How to Book Cheap Train Tickets
In many countries trains present an attractive alternative to air travel. High speed lines provide city-to-city journeys without the need to take a bus or subway to an outlying airport, remove jackets, belts and shoes, and watch anxiously as your precious laptop is removed from its case and passed through the scanner. Rail tickets can be bought online in advance and, as in the case of air travel, the general rule is "the earlier you make the purchase, the lower the fare you pay."
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
Cheap Rail Tickets in the USA
-
1
Call up the Amtrak website on your computer as soon as you have a definite date for travel.
-
2
Enter the starting and finishing point of your journey in the section on the left of the page topped with the words "tickets", "status", "schedules" and "my trips."
-
-
3
Enter the dates on which you wish to travel in the same section.
-
4
Click on the word "Go" to view a list of available trains and the corresponding fares.
-
5
Select your outward and return trains to obtain the total fare.
-
6
Enter the passenger details and select how you would like to receive your tickets. Collecting them at a Quik-Trak kiosk is free.
Cheap Rail Tickets in Great Britain
-
7
Call up the website Qjump on your computer.
-
8
Enter the names of your journey's starting and finishing points. In the case of large cities, there may be more than one railway station listed. Choose the "any" option.
-
9
Decide whether you want a one-way or return ticket. On Qjump, you can also opt for an "open return," which means you pay for the round trip, but don't actually decide when you want to make the return journey.
-
10
Select the time of day at which you wish to travel.
-
11
Enter the number of passengers and click on the button "check fares and availability." You will be presented with all the fares available and the train times on which these fares are valid. These will range from the most inexpensive standard class fares to the most expensive first class fares.
Cheap Rail Tickets on Continental Europe
-
12
Call up the website Seat61.
-
13
Select the country in which you wish to travel from the list on the left side of the page.
-
14
Click on the link provided to buy tickets from the country's rail operator.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If using Qjump to book tickets for British rail travel, you can opt to reserve specific seat numbers at no extra cost.
Qjump and Amtrak both provide a number of ways in which to obtain your tickets. If booking UK rail travel from the USA, a convenient way to collect tickets is at a pre-paid ticket machine on the day of travel. Amtrak also offers this facility at its Quik-Trak kiosk.
In all cases, the earlier you book, the better your chances of obtaining the cheapest tickets that will be valid on more trains.
Rail passes can provide an economic alternative to purchasing individual journey tickets for anyone wishing to enjoy a multi-journey vacation by rail. Full details of rail passes can be obtained on the Seat 61 website.
If you opt to collect tickets booked on Qjump at a pre-paid ticket machine, remember to take your booking reference and payment card with you. Some rail operators in Great Britain require details of both to be entered into the machine before pre-paid tickets are issued.
Amtrak also requires card details and confirmation numbers at its Quik-Trak kiosks. However, if you print out your confirmation, you can scan the barcode at the kiosk as another way of obtaining your ticket.
If you book the cheapest possible rail ticket for travel in Great Britain and miss the train on which you intended to depart, do not board the next service until you are sure the ticket is valid on it.
On some rail services doors are closed as much as a minute before departure, so be at the platform in good time.
References
- Photo Credit man in railway/train station standing beside train image by L. Shat from Fotolia.com
