LNER pricing confusion - London/Scotland rail

[Pl242]

Hi there. I travel between London and Scotland fairly regularly but usually fly.

However looking to go by train and have been looking at train times and prices on the lner site to get a sense of options etc.

But when I go into book I keep getting wildly different prices each time (for sane route/date/time). Then sometimes first class is an option, sometimes not, sometimes seat reservation available, sometimes not. I got DH to look and he was getting completely different costs etc for exactly the same journey whilst looking at it at exactly the same time as me. When I was able to get a seat reservation I couldn’t change it as it said “you have bought the last tickets on this train” yet I could clearly see loads of free seats throughout the train.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what is going on? I‘m now worried it’s tracking our device to push up future prices if we try again. I just tried a private tab booking and now the fare isn’t coming up at all! This is very frustrating and feel like I’ve either been unlucky or am being swindled!

Any advice is much appreciated!

are you using the LNER website?
The times and fares can sometimes change if it's a strike day as they amend the timetables or take tickets off sale until they've confirmed which trains will run.
I've just booked a ticket for next week and prices were comparable with what I usually pay although I managed to change my seat selection for the outbound leg but it said they were having issues with the system and it wouldn't save my change for the return journey.

Thanks for reply. I think I worked it out in the end. Basically when I first looked there were plenty of advance singles but then they seemed to run out. Anyway. I was relatively flexible on day/time so managed to get the advanced price for another time.

Ah that would make sense! The pricing system is so ridiculous, my outbound journey next week is twice the price of the return leg! Both standard class advance tickets on LNER.

Though actually I just re ran the search again. And now I could have got the trains I wanted £70 cheaper than the less ideal time I booked. I think this is pretty outrageous! Though I suppose I’ve learnt lesson for next time. Search at intervals, see how prices look, snap it up when it’s low?

Did you maybe book before the advance tickets went on sale?