Travel to London for half the price? The cheap ticket from Manchester to the Capital
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Also worth mentioning that this is not an advance ticket - you'd struggle to even buy it online. You can buy it on the day from the ticket office
i would travel like that too.
so do you get it online then get it from pic
Plus don't forget a railcard discount with the relevant railcard
Yeah, I've used it a few times, but it's impressive how much the machines and websites either pretend it doesn't exist or push you away from it!
Ah, was wondering how you got a single ticket. I usually buy the Chester-Crewe Crewe-Euston tickets separate
Train prices are so labyrinthine in this country - and overpriced; it’s ridiculous!
Thank you for discovering cheap(er) tickets - great video :)
A good idea if you have the time. I've found that in the last few years of travelling around the country trying to tick off every station, I've mostly paid for speed and convenience as I've tried to fit as much as I can into the little free time that I've had. But I was surprised to learn this is ticket can be bought on the day, sounds like a bargain.
I'm starting to learn to slow down, and I'm feeling much better for it!
Very nicely done, Jen. It's worth noting that for the Crewe to Euston bit, check the carriage seats from the outside - sometimes LNWR put a 350/2 on with the 3+2 seat formation as 4 of the 8 cars that train normally is. I've done this myself a few times and if you're happy with a longer travel time (and no catering on board, so take food/drinks with you) then it's good value, and it's a walk on fare so you can buy on the day if you need to.
HI Jen On Sunday 30th April I managed to get an an advance single standard premium on Avanti for £31.40, One hour before departing Manchester. The same ticket on the same train for standard was £55. Onboard they were offering an upgrade to standard premium for an additional cost of £25.
How can you get an ADVANCE ticket ONE HOUR before departure time, in person from a ticket person at a ticket booth?!
Whether you miss the earlier train at Crewe or not, it's still faster than a coach (5-6 hours if you're lucky with traffic) or even driving so it's a win-win!
Even from where I live in Lancashire, using the cheaper LNWR service not only saves money (with a split-ticket at Crewe), but the earliest LNWR service I can use actually arrives in London more than an hour earlier than the earliest Avanti service I'd be able to use with the off-peak ticket!
Never know this ticket existed seems very good value for Money from Manchester to London. I definitely agree LNR definitely Cheaper than Avanti prices even for advance in most cases. Like you say the problem with the LNR Trent Valley service is How busy it can get especially on peak times during the week and weekends. 2 things I should note as the Trent Valley service is one of the ones I use the most is that at Crewe if you’re technical like me and look at OTT signal map the TFW service normally gets priority to leave before the LNR service even if it’s running 5 minutes late normally just as long as it’s not running 30 minutes late you can normally make that connection I don’t mind waiting an hour in Crewe though and grabbing a coffee and watching the trains ect lol. The other thing to note is that there will roughly be an extra 2 carriages of seating from May 21st as LNR are finally getting rid of there ‘first class’ offering. I enjoyed this vlog Jen.
And the London Northwestern trains are so much more comfortable than Avanti. I often do Birmingham- London on LNW - even though it’s slightly slower it’s much better.
Yeah and I have a railcard it’s very worth buying
Living in Crewe, I've made good use of the cheaper LNR tickets to London. When they started diverting the trains to bypass the Stoke section, those trains got even faster and even more worth it. Amusingly, this means that the LNR services (via Trent Valley) are faster than the slowest Avanti service (the ones going via Birmingham).
Fun fact: Manchester to Euston off peak return (TFW and LNR only) is only 20p more than Crewe to Euston (LNR only). How odd.
Also, I feel you about not being a fan of advance tickets. I do use them sometimes, but the off peak and especially super off peak returns between Crewe and London being so cheap, it's not worth the hassle of being set on a specific train.
It’s disgraceful how expensive tickets are these days. And what does the government do? Cut passenger duty for air fares!
I have spent several hours at Crewe after a freight train failed. That was awful! 😢
setting off at 7am is waaayyy too early for me. !
I'd love to spend an hour at crewe, mostly because I love spotting. If I'm honest I wouldn't mind a full day but the constant pendolinos and 350s would get kinda boring
Surprised there was even room on the TFW. Normally get a northern advance on the day for that portion and then LNR for the rest. If you can plan in advance, the LNR singles can start from around £8-10 each way which is an even better saving + northern singles from around £4ish without railcards
Rip off fares have been a feature of the West Coast Main Line ever since Virgin Trains started operating this route in the 1990s
The cheaper fares on the LNR services are obviously very popular as these trains are often very busy when I travel on them
£100+ for a trip to London. That is ridiculous. No wonder people take the car over trains.
