GWR January 2023 flash sale

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

Bit of a hide and seek to find 'em, their systems are hinting that allocations per service may not be great in number, and some destinations have zero allocation perhaps.

https://www.gwr.com/

Mark

[ChrisB]

Indeed, some journeys do have a zero allocation, as well as these exclusions...

Booking deadline
4. Promotional fares must be bought a minimum of 7 days in advance of travel. Promotional fares are available to buy from 10 January 2023 until 23:59 on 17 January 2023; for travel from 17 January 2023 until 23:59 on 31 March 2023 (the “Term”).

Selected routes and limited availability
5. The following travel exclusion dates will apply:

4 and 25 February 2023 – Promotional fares for journeys to/from London Paddington to Cardiff, Swansea, Carmarthen, and Pembroke Dock are unavailable.
14, 15, 16, and 17 March 2023 – Promotional fares for journeys to/from London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa and Worcester via Swindon are unavailable.
20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 March 2023 – Promotional fares for journeys to/from London Paddington to Newbury, Bedwyn, Westbury, Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance via Newbury and/or Castle Cary are unavailable.
6. 150,000 seats available as of 10 January 2023 (100,000 Standard Class and 50,000 First Class).

7. Promotional fares are subject to quota-controlled availability and will be valid for the booked GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) service(s) only.

8. Promotional fares are available for selected journeys only, and are not available between every pair of GWR served stations.

9. Maximum of 9 persons per booking.

10. Promotional fares are subject to availability and may not be available at some peak times and are not valid with any other offer.

Other operators are also holding sales, so perhaps a co-ordinated DFT^▸ (Department for Transport)-driven approach to increasing ridership?

No word on what happens should another strike occur during this period however, so be careful when booking any accomodation & ensure it is refundable/cancellable

[JayMac]

If you're a Railcard holder, double check as the non sale Advances may be cheaper.

[Mark A]

Ah. Also, recalling a day trip to London on 7th September '21, up from Bath on the 8:13 stopping at Chippenham only, advance purchase with railcard £13 - and back via the, sorry to repeat myself, most useful direct service from Waterloo (and on that mid-week day, ~80 passengers across Salisbury) on an £11 advance ticket.

People rightly think of peak travel on annual season tickets as pricey. As a prospective passenger, it's useful to do some 'Division by 365' and look out the cost on a daily basis and use *that* figure as a reference point when thinking 'Is this single-journey ticket value for money?' The passenger will also then think: 'There's going to be several better ways for the railway to manage capacity than the blunt instrument that is pricing, they should find these and implement them."

Mark