South West Trains short term special offers

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Thanks. Or no thanks to SWT^▸ (South West Trains)!

1830 weekdays! No chance of getting down there after work then....

[JayMac]

Rather depends on where you live and what hours you work. 

[devon_metro]

Tempting... Very tempting indeed

[Fourbee]

Rainbow Day is on again at Guildford Station - Saturday 20th July 2013.

Link:
http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/rainbowday.aspx

[Fourbee]

It is on again at Alton, Bentley, Farnham, Aldershot, Ash Vale, Ash, Wanborough*, Frimley, Camberley and Bagshot stations on Saturday 26 October

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/rainbowday.aspx

*Might have a job due to the lack of ticket office, but that is what is quoted on the page above. In addition, they have referred to all of those as Alton line stations (several are not).

[ChrisB]

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/wintersmilestickets.aspx

Biggest ever ^10 ticket sale launched for South West Trains passengers

^Hundreds of thousands of ^10 tickets available on weekends throughout January and February

^Buy tickets in advance or turn up and go on the day

Hundreds of thousands of discounted tickets will be available for South West Trains passengers during January and February as the company^s biggest ever weekend winter offer was launched today (13 January).

^Winter Smiles^ tickets can be purchased from today for travel on any Saturday or Sunday up until 23 February for just ^10 same day return per adult, and ^5 per child.

Passengers will be able to travel to and from any two South West Trains stations across the majority of its network. The Warminster to Bristol Temple Meads line and the Exeter to Feniton line are excluded, but the Island Line is included provided passengers hold tickets to Portsmouth Harbour. The rest of the network covers an impressive amount of territory south and west of London's Waterloo Station - to the coast at Portsmouth and Weymouth in Dorset, into Wiltshire, Hampshire and Berkshire, making the tickets a real bargain.

 

Arthur Pretorius, Deputy Customer Service Director for the South West Trains ^ Network Rail Alliance, said: ^This is our best offer to date for everybody within our area to go and explore what our region has to offer, or visit friends and family for a bargain price. We hope it will encourage more people to try the train and enjoy a great day out.^

 

The Winter Smiles tickets can be purchased on the day of travel from any staffed South West Trains station, or from ticket vending machines, from Monday 13th January online and from Friday 17th January for Ticket Vending Machines or ticket offices. Tickets can also be purchased in advance online at southwestrains.co.uk or by phoning 0845 6000 650.

 

A destination map can be found on the website http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/destination-guides.aspx

[Fourbee]

From the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) website:
This Summer South West Trains are offering a ^15 day return ticket from Saturday 26 July until Friday 22 August 2014 (^7 for kids)!

Further details:
http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/summer.aspx

Despite the age of this thread, I think we were consolidating all SWT offers here.

[JayMac]

As with the previous SWT^▸ (South West Trains) offers this is is not valid west of Salisbury. So Tisbury to Exeter and Warminster to Bristol are excluded. Isle of Wight is also excluded.

[Fourbee]

Isle of Wight is also excluded.

I noticed that as well, despite the fact the T&Cs include Island Line Trains (and explicitly exclude the ferry part thus rendering it useless for travel to/from the island).

The most expensive fare on the island (excluding whatever Steam rovers might be about) is Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin return at ^5.60. I wonder if they would offer to sell you a ^15 "special" instead!

[The Grecian]

Previously it was only Feniton-Exeter which was excluded - you could still use it from Honiton eastwards. From what I've heard the last offer on Jan/Feb weekends was too well used i.e. many trains were overcrowded which wouldn't otherwise be, so presumably it's been restricted to manage demand.

Weymouth-Waterloo is a similar length to Axminster-Waterloo (143 v 144) miles so it's still valid for a lengthy route. I assume the superior capacity on that line helps soak up the occasional travellers (2 x 4/5 car trains per hour v 1 x 3/6 cars) although an 8 coach train I caught from Basingstoke to Clapham Junction on Saturday 25th Jan at around 1130 was standing room only that day at a time I doubt it normally would be.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Despite the age of this thread, I think we were consolidating all SWT^▸ (South West Trains) offers here.

Indeed we were / are - thanks for posting here, Fourbee. 

[ChrisB]

Don't forget Weekend First is available with these tickets....

[Fourbee]

Also, standard tickets have the evening peak restrictions away from London inherited from First Class Off Peak Day Return.

I believe the intention of this is to allow travel in the morning shoulder peak (unlike the Super Off Peak Day Return) whilst still restricting return travel.

Quite a few caveats with this deal, but maybe better in some respects in that it can be used on weekdays as well, unlike the Rainbow promotion(s).

[paul7575]

Despite the age of this thread, I think we were consolidating all SWT^▸ (South West Trains) offers here.

Indeed we were / are - thanks for posting here, Fourbee. 

Could we possibly change the thread title then?  Perhaps "SWT short term special offers".

This latest offer, and some recent offers, have not actually been "Rainbow Days" as such, which were basically issued as day rangers based on named stations.

Paul

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for the hint, Paul: I've now acted on your suggestion.