Exactly. The government and Avanti are fleecing passengers
Totnes to Paddington fast train minimum £135 off peak standard tickets on the slower Paddington train (off peak) Waterloo £87 to Waterloo with two changes 4 hours but I'd take that
Trains Station 🚉
Living in Nottingham we only have EMR that goes direct to London, so not competition. We can do via Grantham and change for Hull trains or LNER, but its no cheaper for a standard off peak ticket. There shouldn't be monopolies on any of the main lines so you get the option to catch alternatives that may be slower.
Interesting trip I've recently done to Euston.... me being at Long Eaton (Near East Mids Airport), would use the MML to St Pancras (90 mins direct from Long Eaton, or 2 hrs from Nottingham / Derby), however was part rail replacement between Bedford / Luton, limited Thameslink service to St Pancras Low Level, overall talking almost as long as National Express from Nottingham, LNER from Newark / Grantham too expensive, so I went via Tamworth with XC / Avanti West, using split ticketing as I always do, actually worked out at £40 compared to £50 I typically pay with EMR, all for the sake of an extra 30 / 45 mins, so was very pleased with that.
yeah... can’t be more agree and I somehow got a better price.
This won't let me edit my comment below. I had to take a journey from my local station to a small town called Oakham. A through ticket cost around £70. However splitting it twice at Huntingdon (limit of Network Railcard) and again at Peterborough I saved myself around £30.
splitting could involve leaving the station for 8 to 15 minutes then reentering.
Oakham as in rutland Oakham? I have used there as I have family down there
@Sam Sitar at least at Huntingdon they allowed me to stay on the same train
@@SamSitar No it doesn't. It just means you have to take a train that stops at that station.
Hi Jen,
Excellent advisory journey info' for travelling from Manchester to Euston...I would probably do the same for the sake of an hour but then again I don't have to worry about ticket costs as much as I still retain my travel priviledges. I think the way you did the journey was far more interesting. You are quite correct about the connection timings, on this occasion you were lucky with making it in 6 minutes, which shows how fit you are, stamina wise. Official minimum connection times are 7 minutes.
We all love watching you do what you do so well.
Take care,
Jon B.
Oh god, even more passengers using the hourly Trent Valley service. Which has no seat reservations.
TV does need to be half hourly at least tbh
I live overseas (British expat) and the cost of UK trains and the complexity of the fare structures is a real turn off in terms of visiting the UK. Despite the Daily Mail trying to suggest its the lack of tax free shopping its the cost of what is meant be be public transport that catches the eye. Yes there are advanced tickets, but with the sort of restrictions that make it easy for visitors to run afoul of them. Once upon a time I remember UK rail tickets being First Class, Second Class and Cheap Day returns. Turn up and get on the next train. Why does buying a ticket from Heathrow to Weston Super Mare have to be as complicated and seemingly almost as expensive as going from the airport to New York?
Maybe for Heathrow-Weston Super Mare you ought to get the bus to Reading and GWR onwards. There ought be a special transfer bus Heathrow-Reading. Of course it *may* depend on the time of day you travel. Peak hour rail fares Monday-Friday are costly !
@@alexmcwhirter6611 thanks but still the train issue at Reading. Will the flight be on time? How long to get through immigration as my wife is nota UK citizen. What tome bus will you catch. What time at Reading station? So in the end its risky to try to buy a train specific fare. Plus some services are great for luggage and others, sometimes the Bristol Parkeay/TM portion to WSM not. Then there are strikes which could leave you stranded… and some services crowded, not great after a 15 hour set of flights… In the end getting a car service if you sre not on your own isn’t that much more expensive which
is crazy
@@truebrit3578 Yes I understand. Thanks for taking the trouble to clarify matters.
@@truebrit3578 The railair bus from Heathrow to reading runs every 30 minutes. Its really not that big of a faff if you just use google maps.
The high fares are obviously the government wanting railways to fail. If we are going to push modal shift from road to rail, we need to make train journeys so cheap, that car owners decide to leave their cars at home.
Enjoyed this Jen and yep, cheap fares to London easily doable without having to use Avanti. Great vid, have subscribed 😊👍
Done this loads of times to save money and, if you are prepared to put the extra legwork in and can afford the extra travel time, is well worth it.
UK train fares make no sense 😊 the break up of British Rail has made things so complicated and expensive for the consumer.
The split ticketing at Crewe does sound a sensible option, or maybe buy a single from Crewe to Manchester on the Sunday evening? Is there a Northern stopping service which is cheaper but longer or a super-off peak single?
Annoyingly, the Crewe - Euston version of this ticket is the same price - so if you pay anything extra Crewe - Manchester it eats away at the extra value.
On my return journey I did check for a Northern advance, it was an extra £8 and would have only bought me an extra hour in London
You can be surprised at some advances
I was looking at potentially going back from Liverpool to my hometown in Kent. £34 for an advance single with my railcard.
But decided against it because hotels in Liverpool were on the expensive side.
Yes I know it’s impossible for some people to get advances, but it’s worth checking and even if you know where you’re going a few days beforehand
You can be pleasantly surprised
Advances rarely work for me, as I said in the video.
Used off peak service tickets when ever i could. Euston to BM new street. Direct was £102 return. Indirect with one change £15 return.
I know that you must hate me for going on and on about how I love NS here in the Netherlands, but I thought that I would just check for you, for comparison purposes only.
However Manchester-London is about 270km. That is hard to do staying inside the Netherlands, but Maastricht to Groningen is about the same. As the crow flies.
Cost. No discounts, € 29,40
Travel Time; 4hrs 11mins. Including 22mins changing at Utrecht.
So, slower. But much cheaper. There are even discounts that could bring that cost down to €17,64. Of course Manchester-London is a mainline express, whilst Maastricht-Groningen is between 2 minor cities.
And of course whilst technically wheelchair accessible, on these NS trains I would need assistance and portable ramps and would be stuck next to the loo. Not sure what accessibility would be like in the UK.
But interesting to compare.
Nice one Jen.
I travel regularly from Stafford to Euston and much prefer avanti (always book in advance though and use my disabled railcard) over London midland as their wheelchair spots are so exposed I’ve had my shoulder dislocated from people falling on me as it’s so busy and they stop in so many stations.
Great stuff.
That, for sure, is a bargain!!
What happens. If your train to Crewe is late and you miss the tfw train .?
They’re still obliged to get you home, in reality that’ll mean authorisation to get on a non TfW service
Great life hack, thanks!
I've done Manchester to London for £23.00 with 16-25 railcard
Geoff will love this.
Hi Jen, can u buy this as a off peak return in reverse from London to Manchester? Great videos😊 keep up the good work
Yes you can :-)
This is all well and good if Both Londonnorthwesternrailway & TFW are running their trains. Althoough ive found my Journeys are chaper from Lichfield to london than Derby/Burton only issue is i keep getting the commuter spec 3+2 trains, i may be a classy snob but i do prefer an intercity train if posible but at 50 quid more its would be a no for me too.
Excellent video and advice!
Combine it with a railcard, oohhhhhhh
Imagine a full UK rover price
So, Geoff promotes Pret, you promote Costa, who promotes Starbucks and Greggs?
Is it Cheaper / Quicker to go Manchester-Sheffield then the 2hr fast to St Pancras ?
Yet to find on the day options that are cheaper for that route
@@JenOnTheMove yeah, the price for Stockport-Sheffield is stupidly high when Sheffield-London can be advanced at £20 on the right time off peak
Seems cool
Is it possible to do this from Euston to manchester? and if so where do i buy the paper tickets?
Yes, you can get the ticket in reverse too. It's probably easiest to get the ticket from the ticket office - it can be a real pain to find it online
@@JenOnTheMove thanks! i was going to get an avanti to manchester with a 16-17 saver but this is much better, hopefully i can find the tfw ticket online so i dont have to wait the hour!
I'm sad you didn't say Costa Coffee ;)
Could you have bought a TfW single to Crewe and then used a Northern service to get back to Piccadilly? Would that have been cost effective?
It would have added an extra £10-£20 onto the cost for that
@@JenOnTheMove The way fares work the network is just plain daft!
Great Video Jen😀but have to disagree with your comment “Nobody wants to wait in Crewe for an hour” hey Jen! Well I know of a little angel who loves waiting in Crewe for specific trains and she doesn’t even get on them. www.youtube.com/@theangelofcrewe
I did this a while ago, except I had an advance on the LNWR, and then an off-peak return on TfW, which meant I had to do the hour change at Crewe incase I missed my booked train. It probably would've been better to spend a little more to get this ticket to be able to avoid that long change at Crewe.
Honestly, paying a little bit more for flexibility is worth it in my opinion. Which is why I feel that Avanti advance fares are rarely worth it as the most you ever really save is about £10 on a return trip, unless the wind is blowing in the right direction and Jupiter aligns with Mars!
Can you do this ticket from London to Manchester?
Yes, you can buy it in either direction :-)
6:17 - I hate this argument, “get advances”, yes, if you jump through X, Y, Z hoop you can save a little bit, but it misses the point - it shouldn’t cost that much, period.
At least when Dick Turpin robbed you he had the decency to wear a mask. These guys are just blatant. Where dose the money go? Not improving the service, that’s for sure. I’m not sure I’d do the alternative root you did.
A nice yacht in the Bahamas for the people at the top frankly.
How about split ticketing?
Not many good options for that on the Avanti route tbh
Tried this recently, I literally couldn’t get it below £100 despite multiple different ticket options
You do need to buy it from a ticket office to get it easily. Apparantley there are ways of getting it online, bit it's a bit of a faff
Well, I booked an Avanti advance to Wolverhampton in March, for travel a month later, and I got about 20-25 in standard premium each way. Standard was 11.
But I do have a Railcard.
Exactly, you’ve had to book a month in advance, and had to use a railcard which most people don’t have.
As I said in my closing thoughts, advance tickets don’t work for a lot of people
‘sup?- Like it. breathtaking footage! Jenonthemmove. 🙌
It's the same from Sheffield to London. Often have to get from Doncaster to Kings Cross. Managed to get one a few weeks ago for July... £28 return with Hull Trains. Don't know how or why but I'll take it! (Never been on Hull Trains so not sure what it'll be like)
No catering in Standard on Hull Trains, otherwise very good.
awesome video i totally agree with you there i did the same journey from Crewe to London last year & i traveled with LNWR and i also found that LNWR are def cheaper than Avanti even tho LNWR takes over 2 & a half hours but still worth saving the money & the 350s are nicer & have charging ports exept the 350/2 which dont also ive found that taking longer stopping service trains & local trains are cheaper than taking faster express services
I did London Manchester
via Sheffield
paid £21 London -Sheffield on
E M R then £9.50 On EMR to Manchester
And this was after 9am from London
If you keep on editing videos in your videos are we going to see ever deepening levels of 'Jenception'?
Haha I should keep it going!
Brilliant video Jen, that ticket does look as though it's good value for money. :)
Great video Jen unfortunately I live in Cornwall so everything is expensive 😂
Part of the West Coast fare was/is to pay for the electrification, the idea being that people will pay more money for a faster service. Which part makes sense, the alternative view is a faster service attracts more passengers (from road etc) and thus the ticket could be cheaper but the operator revenue higher. Of course it still means we end up with stupid overfull and narrow trains that virgin chose to acquire.
very useful information❤❤❤By the way I know of a train ticket discount if someone is planning to travel in the UK by train, I’d like to share, hope it helps!
Best tell the editorial people at The Guardian. They are always complaining about pricey Avanti Manchester-London tickets ..'. sometimes Guardain reporters have quoted the fully flexible peak rate fare and not even the much lower Avanti off-peak rate !
I live in Manchester now and there are quite a few times when I can still get a discounted train ticket somehow .
hi you editing on a laptop they do my head in so slow they are the power cells are miles better now
you have super points in the video's all the time and no jeff this time HA HA
You can take LNER to Leeds for about £50 return. HOW?
The only issue with this, is you have to spend time in Crewe (sorry).
I was just about to comment on how nice and uncrowded the train was and then you said it got crowded. Good tip, I guess you could also get a coach.....
You can get a coach if you want to lose the will to live 🤣
Now that is a well worth while video, well good, cheer's
And this is why we need ticket offices.
I did this with northern to crewe and 15 minute gap, just in case.
But i recently noticed that east midlands have reduced their prices for midday trains from Sheffield and is the same price as north western. Also the same train time.
And if you're feeling really lazy, you can take a train from manchester to chesterfield and stay on the same platform.
I went back to crewe from london and they provided a 4 packed carriage train with no luggage racks. Leading me to looking for the above alternative.
The LNR service from Crewe has been the only way I been able to afford to get to Euston. Although I usually pay around £61 booking in advance. £45 Crewe-Euston £15 Chester-Crewe. Still a lot cheaper than Avanti though.
I recon you would have that connection about 50% of the time, just a shame it’s not a bit longer. It sums up our railways when you have to find a virtually unknown ticket so save money.
Apparently it used to be a better connection
Yet another fantastic Vlog Jen I’d definitely take the cheaper option any day and take in the scenery down the Trent Valley Line until your next Vlog Jen carry on being awesome keep up the good work take care and stay safe
Jen, thank you so much for posting this video!
Tommorow I'm going to London but when I looked at Avanti it was really expensive!
So because I have watched this video I am going to get a Transport for Wales to Crewe and a LondonNorthWestonRailway direct to London Euston! 😊
It's a shame LNWR doesn't cover Manchester and Preston if you don't mind taking longer to travel then it's worthwhile, be interesting to know what Liverpool prices are to London
Crazy to think as well for advance fares,
Hypothetically looking now for Mon 03 Jul,
Man Picc to Euston at 1115 would be £32.
