Under what conditions might Advance tickets be available on the British rail network?
I'm trying to understand the British train ticket pricing system. Worse, I'm trying to game the system. A popular game is to split tickets, but I've found that a combination of two Advance tickets may be cheaper even than the result of split tickets shows.
When I search for trains from Reading to Lancaster, I don't find a lot of Advance tickets. The outward journey shows Anytime or Off-peak, on the return journey there are some Advance tickets. However, if I search for Reading-Wolverhampton and Wolverhampton-Lancaster separately, I do get Advance fares for both directions, and with some puzzling I find fares that add up to £60, or around £28 less than the cheapest fare for a full ticket (discounting one return arriving at 01:35). TrainSplit claims to save me £10 but gives the exact same fair as National Rail.
So, there are Advance tickets Reading-Wolverhampton and Wolverhampton-Lancaster, but not Reading-Lancaster. Why is this? Are Advance tickets only available for direct trains? For trains with a single operator? Or is the entire system so opaque that this question is fundamentally unanswerable?
Best Answer
Advance tickets are only available in limited numbers and not on all journeys. So it could be that the advance tickets you are interested in are sold out. It's worth pointing out that there is some risk with both splitting tickets and buying advance - advance tickets are only valid on a specific train. If you have to change, and your first train is late enough that you miss the connection, your ticket is no longer valid. (Note - if you have and advance "& connections" ticket, then missing your booked train is acceptable if one of the connections you took to it as part of the same ticket was delayed.)
Pictures about "Under what conditions might Advance tickets be available on the British rail network?"
What time are advance train tickets released?
Up to 4 hours before your train sets off from its first station. Available up to 18:00 the day before travel.What is an advanced ticket?
Advance tickets, otherwise known as advance fares, are single one-way train tickets that offer excellent value for money but must be booked in advance. Advance tickets usually go on sale up to 12 weeks ahead of travel, but they are also sold in limited numbers.How advance can you book train tickets?
Advance reservations are made generally up to 120 days in advance for all classes and all trains. The period of advance reservation (ARP) is exclusive of the day of departure of the train.How far in advance can you book a train ticket UK?
You can usually book train tickets in the UK up to 12 weeks in advance, these are called Advance train tickets and are generally cheaper than booking nearer to the departure date.Railcards Explained
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Allan Mas, ThisIsEngineering, ThisIsEngineering, Sinitta Leunen