Avanti West Coast offers Birmingham to London for less than a tenner

Avanti West Coast has reduced the price of its Superfare ticket between London and Birmingham route to just £9 for a one-way ticket.

A Superfare ticket allows customers to book their journey for a specific date, and choose to travel in the morning, afternoon, or evening at a cheaper fare, but their exact time of departure will be selected by Avanti West Coast.

With around 24 hours' notice of customers' requirements, Avanti West Coast will allocate them an empty seat on a quieter train, and advise the customer of their reservation details and departure time.

Since the ticket was launched earlier this year on routes to Liverpool, Manchester, Preston and the West Midlands, over 10,000 customers have already taken advantage of the bargain fares. Two thirds of Superfare customers surveyed said they would have not travelled if it was not for Superfare, or would have used a different mode of transport.

Superfare bookings must be made on a separate website at https://avantisuperfare.co.uk, and can be made between seven days and 21 days before travel, but the availability of tickets for a particular route each day will vary.

One-way Superfare ticket prices depend on the destination, and typical prices from London include:

• Birmingham – £9
• Liverpool – £15
• Manchester – £20
• Preston – £22
• Stafford – £12
• Stoke-on-Trent – £14
• Macclesfield – £16
• Stockport – £20
• Wilmslow – £18
• Crewe – £14
• Runcorn – £15
• Warrington Bank Quay – £15
• Wigan North Western – £20
• Lancaster – £25
• Glasgow – £30

In a separate initiative, Avanti West Coast, in partnership with the rail upgrade business Seatfrog, has been carrying out a trial on the Liverpool route that offers customers a chance to bid for an upgrade to Standard Premium at a lower price, with upgrades between London and Birmingham for as little as £11 compared with the normal price of £15.

Standard Premium fares between Manchester or Liverpool and London start at £18 instead of £25, and to Glasgow are just £22 instead of £30.

Customers can bid to upgrade from a Standard ticket to Standard Premium via the Seatfrog app, and successful customers will receive a notification to their device before departure.

Sarah Copley, Commercial Director at Avanti West Coast said: “We're working hard to encourage more people to take the train and the new Superfare ticket on the Birmingham route, at just £9 for over one hundred miles, is great value for money.

“And with a fastest journey time of one hour 17 minutes, the train is the best way to travel between the capital and the West Midlands.”