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What's the point of a railcard?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Home, Law & Money
Ok, for some reason, you can't book advance singles with a railcard. So with my railcard, I think I pay £32 or so for a return to Leicester and back. The only singles available are 'super saver' which cost a ridiculous £24.

Without it, I can buy two singles for £11 each (advanced saver A or something).

I'm well annoyed, waste of money really isn't it?

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My railcard has saved me a fortune.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    But buying advanced single tickets saves you loads of money, but they don't let you but them if you've got a railcard. I suspect if you try to do it over the phone though, and then say after 'I've got a railcard' that it might go through. I can't imagine a red faced operator saying 'sorry, they're sold out now'.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ShyBoy wrote:
    But buying advanced single tickets saves you loads of money, but they don't let you but them if you've got a railcard. I suspect if you try to do it over the phone though, and then say after 'I've got a railcard' that it might go through. I can't imagine a red faced operator saying 'sorry, they're sold out now'.
    Can't you just not tell them you have one?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    VinylVicky wrote:
    Can't you just not tell them you have one?

    yea, but my point is ive paid out £20 to get cheap fares and they exclude me from the ultra cheap fares. :(
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    When I had a railcard I found it was pretty useful. One time when we went to good old Edinburgh from Leicester it was cheaper to buy the railcard and get tickets with it than just to buy the tickets alone.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Railcards are wonderful things for loads of journeys.

    The sites that tell you about fares are fairly stupid things. If you tell them you've got a railcard then they assume you want to use it, so will only give you fares that can be discounted. Like you've learnt some of the limited avaliablity restricted cheap fares are cheaper than a normal fare with a railcard discount, so you're better off getting one of those. BUT the site can't work this out, so like you've learnt it's worth checking the non railcard fares too.
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    JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    Both Midland Mainline and Virgin allow railcard discounts on advanced fares.

    However this an allocation of railcard discount fares and an allocation of non-railcard discount fares so it is possible that the railcard discount allocation has sold out for the dates you wish to travel.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    dude you know way too much about trains.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Senor Miguel wrote:
    dude you know way too much about trains.

    I was jsut about to say something similar!

    Thanks JsT, so if I book ultra early I should be ok? Will be coming home in 5 weeks for a friends birthday.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you boook in advance you will be fine.

    Railcards are exempt from some advance purchase tickets (they are operator-specific and operators don't have to give discounts) but on most fares you will get a railcard discount of 1/3. As JsT says, both of the intercity operators in the Leicester area offer railcard discounts on AP tickets.

    What's wrong with knowing about trains? It's a good thing to know about. Like I know I can get four days travel between Carlisle in the north and Chester in the south for £35...cheaper than a return.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Senor Miguel wrote:
    dude you know way too much about trains.
    If I ever get stuck in the arse end of nowhere, it will be James I will be phoning to get me home again, put it that way.
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    JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    Senor Miguel wrote:
    dude you know way too much about trains.
    a) I have previously applied to work on the railways
    b) I will be applying to work on the railways in the future (as part of uni work placement), so will kind of need to know for that
    c) I travel a lot - you tend to pick these things up.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    JsT wrote:
    a) I have previously applied to work on the railways
    b) I will be applying to work on the railways in the future (as part of uni work placement), so will kind of need to know for that
    c) I travel a lot - you tend to pick these things up.

    Good points, plus its really useful! I dont know the first thing about trains, aapart from like, how to catch them haha, and if I ever wanna know about train times/cheap fares I always ask James, hes like the messiah of train travel. yeeeah.
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