Tips on getting the best Advance ticket deal

For journeys between East Anglia and London and beyond, up to 12 Advance fare levels (six First Class and six Standard Class, each with a different price point) may be available.

All Advance tickets are sold as Single (one-way) tickets, so you will be able to search for the best deal on either leg of your journey.

• Be flexible with your travel times - you'll be more likely to get the best available prices.
• Attractive fares like these get snapped up, so you'll need to book ahead to have the best chance of getting the tickets you want.
• The very best prices will be available if you can travel towards London during the middle of the day/afternoon or mid/late evening. From London, fares between mid-morning and early afternoon, or in the mid to late evening, tend to be cheapest.  On weekdays, Advance fares tend to be most expensive on trains arriving in London before 10:00 or leaving there between around 16:00 to 19:00.
• It will nearly always be cheaper to book an Advance ticket than an Anytime ticket.
• Advance tickets are sold for trains you select and in many cases come with a free seat reservation. Travel is only available on the selected train. You must travel on the service you selected and, where applicable, in your reserved seat, otherwise your ticket will not be valid and you will have to pay the cost of an Anytime or Off-Peak travel ticket.
• