Booking train tickets online

[CW1]

Hi,
Going to Wembley on Bank Holiday Monday (yay !) and looking to book train tickets online. I've noticed you have to enter specific times to leave and return - are these binding ? Can't say for sure what time we'd be leaving Wembley !
Thanks ...

[boxtops]

I should think they might well be, if they are special offer tickets.

[Postdog]

You have to give a time, it's part of the deal for the price. And if you get on another train you have to pay full fare. Best to allow time for a drink or a coffee after you have done what you have done, and book a later time rather than rush and maybe miss it.

[CW1]

Thanks for speedy reply, boxtops.

They're not special offer tickets. ALL the sites I've looked at are the same bog standard price.
Never done this before - usually turn up at a station when I want - but I'm "assuming" they're cheaper pre booking (?), plus they could get a bit full !

[Canary42]

I think that if you buy "Advance" tickets then yes you must catch the specified train.

Your best bet would probably be Off-peak Day Returns (which you can buy online, or on the day at the ticket office) - I think off-peak applies to the entire day on Bank Holidays.

[Canary42]

... or follow Postdog's advice.

[CW1]

Thanks all.

Am I right in thinking they ARE cheaper pre booking then, to account for the rigidity ?

[Postdog]

Way cheaper. I had to move from london to Rushden near Northampton, so booked to come up and look at houses. My other half paid about £50 because she lost her booking slip ticket (make sure you get that with the ticket!!) whereas booked it cost me £20 odd both ways.

[CW1]

Wow ! Don't mind hanging about for a bit then, as Postdog suggested.
Thanks again

[Buenchico]

While many of my answers in the 'Travel' section owe more to to googling than to personal knowledge, this one definitely falls within my area of personal knowledge. (i used to run a railway station).

My first bit of advice is to avoid all of the so-called discount websites. All that they do is offer you exactly the same fares that you can get through the National Rail website but then they often add a 'booking fee' on top. This is the only link which you should be using:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

My next point is that it might be too late to get any discounted 'Advance' fares for the Bank Holiday. (For the best fares you need to book around 6 weeks in advance. Some rail operators withdraw all discounted tickets on Bank Holidays anyway).

If the tickets you're offered on the National Rail website are described as 'Advance' then you MUST travel on the train service specified on the ticket and, if you're given reserved seats, you MUST occupy those seats only. Otherwise you'll find that ticket inspectors will treat the situation as if you'd boarded the train without any ticket at all. That means that you'd have to pay the maximum standard single fare, possibly with a penalty fare as well.

However if the tickets offered on the National Rail website are 'Off Peak' or 'Standard' fares, they're exactly the same as the the 'walk up' tickets you could have purchased at the station, with the same validity on trains.

Chris

[Bigfellah]

@ Buenchico

You say that " This is the only link which you should be using:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/"

I would suggest using the individual train operator's websites as one can get a far better deal. For example I travel to Edinburgh from london fairly frequently and always use the East Coast web site as it gives a 10% on line booking discount. And booking 6 to 12 weeks in advance does get one a very good deal. But one still has to be shrewd and I have found that buying two singles (one for each direction) possibly three weeks apart offers the best deal.

Good luck CW1.