Not sure if anyone else has posted about the ticket sale that has been announced.
I got an email from Trainline about the sale but then in the same time I saw this BBC article
Anyone spotted anything decent or booked anything?
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can announce this in purdah, but can’t announce Crossrail’s opening date…
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It’s a sticking plaster. Regular fares need to be made cheaper for everybody, the sale doesn’t help commuters one bit and they’re the segment that trains need back on them.
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Currently Rail is at 75% revenue recovery and growing every week, so I’d say we aren’t doing too bad.
A lot of that commuter traffic is not coming back. Hence the push for leisure - which the sale is aimed at. Commuter fares already subsidised quite heavily through season tickets. (Not that I don’t think train travel shouldn’t be made cheaper, but this is for leisure primarily). And attracting new users to rail.
But this is for the government to decide to subsidise rail more, which they aren’t going to do anytime soon, trust me - we have asked.
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I bought a day return Birmingham to London today, for next month, for £16.
Was really pleased with that price, then found out that the half price sale had not started when I bought it this morning 
Have not gone back to check if now cheaper as it meaningless and would only rub it in 
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Who still uses Trainline? It charges a booking fee, when all the train operators’ sites don’t.
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They don’t charge if you are buying a ticket for same-day travel. I always use them for business travel because
- You can use Apple Pay
- e-tickets can be added directly from the app into Apple Wallet
- Expense receipts are easily available as a pdf in the app without having to go to the website
I haven’t found any other app which fulfils all of these, plus
- The interface is clear and easy to use
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Not me. I use the train operator websites or apps.
Paying my Avanti West Coast fare with Amex earned me 5% cashback too.
Don’t know whether to save, spend, or invest that 80p
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I think reason why people use Trainline is because of the app. It’s certainly the reason why I use it, for a small fee I am comfortable parting with.
It’s just a slick experience on a mobile device.
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I use cross country. It is close to this not perfect. The apple wallet pass is a link in an email that comes about 2 mins after booking so almost as quick. It takes Apple Pay. And in the email are pdfs of the ticket with the price on which should be good enough for expenses - no VAT on train travel so that is good enough. I used to just take pictures of tickets.
I haven’t had any issues with the LNER app. Easy to add the ticket to Google Pay as well.
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My local TOC has an app where you can only display a ticket when you have mobile signal. Which is great when there is barely any signal between my station and London.
It then regularly crashes which typically happens when you reach the barrier 
So I use the Trainline app so I can add the ticket to apple wallet.
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Also get 2% cashback on LNER journeys booked through the LNER app….
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And I also frequently get 5% cashback offers for LNER through Santander.
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Also with virgin money debit and credit card. Great deal. I’m assuming it’s available with most banks? What about Monzo plus?
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If it’s a QR code, just screenshot the ticket when you buy it. Most tickets also come by email.
Wouldn’t work with mtickets. They need to be activated on the day on your device. Mtickets are also technically only valid within the app, unlike e tickets which can be printed.
Some tocs (cough scotrail) use these stupid mtickets rather than e-tickets for some reason…
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Yup mine are like mtickets. They show the current time and a screenshot wouldn’t work.