Ticket Options

Advance tickets are single (one-way) tickets for a specific train, only available to be bought in advance.  If you don't mind being flexible about your travel times, Advance tickets can save you a lot. They are normally our lowest available prices for a given journey. They tend to get snapped up pretty quickly, too, so you're best off booking ahead if you can. 

You can buy Advance tickets for Standard or First Class - we'll allocate your seat when you book. This means you can book Standard Class for your outward journey and First Class for your return journey, and vice versa. (We're helpful like that.) 

Even if you can only travel off-peak on one leg of your journey, you can still save money. Just buy the lowest price single ticket for every stage of your trip. We put Standard and First Advance tickets on sale around 12 weeks before departure.

If you want to be the first to find out when cheap tickets become available, sign up for our ticket alerts service here.

Advance tickets are our cheapest ticket offered. Similar to when you buy an airline ticket, they are linked to a specific train time and seat number, so can't be used for any other train time or journey.

They are the best ticket to buy for your journey because they:

• Are often cheaper* than other tickets
• Always come with a seat reservation
• You can combine different types of single tickets to save money

Save an average of 52%* when you book in advance. Saving on all Advance tickets booked on our website vs buying an Anytime ticket.

Why can't I book as far ahead on your website?

We're still finalising our timetable due to the changes from Coronavirus and some planned engineering works.

Because cheap Advance tickets are linked to a specific train and seat we need to know this before you book (so we don't end up selling you a ticket for a train that won't run).

Other websites may provide Off-Peak or Open tickets but these are typically more expensive and we recommend that you create a Ticket Alert to find out when our Advance tickets are on sale!

Why aren't Advance tickets on sale yet?

We're still finalising our timetable due to the changes from Coronavirus and some planned engineering works.

Because cheap Advance tickets are linked to a specific train and seat we need to know this before you book (so we don't end up selling you a ticket for a train that won't run).

Create a Ticket Alert for Advance tickets

Other websites may provide Off-Peak or Open tickets but these are typically more expensive. We recommend that you create a Ticket Alert to find out when our Advance tickets are on sale. Or you can find out when are tickets will be coming on sale on our Tickets for Future travel page.

Create a Ticket Alert

Our Christmas tickets are now on sale for December and early January. Trains a likely to be busy over the Christmas period, with planned engineering work also taking place.

Plan ahead, buy your ticket early and follow our Christmas travel tips to avoid disappointment.

Christmas tickets and travel tips

An Open Return is a flexible ticket that doesn't make you choose a specific time or date to return. They're valid for one calendar month from the date of the outward journey. There are a few types of Open ticket: 

• Anytime: fully flexible tickets that can be used on peak and off-peak services.
• Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak: fairly flexible tickets that can be used on off-peak services on some journeys.

Tickets are usually sent out within 24 hours of a booking. If you're worried about your tickets or you've still not received them the day before you travel get in touch by email. If you could include your booking reference, it'll really help us out.

Yes. Train tickets can be used by anyone. If that person is collecting tickets from a ticket vending machine, they will need the credit or debit card used to make the booking. This might be a little tricky to work around so bear this in mind when booking. If it helps, you can request that tickets are posted to any UK postal address when you book online.

If you buy an eTicket, once you have loaded the ticket into your Apple or Google Wallet, you can share it with someone else. Alternatively, you can request a PDF to be emailed to you that can be printed.

You can also create Gift e-Vouchers for someone to purchase a train ticket on lner.co.uk. You can find out more about Gift e-Vouchers here.

When you've booked tickets, you'll receive a booking confirmation, this is your receipt. For anyone on business, don't forget there are no VAT charges on train tickets.

On some journeys to the same place there could be two different routes. One might go through London and one might not. If this happens you'll see two or more tickets with the same name but different prices. The difference in price can be because of different journey lengths or times. What normally happens is that cheaper tickets will have more restrictions about how they're used.

