Cheap Day Return

I've used Cheap Day Return tickets from London, but I don't like having to determine in advance when I want to return to London. Is there anything similar which is bookable with an open return? That doesn't seem to be an option when purchasing rail tickets online from nationalrail.co.uk, where prices are often annotated "valid on this service only."

"Cheap Day Return" tickets no longer exist - it sounds as if you are looking at 'Advance' fares on the ticketing website, you need to look for 'Off Peak', which will be valid on various, but not all services. There may, depending on the route, be an Off Peak Day Return, which is the equivalent to the old Cheap Day Return.

If you give more details we can try from this end, to see what fares should be available.

I went to the National Rail website and looked for "Cheapest fare finder".

This took me here - http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/farefinder/search

Fill in the boxes and tick the "All Day" box for the return journey. This will give you the cheapest options. Note that sometimes it's cheaper to buy two singles than a return.

"Cheap Day Return" tickets no longer exist - it sounds as if you are looking at 'Advance' fares on the ticketing website, you need to look for 'Off Peak', which will be valid on various, but not all services. There may, depending on the route, be an Off Peak Day Return, which is the equivalent to the old Cheap Day Return.

 

If you give more details we can try from this end, to see what fares should be available.

I followed Bob++'s link and found an Advance fare on my route (which is probably fairly local to Cotswold Eagle, being PAD-MIM) for 12 July. However, the fare is annotated: "This fare is only valid on the train(s) specified," which does not meet my needs.

I am not looking for the cheapest fare, I am looking for the cheapest fare with a flexible return. I know that I have done this in the past with Cheap Day Returns, but it is certainly possible that such a ticket no longer exists. But if it does, I would appreciate someone pointing me in its direction.

** After writing this, I went back to the website to look for Off-peak fares, but none are available for this routing, or possibly for any Great Western train. **

On the booking tickets page of the First Great Western website where you key in your journey details you will see the box Are You Returning - click yes (tick) and then underneath you should see the option for an Open Return which you should click. Then this will take you to a page where you can select your outward train but keep your return flexible.

Prices are coming up between £39 and £49 (return flexible.) Check the info in case there are any restrictions as there sometimes are. Hope this helps.

There appears to be a sale on at the moment on First Great Western but not sure if this helps you in this route or not.

I followed Bob++'s link and found an Advance fare on my route (which is probably fairly local to Cotswold Eagle, being PAD-MIM) for 12 July. However, the fare is annotated: "This fare is only valid on the train(s) specified," which does not meet my needs.

 

I am not looking for the cheapest fare, I am looking for the cheapest fare with a flexible return. I know that I have done this in the past with Cheap Day Returns, but it is certainly possible that such a ticket no longer exists. But if it does, I would appreciate someone pointing me in its direction.

 

** After writing this, I went back to the website to look for Off-peak fares, but none are available for this routing, or possibly for any Great Western train. **

I travel this route 2 or 3 times a week and Off Peaks are most certainly available - it is possible you are leaving too early in the morning? There are three classes of non-Advance fare for this journey - Anytime, Off Peak and Super Off Peak (which confusingly appears under Off Peak). Depending on timings, as mentioned earlier, two singles may be better - what are your approximate times?

On the booking tickets page of the First Great Western website where you key in your journey details you will see the box Are You Returning - click yes (tick) and then underneath you should see the option for an Open Return which you should click. Then this will take you to a page where you can select your outward train but keep your return flexible.

Prices are coming up between £39 and £49 (return flexible.) Check the info in case there are any restrictions as there sometimes are. Hope this helps.

There appears to be a sale on at the moment on First Great Western but not sure if this helps you in this route or not.

Yes, those are the Super Off Peak and Off Peak fares - the Super obviously has more restrictive timings.

I am not looking for the cheapest fare, I am looking for the cheapest fare with a flexible return. I know that I have done this in the past with Cheap Day Returns, but it is certainly possible that such a ticket no longer exists. But if it does, I would appreciate someone pointing me in its direction.

Do the search. Then scroll down below the results to the panel that allows more options. Click on the "Show the cheapest" line, which opens up specific ticket type options. Then untick the box for Advance fares, and click "Update" to run the search again.

