GWR rewards scheme

Wed 9 Apr, 08:07

I recently travelled to Birmingham (anytime return) returning next day and the face price was ~£110, splitting at Pershore (still both tickets anytime return) halved the price to ~£55 return.

Tue 8 Apr, 22:35

Yes, that's what I often do - there's no afternoon peak on the Marylebone line.

Or you can use the time to have a meal in London. For less than the price of a discounted Supersaver return a month I've joined a London club just a short walk from Paddington where I can eat, drink and use the laptop in comfort while waiting for the evening peak to end .. or indeed where I can stay the night if I've been on the razzle. It beats trudging up Crawborough in the small hours!

Tue 8 Apr, 22:05

I appreciate all this. Another complication is that I might have to come back via Marylebone, as the restriction code basically bars any sensible return via Paddington between 16:23 and 18:57 inclusive. I'm not quite sure of my afternoon plans at the moment though.

Tue 8 Apr, 06:57 (last edited on Tue 8 Apr, 09:38)

It's Charlbury to Reading that's cheap, not Reading to London .. which is almost as much as Oxford to London. I've never found that it makes sense to split London tickets there, but it's often a good splitting point for Guildford or the south coast.

From Reading to London, the Elizabeth Line and GWR are usually very similar, or indeed identical, in price and even the slow route to Waterloo is very little cheaper.

But it's so stupid that those of us who are poor, or just mean like me, have to spend time tracking these things down. It would be simplicity itself for the fares database to automate it for us and always offer the cheapest combination.

[edited to add:  Steve J is right, though, that it can make sense to split peak-time tickets to London at Reading]

Mon 7 Apr, 19:14

Steve, There has been a double band -- savers and supersavers -- on the return to Paddington for a long time, but the supersavers were very hard to find on the Charlbury ticket machine.

From Reading GWR is now competing with the Elizabeth Line which might be one reason for the discrepancy in price. 

Mon 7 Apr, 11:23 (last edited on Mon 7 Apr, 13:01)

On the subject of split ticketing, I have just gone through the process as I have to be in London by about 11:00 am on a weekday, and I note that the cheapest Paddington returns departing at 09:11 and 10:10 are £55.00 (before any railcard discounts). The returns from the 11:13 departure onwards are £45.70.

The same is not true for a return to Reading. There is no "penalty" for the 09:11 and 10:10 departures as it remains at £18:00. This therefore looks like something that is specifically targeted to reduce the number of people travelling on the first two "cheap" trains to London from Charlbury (and, presumably, other departure points on the Cotswold line).

I don't recall there being two different bands for the cheaper returns. Is this fairly new, or have I just missed it previously?

In any event, I've now just bought a cheap return to Oxford (£8.70 before railcard discounts) which is valid from 09:11 and a cheap return from Oxford to Paddington (£36.00 before railcards).

I am not up to John's level of sophistication in almost everything, including it seems exploiting the Byzantine world of UK train ticket pricing.

Thus, for travelling on the same train departing at 09:11, instead of £55.00 it will be £44.70, so a saving of £9.30. With my railcard the total drops to £29.70, although the split ticket saving is reduced to £7.70.

The 09:11 is, of course, a hellish train to travel on as I doubt that GWR's attempts to reduce the use of the 09:11 and 10:10 departures to London will make any significant difference.

Wed 2 Apr, 04:15

Man at ticket office: "I'd like to buy a return ticket, please."

Ticket clerk: "Where to?"

Man: "Here, of course."

Wed 2 Apr, 04:12 (last edited on Wed 2 Apr, 04:22)

Yes, I use train-splitting whenever possible .. finding the splits on Trainline and then buying the tickets through (fee-free) GWR. I'm travelling from Bognor to Torquay (for the CAMRA conference) next week for less than £25 thanks to train-split advance tickets.

If you're not in a hurry, and being retired I rarely am, then changing trains at Oxford means that you can use an Advance single to Marylebone for less than £10, and often for just £3.65 (all prices with Senior Railcard.)

I often don't know exactly when I'll want to come back from London, in which case I travel there by a known-time train for less than £10 as above (ordinary-single to Oxford and then advance-single to Marylebone) and for my return home buy a SuperSaver return from Paddington, which gives me a trip back to London the next time for just £1.20 (the difference in price between the Supersaver single & return), or for less than £10 again if you include the cost of the first journey.

An added bonus is that those Supersaver returns from Charlbury to London (or vice-versa, as above) cost £30.40 .. just above the £30 spend needed to accrue GWR reward points. And just for joining the Reward scheme you get 40% off a ticket (Cornwall here I come!) and a free hot drink .. so what's not to like?

Mon 31 Mar, 13:02

In March most GWR rail fares increased by around 4.6% and the price of railcards increased by £5. 

The Rewards Scheme might benefit some travellers (including Season Ticket holders) who book direct with GWR, but it's always worth checking an individual fare on trainsplit.com or splitticketing.com. Other split ticketing sites also available, and it's entirely legal as long as you check what trains and routes you can legally use.

I recently saved just over £9 on a Super Saver return ticket to Paddington from Charlbury with trainsplit, and had a choice of trains that I could legally travel on. I did not need to change trains, or get off and on the same train. Had the train been very full, I might have needed to move to a different reserved seat at Reading on the way out. Split ticketing offers much more flexibility than Advance Fares.

Mon 31 Mar, 11:08

This has restarted:  www.gwr.com/rewards