If you're buying tickets for the Heathrow Express you'll need to enter the following information during the booking process under ‘Buy a ticket’: 

‘From’ – London Paddington

‘To ‘ – Heathrow Express 

You'll have the option of 4 tickets to choose from. 

Trains go to terminals 1, 2, 3 and 4. The approximate journey times are 15 minutes to Terminals 1, 2 and 3 and 25 minutes to Terminal 4. 

If you are arriving at Heathrow you'll need to switch them around, enter Heathrow in the ‘From’ field and London Paddington in the ‘To’ field. 

To travel to Stansted or Gatwick, all you have to do is type those names into the 'from/to' field.

Children should not travel on their own on an LNER train until they are mature enough to understand the risks involved with rail travel. It is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to make this decision.

LNER staff are unable to provide a chaperone service and if we notice a child travelling on their own and we are worried about their safety we will contact the British Transport Police for assistance.

You'll find some helpful guidance for children travelling alone by the British Transport Police here.

Up to two children, aged 4 years old and under, can travel free of charge with a fare-paying adult. Please bear in mind that as they do not have a ticket or a seat reservation, so on busy trains they will be expected to sit on your lap. You can purchase a childs ticket or Family Return to reserve a seat.

If you're travelling with more than two children under 5 and one adult, you will need to purchase a childs ticket for the additional children,

If your children are aged between 5 and 15 we offer discounted fares which are available on our website.

If you're travelling as two adults and between two and four children, the Family Return ticket might also be a great saving for you and it offers a flexible return ticket, find out more here.

We've got a range of tickets and value–added packages to suit all kinds of journeys. Most tickets fall into one of the following categories: 

1. Advance tickets

2. Off-peak tickets

3. Anytime tickets.

Each one offers a different kind of flexibility as well as First or Standard Class options. Get more info about ticket types, including season tickets, here.

If you're coming in from the North or South to one of the London Thameslink stations (St Pancras International, Farringdon, City Thameslink, London Blackfriars, London Bridge and Elephant & Castle) and want to book a ticket, just select "London Thameslink" as your destination when you book. This way you'll see the full range of fares for your journey.

Yes, you can book tickets on a Caledonian Sleeper service when booking from a desktop or tablet device. However, we can only offer seat (not berth) reservations.

If you want to book a ticket and reserve a berth, you'll need to contact Caledonian Sleeper directly, or you could visit a station. 

Keep in mind that if you buy a flexible or open ticket on our site and want to travel on a Sleeper service, you'll need a reservation. You won't be allowed to board without one.

This depends on the ticket type; flexible tickets can be used on earlier trains providing the earlier train is also within the timings of the ticket purchased. So, for example if you want to travel with a super off-peak ticket you can travel on an earlier train providing it is also a Super off-peak permitted journey. Advance tickets are for the booked train only and if you wish to change to another train using an advance ticket you will have to pay the difference in ticket price. You may also be charged an admin fee.

Flexible tickets are provided to allow customers the option of having the flexibility to travel on multiple trains. They are normally split into three categories: Anytime tickets allowing the customer to travel on any train on the date selected, Off-peak tickets these are valid to be used at Off-Peak times and Super Off-Peak tickets which are valid at Super Off-Peak times.

Most flexible ‘open single tickets’ do allow a break of journey but please check before you travel or at the time of purchase as different ticket types have different terms and conditions attached to them.

This depends on the ticket type; flexible tickets can be used on earlier trains providing the earlier train is also within the timings of the ticket purchased. So, for example if you want to travel with a super off-peak ticket you can travel on an earlier train providing it is also a Super off-peak permitted journey. Advance tickets are for the booked train only and if you wish to change to another train using an advance ticket you will have to pay the difference in ticket price. You may also be charged an admin fee.

Flexible tickets can be booked through multiple different channels including but not limited to; LNER.co.uk, ticket vending machines and at travel centres.