GWR Advance Purchase sale - January 2025

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Try booking to a destination without reservations available - i.e. Okehampton.

GWRs^▸ (Great Western Railway) booking engine throwing an error - instead of booking any seat on stated train, its saying no seat reservable, so I can't sell you a Sale Advance ticket!!

 

[XPT]

Cheapest tickets between Bristol and London £21 single.  No big deal about that, as that's the cheapest they are even when the sale isn't on anyway!  I found this to be the case when GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had a sale last year!

[ChrisB]

Having had a good nose around, there are many destinations away from London/Reading whose current 'normal' advance fares are less than the promotional fares -= especially the longer distance ones into the Southwest & west Wales. Take care!

[XPT]

Having had a good nose around, there are many destinations away from London/Reading whose current 'normal' advance fares are less than the promotional fares -= especially the longer distance ones into the Southwest & west Wales. Take care!

Indeed, or fares that are the same price they are normally!

It appears to be not easy to find these advance sale fares! 

Anyone got any examples they can post of true advance sale fares you've found?

[grahame]

Having had a good nose around, there are many destinations away from London/Reading whose current 'normal' advance fares are less than the promotional fares -= especially the longer distance ones into the Southwest & west Wales. Take care!

Indeed, or fares that are the same price they are normally!

It appears to be not easy to find these advance sale fares! 

Anyone got any examples they can post of true advance sale fares you've found?

Yes - my day trip on 28th January, Melksham to Penzance, 2 x £12 singles, which are below "normal" advance fares on those timings, even taking into account the senior railcard discount that's not offered on sale tickets.

Now - BRFares suggest the following:



Which suggests to me that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) sometimes do offer the £12 outside the sale, and indeed the railcard discount would them apply - so you might consider that this is not really a sale - that they may have taken the £12 at the time of year they would normally offer them anyway, labelled them as being a "sale" and then put the price up for old bogies like me by not giving us a loyalty discount, even though we have paid for that loyalty discount card.

[Phantom]

And ... they're not on sale until 2nd January. 

I think ChrisB was gently pointing out that Phantom is rather optimistic in looking for them today - see above post.

I had missed that key point.

[Kernow Otter]

Naivity perhaps, but trying to look for LOS - SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) on 14/3 returning on 16/3.  Have found an exceptional £ 11.00 out single, but the returns options are showing no advances of any time.

User error on my part, or should I leave it a few days to book?

Cheers all.

[ChrisB]

You appear to have some engineering work down your way on the Sunday which will curtail the cheap fares

[XPT]

Thanks Grahame.  Yes those £12 fares between Melksham and Penzance are excellent value fares.  Though as you say, it appears they do offer fares as cheap as this at times anyway.  So this suggests this isn't really a sale.

I was looking at doing a trip from Bristol down to Plymouth and Penzance last month, to get a last journey or two on the HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s.  I didn't bother in the end.  But the fares I found then were actually around £10 from Bristol to Plymouth, and around £12 for Penzance to Bristol anyway. 

This sale isn't half as good as the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) sales they've had say 6 or 7 years ago.  Back then it was quite easy to find bargain advance fares such as Bristol to London for £10 and a number of other destinations for excellent prices.  Not the case in this sale.  No bargain advance sale fares to/from places like London, Oxford, Southampton, Portsmouth, Worcester, Cardiff, etc.  They're just the same prices as normal.  A number of other people commenting similarly on the GWR Facebook page.

Is there going to be a Great British Rail Sale this year?  I think I'll wait for that instead!  That was very good last year and I think back in 2023 too.  It blew this current supposed GWR sale out of the water!

[ChrisB]

Now there's a good question!

There WAS talk of one, back in October I think, of one earlyish this year to celebrate Railway 200. It's gone quite quiet these days though, so ideas may have have changed & moved to operator sales instead - no one knows currenty

[Kernow Otter]

You appear to have some engineering work down your way on the Sunday which will curtail the cheap fares

Thank you

[grahame]

A couple of days to go ... and I have planned a couple of days out - though the Advance Purchase sale is not quite the headline bargain the marketeers would have you believe. There are some good deals (I have one in February), but in March I have done better on a day out with normal Advance fares and a railcard.

[ChrisB]

Certain stations have fared (did you see what I did there? ) better for discounts than  others - for example Swindon westwards into Wales were all in single digits, even 1st class sometimes!