Mythical Beast
So today I went hunting for the most mythical of beasts: The cheapest advance fare National Express East Anglia ticket. For those not familiar with this operator (although I suspect all UK train operators are the same), when you log onto the website to buy advance fare tickets it helpfully tells you that you can get the tickets from ‘as low as £6′. This is a special online only price which is never available. Whenever I’ve booked tickets the cheapest has often been £9, but sometimes they’re even more depending what time you want to travel*.
Today, however, I managed to get that very beast. The cheapest of the cheap tickets, and all I had to do was book a ticket 3 months in advance on an off peak service. No doubt I got the only two tickets for that price so everyone else will have to pay the higher price (with the price getting higher and higher the closer you get to the day).
*there is the lunacy of the Monday morning Cromer to Colchester advance fare ticket which is more expensive than a first class ticket bought on the day, and more restrictive since you can only use it on the train you’ve booked it on
NXEA make no sense – a quick look reveals that the currently-published advance fares for Cromer to Cochester are £8, £10, £11, £16, £23, and £34 one-way. A standard day single is £16.60, so why do the top two prices even exist!?!?
Yup – and the £34 ticket is the only option if you’re booking anything less than a week in advance for the Monday 07:40 train from Norwich. Better off buying a single on the Cromer train and you’ve then got the option of hoping on the 7:30 ultra fast if you’re lucky. More options, cheaper and (since Cromer doesn’t have a ticket machine to collect pre bought tickets from) less hassle.