Glasgow>London by train. Best website for deals

[Castlecould]

Hi all
I’d like to take my DD to London in the summer and looking for the best websites to use for good fare deals. Would prefer to travel from Glasgow but would consider Edinburgh also and ideally would like to go first class depending on the price. Oh and I have a F&F railcard too if that helps.
Thanks!

Trainline. If the tickets haven't been released yet,you can set up an alert to tell you when they are.

Use the site of the train operator. They will have the best deal/seats/availability combo.

Always book directly with the operator - so Avanti West Coast from Glasgow and LNER from Edinburgh. The trainline used to charge a booking fee.
LNER first class is lovely, I haven't done Avanti but used to find the Virgin West Coast trains always felt more cramped (and I'm guessing it's the same rolling stock with a new paint job).
Advance tickets are the cheapest but you must travel on the train you book. LNER has an alert system you can sign up to if your travel dates aren't yet on sale.

The train prices on this route are very expensive if you don’t manage to book an Advance ticket. I usually find flying much cheaper in Easyjet, which it really shouldn’t be given how bad it is for the environment.

LNER summer tickets have been released already. I have bought a few going as far as August - I don't know if they go further.

First class advance is less then £100 for me and I'm further north than Edinburgh.

I have done the west coast from Glasgow too and managed to nab first class for less than £50 a couple of years back but I think that's a rarity.

There's one which splits the tickets which works out very cheap. here

@AllTheCakes

The train prices on this route are very expensive if you don’t manage to book an Advance ticket. I usually find flying much cheaper in Easyjet, which it really shouldn’t be given how bad it is for the environment.

By the time you factor in the travel to and from the airport, plus the time involved, it usually balances out. DD always flys - I always train!

With the First class side of things, I used an app called seatfrog before covid started (not travelled since so not sure it still works).
We had booked tickets london to manchester. About an hour before travel, put in journey details and then "bid" to upgrade to first class. They seem set up with a minimum price they will accept so you find out straight away and it was much cheaper than if we had bought first class. (We had advance saver with railcard 2nd class). Midweek it was around £12 each to upgrade - which we pretty much got back in coffee and snacks in the 1st class lounge at the station. Still use your original tickets on the train, with the Seatfrog confirmation on the app.
For tickets I tend towards trainline - I dont remember them having booking fees but some of the split ticket sites do charge (and havent really been cheaper for me).

Be wary of using a split ticket site just now. LNER for example will not book a seat for more then one person. So if you buy a ticket from say, Edinburgh to York then York to London you would have different seats for each leg and would have to move because the other seats around your original will be booked further down the line with the expectation of that seat being empty - for social distancing purposes.

Thank you all so much, all the replies have been very helpful I would normally get a flight but DD really wants to take the train so I will have a look at Avanti and LNER direct and will check Trainline too. Really useful information about splitting and bidding that I wouldn’t have known about either. Thanks everyone!

It is such a long time on a train even in first class!!!

Be aware that some ticket splitting sites charge you a percentage.

Trainpal

It is such a long time on a train even in first class!!!

You think?

I think a 4.5hr trip in first class is great fun - a part of the holiday.

@ChocolateDeficitDisorder yeah at the 3 hour point I have just had enough 😂

Travel off peak at unpopular times. Book as far in advance as possible, sign up to ticket alerts. Sometimes two singles is cheaper than a return, though good deals on the train aren't what they used to be. Usually advance tickets (booked train) cheaper than open (but not always so check).
F&F discount aren't available in first class (though child fares still apply).

I'm the same @RandomMess I sometimes do Edinburgh - Doncaster and I'm always glad to be getting off after 3 hours!

This may have changed since lockdown, but the LNER first class service is different at the weekend than it is on a weekday - weekday is hot food and gin, weekend is sandwiches and water. One is worth paying the extra for imho - I'll leave you to work out which one! - but it's worth checking what you get for the price.

When we went a couple of years ago I used tesco clubcard points to buy a railcard (about £30 I think) which gave a discount on tickets of around a third, and if I remember rightly, children travelled for next to nothing. It worked out cheaper overall, and it could also be used to purchase travel tickets to get around London on the underground (can buy combo travel tickets for visitors, but you have to do your research because TFL heavily promote the Oyster card, which I didn't think represented good value for a weekend trip)

You can just use contactless for TfL services

flashylamp that's fine of travelling alone, but not so easy when travelling as a family. It was cheaper and easier to buy a family day ticket (don't remember what it's called)

@Throwntothewolves

flashylamp that's fine of travelling alone, but not so easy when travelling as a family. It was cheaper and easier to buy a family day ticket (don't remember what it's called)

Fair enough, OP DD may not have to pay though so it's worth considering.

Check the prices for the Caledonian sleeper maybe? I get it from inverness (obv a much longer journey) but you get into London early and leave late, so (eg) 2 long days in London with only 1 night in a hotel.