Expensive fares

[whole diary]

[Zoe]

I just had a look at some fares, Penzance to Edinburgh via London Anytime Return is ^500.  Would anyone seriously pay that?  It would be cheaper to get an all line rover.

[moonrakerz]

Some years ago, whilst working for a Govt Dept, I had to justify the cost of flying to Glasgow rather than getting the train. I rang rail enquiries to get the cost of a First Class return from Bath to Glasgow - the response from BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) ? " Good God, no one buys one of those !"

[Zoe]

And a First Class flight from London to New York at the end of December costs ^4943.50. What's your point?

The point is that it's a bit stupid to offer such an expensive fair when others are available with the same if not more flexibility at a cheaper price.

[Timmer]

Some years ago, whilst working for a Govt Dept, I had to justify the cost of flying to Glasgow rather than getting the train. I rang rail enquiries to get the cost of a First Class return from Bath to Glasgow - the response from BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) ? " Good God, no one buys one of those !"

I can believe that. Wouldn't happen now of course because all calls are recorded for training purposes! I suppose that would be used to train someone not how to answer a request for the cost of a ticket.

[Timmer]

The point is that it's a bit stupid to offer such an expensive fair when others are available with the same if not more flexibility at a cheaper price.

Guess its a case of you have to start somewhere when pricing something so you can offer cheaper alternatives or do special offers.

[Phil]

I think the "point" is similar to my own thinking recently in listing a book in the Amazon Marketplace for around ^1000. I don't seriously expect anyone to pay that sort of price (in fact, I don't even particularly want to part with the book, which sets me apart from your average TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) I suppose!) - but on the other hand, if some rich fool wants it badly enough to not bother shopping around and actually offer me a grand for it, then I'll gladly part with it once the cheque's cleared....

[inspector_blakey]

I just had a look at some fares, Penzance to Edinburgh via London Anytime Return is ^500.  Would anyone seriously pay that?  It would be cheaper to get an all line rover.

Firstly, the All Line Rover would not be cheaper if you weren't returning for more than seven days.

Secondly, no, no-one would buy that ticket, because the off-peak return at ^195 has almost no time restrictions: you can't leave KGX between 0645 and 0816 on the outward leg, and can't arrive there before 1020 on the return leg. Those are the only restrictions. Given that the 0505 PNZ-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) doesn't arrive PAD until 1003, I wouldn't exactly call them onerous.

[Zoe]

Would an off peak ticket be valid on the 05:05 from Penzance though as that is a peak train FGW^▸ (First Great Western) train?

[inspector_blakey]

Aah, apologies, I fall on my sword... 

Didn't read all the way to the bottom of restriction 5A. In fact you can't arrive PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) before 1039, so you could have a lie-in until 0541...

[plejaren]

wouldnt it be much cheaper to go via birmingham
may take longer
i mean somebody with the money for that kind of train fare
youd surely think would have a passport to fly
lol

[Zoe]

wouldnt it be much cheaper to go via birmingham

Depends if you want to spend 8 hours on a Voyager.

[plejaren]

but through rough guess from past experience id say its 5 hours give or take 20 min, to paddington
then paddington kings cross (another 15)
then say wait 20 min...
by then its at least 6 hours.....

then how long to edinburgh 4 and a half hours?

so your looking at probably 10 hours going via london

[Zoe]

From Penzance it's over 10 hours via Birmingham.

[moonrakerz]

The point is that it's a bit stupid to offer such an expensive fair when others are available with the same if not more flexibility at a cheaper price.

Guess its a case of you have to start somewhere when pricing something so you can offer cheaper alternatives or do special offers.

That is the main point of a timetable as well - something to base your delays on !

[thetrout]

If someone said to me, go from Penzance to Aberdean and you can fly or take the train...! Train wins everytime, even if it does take over 10 hours to get there

I disapprove of flying, What I like about trains is that you can walk to the ticket office, ask for a ticket, get on the train, and your all set to go

Flying... Thats a different story. You have to go through security where if you make the slightest error like forgetting to declare your laptop and MP3 Player, you get jumped and interogated by 6 Security Guards!

I once returned from Spain where I went on holiday and I had a really stressful flight and was in no fit state to speak to anyone. Get to immigration in Bristol Airport... "Where have you flown from today sir...?" I could not remember In fact, The last 4 hours of stress had completely thrown me and I couldn't remember a thing Hence why I stick to trains However all was resolved and they let me on my way