a myriad of local departure stations because they might have cheaper tickets than your nearest town, asking at the local booking office because Trainline.com might have incorrect information, checking ticket splitting websites and still risking being caught out and fined on the train because train X doesn’t stop at station Y but just goes through it etc etc.

And co-ordinating all of this with booking hotels and other activities so that you don’t get the cheaper hotel but have to pay a mint of money for train tickets or vice versa.

It’s exhausting! Who has time for that, especially with children? And yet, if you don’t do it, you’re told that it’s your own fault for not being organised enough.

@InthearmyN0W21

Megabus very cheap if booked well in advance

Travel on bus over night, then spend day in London, can travel back on night bus too, because it saves accommodation

I've never felt more up for a London day sightseeing than when I've had a shit snooze next to the Megabus toilets