Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi all
I'm planning a return trip to York via Birmingham New Street from Basingstoke with my family soon. I have heard about the marvel that is split ticketing. What is the best way to split ticket a return ticket to York via Birmingham New Street leaving on the 19th Feb returning on the 26th Feb with 3 adults and 1 child with a family and friends railcard?

It may be worth looking at Advance (single) tickets via London. They are still available for your dates. BSK to YRK is showing at £36.30 on a railcard. I have always found it cheaper to go via London to York, Liverpool and the like than going via Birmingham.

I am not sure whether XC Advance tickets are available yet for beyond 28th February.

Advance tickets, as I understand them, were designed to help fill unused spaces on quieter trains.  With service slashed back on Cross Country routes from Southampton and from the South West into / via Birmingham, will / has the quantity of such tickets, especially at the lower cost end of the scale, shrunk our of proportion to the volume of passengers wanting to use them?  In other words, are there now far fewer cheap journeys available resulting, in effect, in a price rise that's not reflected in high fares of the sort the media love to highlight?

The cynic in me suggests that XC are waiting for the anticipated price hike in March to be activated and loaded into the system before they release any 'cut price' tickets.

I would probably agree with this comment

However, there being more services to/from York and London than via Birmingham. The chances of lower fares on that route are always better. I doubt there’s much time difference either.

You’ve left looking for Advance fares rather late as they go on sale gdnerally 12 weeks in advance and we’revonly a week away now. Also half-term won’t help as increased demand.

Cheapest currdntly is via Waterloo / Kings Cross & Leeds @ £207.60 for all travellers WITH railcard quoted

Out: BSK 0957 WAT 1049
KGX 1203 LDS 1416
LDS 1430 YRK 1500

Return
YRK 1023 LDS 1050
LDS 1115 KGX 1315
WAT 1505 BSK 1547

Tickets (price for all)
ADV BSK - Peterborough £51.60
ADV Peterborough - LDS £43.40
ADV LDS - YRK £8.50

ADV YRK - LDS £7.60
ADV LDS - BSK ££96.50

Definitely travel via London and use LNER from KGX. You might find some really good value 1st Class Advance fares - we have frequently travelled KGX>WKF for £30 which includes pretty decent hot (and cold) food & drinks.

Advance fares are likely to be very limited - it's the two Saturdays wrapping half term, which is just a week away and those will be popular days - if there were any bargains in the first place, most of those will have gone already and on routes where walk up returns are only a fraction more that walk up singles ... the advance fares may not work.

One question we have not asked - how important is "via Birmingham"?  Original poster mentioned it twice in a short first post, though no mention of how long is needed there, if any?   The solutions offered via London look about the best you'll achieve, but not much good if you need to break the journey in Birmingham for a quick social visit to the pub with Uncle Gerald and Aunt Agnes who live there.

I haven't greatly explored your splits via Birmingham - just a few experiments in the Leamington Spa area that saved pence rather than pounds.  Past personal journeys to the North West have proven much cheaper by driving to Warwick Parkway and taking the train from there (change at Smethwick Galton Bridge) but again not via New Street - Moor Street and Snow Hill, and a need to make extra changes if you're splitting to ensure you're on a train which actually goes that way and stops there.

At the time of posting, the advance fares I quoted were available on the trains quoted.

I have found Ticketysplit website very good. We travelled from Liskeard to Edinburgh last year and the route via Kings Cross with multiple split tickets was way cheaper than XC via Birmingham.