Man Vic to Kings Cross on the 1120 to Leeds (Northern) is £3.50 and 1315 to Kings Cross is only £25.40 (£28.90, 4 hours though)
Not saying it's a practical route (and saving 2 hrs is worth £3.10)... but still quite a bit ridiculous that its cheaper despite Leeds-Kings Cross being a longer distance
If they’re going London they have to do the walk anyways once it arrives at London
I hate getting somewhere quickly. The Tyne & Wear Metro could have taken me 10 minutes or the bus 20 minutes. I decided to wait 20 minutes for a delayed train and go the wrong way round the Tyneside Loop. Took me an hour and a half including wait times and delays.
At one time we had a nice train Manchester-Peak District-London St Pancras , which had a good speed/fare compromise.
I managed to get to London for 19 pounds with cross country to Stafford and London northwestern to Euston with a half an hr connection
As the video started I knew the route you were talking about. Done it countless times expect that one time I lost the plot and got a coach.
National express does the job so much cheaper
But it does involve spending half of your life on a coach!
@@JenOnTheMove Very true but it’s worth it!
Both Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway are excellent train operators with some affordable train prices to travel on from Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston. I use Greater Anglia and c2c because I live in Essex and I do travel into Central London and their prices are also affordable.
I would strongly disagree that Avanti offer affordable train prices.
Totally agree. Greater Anglia do rise their prices when the new timetable is introduced and I have on their new trains (Class 720, Class 745 and Class 755) which are very nice. 😊
Do you work for/are paid by Avanti? You comment is ridiculous. Bring back Virgin.
@@JenOnTheMove I just find it amazing prices in the UK.
Not that i agree with it, but i can travel up to 1000km on any PT option without advance fares for GPB 4.93 a weekday or GBP 3.59 on weekends. (1000km is approximately the longest that you can do in a day and return to your destination)
Totally agree 😊
Why TFW specifically from Manchester to Crewe?
The ticket is "TfW, LNWR and WMR Only"
@@JenOnTheMove So there is no alternative route?
You’d have to pay extra to travel on a different operator
Thanks Jen. I used to live in Manchester and commute to London occasionally but now, luckily, I'm not even in the UK any more! It's still great to see your content though.
How was the seat comfort aboard the trains you used? That's a big factor these days for a relatively long journey. In the past I've avoided "local" trains for that reason but as the express services get less bearable it's a much better option. The class 800 used on LNER (Azuma) and Great Western are horrendous and I'd gladly pay EXTRA for a stopping service, even with a change of trains - IF it was more comfortable.
The seats left me completely unmoved. Which in the context of a seat, is exactly what you want. If you notice a seat, then it's probably bad!
Incidentally, the seats on board refurbished Pendolinos are AWFUL, another reason to use this ticket!
Great video
The only justification that I can see for paying the Avanti fare is if you have to commute to Manchester first. If I wanted to use this ticket to get to London for 10:30, I would have to get my first train at 05:00, which isn't really justifiable
If you wanted to arrive in Euston before 1129 on an Avanti, you'd have to pay the Anytime price of £369.40. Which is considerably more ridiculous than the off peak fare
@JenOnTheMove something I don't understand now with Avanti is the "Premium Standard" - are they running an airline or a train service?
It's also really bad value for money. £25 extra to just have a bigger seat.
Amazing, much better than the £100 normal off-peak return, but one question, can you get it from London to Manchester too?
Yes, yes you can 🙂
@@JenOnTheMove Wonderful, that'll make it much easier to get Manchester! Thanks!
The InterCity West Coast franchise service, which should be the alternative (or only option to) flying, for 100 quid return - I wonder, how much flying costs.
Considering they cut the domestic flight taxes recently, I would extend the question towards what flying costs now and what it cost before the tax cuts (in comparison to the railway options of course).
Okay, so this example is almost 5 years old, but: 2 adults flying from Birmingham Airport to Edinburgh (journey time approx 2-3 hours) in August 2018 cost the same for returns as taking the train from Coventry to Edinburgh Waverley (journey time approx 5-6 hours).
British Airways, Manchester to Heathrow - £102 return, so actually £1.90 cheaper, though you do have to consider the cost of getting to/from the airports.
Why not try the Avanti Superfare, it costs only 20 pounds
At £20 each way, it would only work out £10 cheaper overall than using this ticket, _and_ you get tied to a specific time train - IMO that's poor value
@@JenOnTheMove so when you book, they will give you a specific timed train?
This specific ticket is valid on any TfW, LNW or WMR service - it's far more flexible than the Avanti Superfares where you won't even know what train your on until the day before