 

 

Thanks Globaliser, that did the job. Lesson learned is that one should not use the Cheap Fare Finder if flexibility is the issue, but just click on Go. The "More Options" panels don't show up using the Cheap Fare Finder link, they are only available on the more general Journey Planner. Thanks to all who contributed.

I'll avoid commenting on period returns (ie returning on a different day), which I presume is what rsquare is planning, because the whole ticketing/pricing system has had me foxed ever since the railways were privatised back in nineteen hundred & something. All way too complex.

But I don't understand the Eagle's reference to there no longer being any cheap day-returns.

Merely a change of wording, Eagle?

Certainly on many routes a same-day return ticket costs the same as or little more than a one-way ticket, though there are often limitations.

For example

- a one-way Southampton to Salisbury ticket costs £9.30. There's no period return - for a return on a different day you buy a one-way ticket for each journey at a total cost of £18.60.

- but a same-day return ticket costs just £10.50 (or £11.70 for early out-bound train).

BTW, for a day-return ticket there's no need to specify the return time - the ticket is good for any return on the same day.

But I did see that the £43.30 cost of a day return ticket for Southampton to London Waterloo (arriving at Waterloo after 10am) now also applies to a return on a different day. Since it's the period return ticket now costing less, rather than the day return costing more, that has to be a plus.

Did I get that right?

Please be gentle with me ;), like the OP I find the ticket choices & limitations ridiculously complicated.

JB :)

John Bull: I'll avoid commenting on period returns (ie returning on a different day), which I presume is what rsquare is planning,...

(Sorry, quote functionality not working, so it's DIY for quotes) No, actually what I am planning is a day trip out of London, but I don't want to be committed to a particular train for returning. That happened to me three years ago, when I went to a small city [which shall stay nameless] to see a restored house of architectural and artistic interest. I arrived around noon, and had a 7-ish return on my cheap day return (eg, a return ticket costing £1 more than a one-way) assuming that I would stay, wander around the town after seeing the house, and have dinner before catching the train back. I finished at the house around three, and saw all that I wanted to see of the city by 4, when it was way too early for dinner. For the privilege of returning early to London, I was charged a full one-way fare.

John Bull: BTW, for a day-return ticket there's no need to specify the return time - the ticket is good for any return on the same day.

Would that it were so. When I tried to price a cheap return on Great Western (called there an Advanced ticket), I had to specify a return train and this was annotated "This fare is only valid on the train(s) specified." Only if I am willing to pay more for an off-peak ticket (could this be what you are calling a day-return ticket?) do I get the same-day open return that I am seeking. At least, that is my current understanding, but if anyone knows different, please tell me how to do it.

John Bull: BTW, for a day-return ticket there's no need to specify the return time - the ticket is good for any return on the same day.

Would that it were so. When I tried to price a cheap return on Great Western (called there an Advanced ticket), I had to specify a return train and this was annotated "This fare is only valid on the train(s) specified." Only if I am willing to pay more for an off-peak ticket (could this be what you are calling a day-return ticket?) do I get the same-day open return that I am seeking. At least, that is my current understanding, but if anyone knows different, please tell me how to do it.

But the "day return" terminology seems to have been done away with, as far as I can see. As I said before, all you need to do is to buy the cheapest ticket valid for your desired date and times, after you have excluded the Advance fares by unticking that box. Everything else is not tied to a specific train, although off-peak fares (if available) are obviously only valid during off-peak periods.

I grapple with this almost daily - and I have my own chart of ticket validities on this particular route, as the peak/off-peak/super off peak restrictions and applicability of a railcard mean there are many, many variations on what the fare is! On this route the day return was abolished when they brought in Advance fares and peak restrictions out of London as well, all in the name of customer service, of course :mad: It caused quite a stir, because it was an effective 85% rise on some journeys.

So, yes a bit of terminology, but not completely. No tickets are labelled "Cheap" anything anymore. Some TOCs on some routings offer an Off Peak Day Return, for example Chiltern OXP-MYB, which is my alternate and now favoured way to the Smoke (despite a 45 minute drive). That is equivalent to what was a Cheap Day Return. But on the route the OP is travelling there are no day returns, only the period returns, which can be used on the same day, of course.

Of course, Advance tickets are singles, so you need to find two to make a cheap return....

