MichaelB Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 On my next trip to Villa Park we're flying to Manchester. If I go to www.nationalrail.co.uk and search for a train journey from Manchester Airport to New Street Station on Saturday morning, I get a journey where I have to change train in Crewe. The total trip costs £54.40. There's a departure from the airport at 09.01 and arrival in Birmingham at 10.48. If I split the trip in two, the result is different. Still I get a departure from Manchester Airport at 09.01 with arrival in Crewe at 09.39 and that ticket costs £5.90. If I search for the second part of the journey, I get a departure from Crewe at 09.49 and again with arrival in Birmingham at 10.48 and a ticket costs £16. So a total price of £21.90. It's less than half of what it costs if I buy a ticket for the whole trip at once. Am I missing something here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 22 VT Supporter Share Posted January 22 31 minutes ago, MichaelB said: On my next trip to Villa Park we're flying to Manchester. If I go to www.nationalrail.co.uk and search for a train journey from Manchester Airport to New Street Station on Saturday morning, I get a journey where I have to change train in Crewe. The total trip costs £54.40. There's a departure from the airport at 09.01 and arrival in Birmingham at 10.48. If I split the trip in two, the result is different. Still I get a departure from Manchester Airport at 09.01 with arrival in Crewe at 09.39 and that ticket costs £5.90. If I search for the second part of the journey, I get a departure from Crewe at 09.49 and again with arrival in Birmingham at 10.48 and a ticket costs £16. So a total price of £21.90. It's less than half of what it costs if I buy a ticket for the whole trip at once. Am I missing something here? The only thing you're missing is that the trains in this country are a complete joke. So that all sounds entirely normal. I'm pretty sure there's a website that somebody set up that finds all of these little "hacks" and splits longer journeys up into smaller and cheaper segments. So your journey will almost certainly be exactly the same regardless of which of the two ways you book it Obviously double check the dates and stations etc, but yeah that sounds normal 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 I don't know your exact travel dates , but I picked a random Sat late in F eb and Trainline shows it as £20 for a one way ticket , if i move the date out to Sat 16th March its £13.50 so maybe have a play about on their website , it will do ticket splits automatically for you 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomav84 Posted January 23 VT Supporter Share Posted January 23 16 hours ago, Stevo985 said: I'm pretty sure there's a website that somebody set up that finds all of these little "hacks" and splits longer journeys up into smaller and cheaper segments. https://www.splitmyfare.co.uk/ new legislation was brought in to make national rail put this into the trainline but it's still not 100% perfect. @MichaelB the thing i'd be careful of is that the cheap tickets will almost certainly ONLY be for the time of train that you have selected, whereas the more expensive are flexible. and the guards 99% will make you pay the difference if you travel on a different train to that which you booked. just done a quick search, that 9.01 train you mention should cost around £25 one way for fixed time which includes a service fee for the above website so the £21 you mention is about right and i'd proceed with that. the manchester to crewe leg seems to be a special offer which doesn't get factored in when you try to do the journey as a whole on the national rail website 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC_Hitz Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 On 22/01/2024 at 16:24, MichaelB said: On my next trip to Villa Park we're flying to Manchester. If I go to www.nationalrail.co.uk and search for a train journey from Manchester Airport to New Street Station on Saturday morning, I get a journey where I have to change train in Crewe. The total trip costs £54.40. There's a departure from the airport at 09.01 and arrival in Birmingham at 10.48. If I split the trip in two, the result is different. Still I get a departure from Manchester Airport at 09.01 with arrival in Crewe at 09.39 and that ticket costs £5.90. If I search for the second part of the journey, I get a departure from Crewe at 09.49 and again with arrival in Birmingham at 10.48 and a ticket costs £16. So a total price of £21.90. It's less than half of what it costs if I buy a ticket for the whole trip at once. Am I missing something here? No, you're experiencing fare splitting and it's completely normal. What is also completely normal is train fares in the UK are bonkers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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