Great Western Coffee Shop

For those having trouble booking tickets while the Trainline website is down for what appears to be an extended period (it's taken FGW and others which feed off it down as well), I'd suggest using RailEasy

http://new.raileasy.co.uk

Disclaimer:

- I'm not employed by them or anything, I've just found it a useful and effective site recently that's all

or red spotted ... or a ticket office  ::)

My preference would always be for an alternative operator's website that uses the WebTIS engine (e.g. East Coast) or Red Spotted Hanky for the simple reason that neither stiff you with booking fees, unlike the Trainline which will fleece you GBP 3.50 for using a credit card and I believe other fees too.

the train line have been very clever in how they word their adverts.... making you think that buying from them is cheaper ...'you could save compared to purchasing from the station on the day' ..... its also true that you could save purchasing from the ticket office a day before compared to the trainline 2 hours before!

They have to be careful with the wording, they just had another reverse at the hands of the Advertising Standards people:

http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2011/9/Trainline,-d-,com-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_158295.aspx

It doesnt have to be WebTIS - FGW, for example, uses the Trainline engine but doesnt charge any additional fees.

I think we're still discussing options for when the Trainline system is down, which wiuld include all sites that use it, including FGW

Not so sure we were ...

I could have made myself clearer, but I was indeed referring to alternatives for use when the Trainline was on the blink. For no particular reason I tend to book using the FGW booking site as a first choice.

I have to say that I certainly was when I started this thread - and particularly made reference to other sites that feed off of it.

For the record I never have and never would use the Trainline site personally purely because of the booking fee - although my employer does use them (via an agency front-end), so I can't claim never to have used the site. My own personal preference is the East Coast mixing desk, for what it's worth.

Do note that Raileasy also charge a ^1 booking fee. My advice is always go to a TOC booking engine (particularly if they offer discounts on fares they price or for special offers) or, failing that, redspottedhankey.com.

RSH are great if you have Tesco Clubcard vouchers as you get triple the value. ^10 in Clubcard vouchers gives you ^30 spend on RSH.

RSH also have a loyalty scheme. 1 point per ^1 spent. Redeemable in multiples of 100. 100 points equals ^1 spend.

Just a small word of caution about Raileasy.
IF you  have a problem which requires you to 'phone them, it's a ^1 a minute...

There is a geographic number available.

http://www.saynoto0870.com/

redspottedhanky.com have switched from a premium rate Customer Support number (although there is already an 01 alternative) to a freephone number.

0800 377 7748

The 01 alternative is also still available. 01902 627981

So now you have the following benefits when booking with redspottedhanky:

• Freephone customer support
• Treble your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to use on train tickets
• No booking fees and credit/debit card fees
• Free ToD collection, or
• Free First Class delivery
• Loyalty points scheme

And they use the, IMHO, far superior WebTIS booking engine.

No, I'm not employed by them :P Just a happy customer. I now make the majority of my online train ticket purchases from them.

Why would anyone buy off The Trainline related sites anyway? I find WebTIS to be FAR superior!

Just use East Coast - you get points and unlike red spotted hanky, there are East Coast only fares if you're travelling on the ECML.

Now I'm familiar with the WebTIS interface, I definitely find it easier to play around and experiment to get things as cheap as possible. However, the first few times I used (I guess we're going back 4 or 5 years here) it I did not find it at all intuitive. Having figured out how it works its certainly a more powerful tool, but I suspect I have a much greater knowledge of the ins, outs and tricks that you can pull than the average punter. Just a guess, but I would propose that most users probably find the trainline-style interface easier to deal with.

I suppose you're right. But the trainline annoys me because it doesn't show all the fares and you can only see 4 options at a time. How many times have people bought more expensive tickets when cheaper ones were a click away?