Save on fares and railcards.
Some articles on the blog contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund the blog. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or the blog’s independence. Read more here.
Ticket discounts
Some regular offers will get you money off your train ticket, and I’ll share the best here.
LNER: £5 credit
Sign up to LNER’s Perks scheme and you’ll get £5 credit. You can use this for bookings made on the app. You’ll also be able to earn 2% credit back on bookings. The credit can only be spent on LNER journeys.
TrainPal: £3 credit
Sign up to the TrainPal app with the code acf0edfd to get £3 credit to use on tickets. This will be in the form of a £1 off £15 or more ticket and £2 off £35. You can only use one credit per ticket purchase and it will expire after two weeks.
Ticket sales
Flash sales and offers run throughout the year on different rail networks here in the UK and sometimes overseas too. I’ll list the best ones below.
Eurostar: £78 returns
You can book return fares from London to Paris, Brussels, Lille or Rotterdam for £39 each way, making a return possible for just £78. This seems to be a regular offer, with the viable travel dates extending every few months. Limited availability at weekends and there are some excluded dates. While reduced fares last.
Northern Rail: £1 flash sale (expired)
You can buy tickets from 50p for travel on Northern between 17 January and 10 March 2023. Child tickets start at 25p.
The sale launched on 10 January and runs until 13 January or while the allocation of five million tickets lasts.
Prices and availability can vary by journey. If a low price doesn’t show on your route and you need to change, try breaking it down into separate journeys.
GWR: 50% off sale (expired)
GWR is running a Great Getaway Sale until 17 January for journeys before 31 March 2023. There are 150,000 seats available.
Get the best of Andy’s money saving content every Thursday, straight to your inbox
Get a £17 Quidco bonus (new members only). More details
Get the best of Andy’s money saving content every Thursday, straight to your inbox
+ Get a £17 Quidco bonus (new members only). More details
Railcard offers
Rail cards are valid for 12 months and should save you a third on most fares if you fit the criteria. You’ll also soon be able to have a digital version of your card on your phone. Most will cost you £30.
Railcards include:
- Friends & Family Railcard
- 16-17 Saver (from 20th August)
- 18-25 Railcard
- 26-30 Railcard
- NetworkRailcard (South East trains only)
- Disabled Persons Railcard
- Senior Railcard
- Two Together Railcard
Offers to save more run regularly through the year, and I’ll update here if I spot any.
Tesco Clubcard: Two-thirds off railcards
Or, even better, you can get any railcard for a third of the price if you have Tesco Clubcard points. You need £10 worth of points to get this or any other railcard in full, though you can part pay with vouchers. From 14 June 2023 this reduces to 50% off.
Trainline: 20% off digital railcards
Trainline is offering 20% off digital railcards. It’s a decent deal but sadly less than previous offers of 33%.
You need to enter the code 20ISPLENTY at checkout.
Ends 9 July 2023.
TrainPal: 15% off railcards
The app TrainPal is offering discounts on one and three-year digital railcards that amount to around 15% off.
A one-year card will cost £25 rather than £30.
You first need to register with the add (use code acf0edfd to get £3 credit – more details on this further up the page). Then activate the railcard offer, which I found on the home page. There are only 1,000 available at these prices, so it might not last too long.
Note that the LNER £5 credit can only be used on LNER journeys. However, it can still be worth booking journeys with other operators through LNER if you have a credit/debit card with a rewards scheme attached (many of them do) – Barclaycard Cashback Rewards, Natwest Rewards, Lloyds Everyday Offers etc – as they often have cashback on tickets booked through LNER for journeys with any operator. I just got 8% cashback for a journey with Southern for using my Natwest debit card to pay for it.