So to finally try to answer the OP's actual question...assuming this is a week day.

Fortunately, there are no peak restrictions in the afternoon or evening travelling back from MIM. So your ticket will be priced according to the timing of the train you take from London:

Before 0821 you will need an Anytime Return - £70.20

On the 0821 or 0921 you will need an Off Peak Return - £49

On the 1022 and any train after it (until mid-afternoon, anyway - peak restrictions kick in again on the 1522) you can have a Super Off Peak Return £39.20

All of those tickets will allow you to travel back on any train you choose in the afternoon or evening of the same day.

I grapple with this almost daily - and I have my own chart of ticket validities on this particular route, as the peak/off-peak/super off peak restrictions and applicability of a railcard mean there are many, many variations on what the fare is! On this route the day return was abolished when they brought in Advance fares and peak restrictions out of London as well, all in the name of customer service, of course :mad: It caused quite a stir, because it was an effective 85% rise on some journeys.

 

So, yes a bit of terminology, but not completely. No tickets are labelled "Cheap" anything anymore. Some TOCs on some routings offer an Off Peak Day Return, for example Chiltern OXP-MYB, which is my alternate and now favoured way to the Smoke (despite a 45 minute drive). That is equivalent to what was a Cheap Day Return. But on the route the OP is travelling there are no day returns, only the period returns, which can be used on the same day, of course.

 

Of course, Advance tickets are singles, so you need to find two to make a cheap return....

Thanks for the explanation.

On some routes, like the Southampton/Salisbury one, the "day return" has been replaced by a "period return" for the same discounted price.

That's good.

Same appears to apply to Southampton to London Waterloo, although there has always been a restriction on the time of outbound travel (typically restricted to trains which arrive in London after 10am).

That's good too.

But on some routes, such as Bath to London, the restriction on having to use the ticket for a return on the same day but at any time, has been replaced by an off-peak return for similar money on any day, but at restricted times.

That's not so good.

But it does seem to make sense, because the return times for those discounted tickets block out commuter times, when some routes are heavily subscribed.

I don't entirely understand the timetables' references to "this service only", because the total cost remains the same whichever of the discounted train times I select.

Is that poor phraseology?

Or is the passenger committed to a specific train time rather than any train during that cheaper period? No mention of that on https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/travel-by-train/off-peak-day-returns

My head hurts. :(

Puts me off the whole railway system. :eek:

From now on I'll avoid all threads about train fares, same as I do with threads about Oyster cards ;)

JB :)

Looking at the search the OP probably did, because Advance tickets were available the planner defaulted to the '2 Singles' tab to show the cheapest fare - these of course are 'valid this service only'.

Clicking on the 'Returns' tab shows the Off Peaks etc and these are accompanied by a very useful 'Other services....' link instead, showing on which trains the particular tickets are valid.

Looking at the search the OP probably did, because Advance tickets were available the planner defaulted to the '2 Singles' tab to show the cheapest fare - these of course are 'valid this service only'.

 

Clicking on the 'Returns' tab shows the Off Peaks etc and these are accompanied by a very useful 'Other services....' link instead, showing on which trains the particular tickets are valid.

Thanks for that, but most of it went over my head :o

I'll stick to driving. ;)

JB :)

;)

This thread can be summed up as, "there are no Cheap Day Returns anymore, but it is possible to get various cheap day returns".

On these tickets - is there any advantage to booking early? If the OP just turns up at Paddington at around 10am, would he not be offered the same deal?

On these tickets - is there any advantage to booking early? If the OP just turns up at Paddington at around 10am, would he not be offered the same deal?

You are quite right and I meant to mention it earlier - as the OP does not want the restrictions that come with an Advance fare, all the options are walk-up fares and can be bought at the same price right up until immediately before the train departs.

;)

 

This thread can be summed up as, "there are no Cheap Day Returns anymore, but it is possible to get various cheap day returns".

Good. :)

Glad that's sorted. :)

Got to go now, nurse says I've got to get back into bed & take my medicines :D

JB :)

Bob++ and Cotswold Eagle, very helpful to know that I need not make this decision now; and to John Bull, I sympathize with your confusion - and you're a local, and I'm 3,000 miles away!