Soaring rail fares across Britain are pushing many towards long car journeys and crowded coaches, but a travel professional has highlighted a completely legitimate method to pay far less for both short and long-distance trips.
The Secret Lies in Splitting Your Ticket
Amy Doherty, a travel expert at Travel by Luxe who regularly shares money-saving advice, says she has found a way to "beat the system" without breaking any rules. The technique is known as train ticket splitting.
"You're essentially buying two or more tickets that cover your whole journey, and bizarrely, this often works out cheaper than buying one straightforward ticket from A to B," Amy explained.
She insists the process is far simpler than many assume. "A few years ago, you had to manually check every stop," she said. "Now, most major booking platforms do it for you. They scan thousands of fare combinations and bring up the cheapest. It's honestly one of the simplest ways to save money on train travel."
Real-World Savings: London to Manchester
To demonstrate, she recently tested the method on the busy London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly route.
"A direct ticket from London to Manchester can easily cost around £90 for a standard single if you book late," Amy noted. "But by splitting the journey at Milton Keynes Central, the price dropped dramatically."
She booked a standard ticket from London to Milton Keynes, and another from Milton Keynes to Manchester. The total came to £65 instead of £90 – a saving of £25 for the exact same journey on the same day.
The First-Class Upgrade Hack
While many use split tickets to cut the basic fare, Amy revealed an even smarter approach: dividing your trip between standard and first class.
"What the booking apps don't always highlight is when you could upgrade part of your trip to first class, and still save money overall," she said. "That's the real magic of this hack."
Using the Manchester example, she detailed her search. "On this route, Milton Keynes offered the perfect balance," she explained. "A standard fare into Milton Keynes can be reasonable, and first-class advance fares from Milton Keynes up to Manchester can be surprisingly low if you book ahead."
In her case, a direct first-class ticket from London to Manchester on the same day was over £150. However, by splitting the fare, she secured a standard-plus-first-class combination for around £80. This represented a total saving of roughly £70, while still allowing her to enjoy first-class comforts for part of the trip.
"This isn't always the case, but it happens more often than people think," Amy added. "British rail pricing is unpredictable at the best of times, and that inconsistency actually creates opportunities."
How to Use the Ticket Splitting Method
Amy outlined a straightforward process for travellers to follow:
- First, check the price of a full first-class ticket for your journey to establish a baseline.
- Next, examine every potential stopping point along the route. Remember to check both express and stopping services if they operate on the line.
- Then, start searching for individual single fares between your start point and each stop, comparing standard and first-class prices for each leg.
Amy says she uses platforms that display both fare classes together, as "it becomes so obvious where the sweet spot is." Once you identify a cheap first-class leg, she advises: "If the numbers work out, book it. You can often treat yourself to a proper comfy ride for less than the cost of a single standard ticket for the whole journey."
Amy also noted that the method can sometimes involve a short wait at a changeover station. For her Manchester trip, she waited about 40 minutes at Milton Keynes because an earlier train was cheaper. "That little pause saved enough money to feel well worth it," she concluded.
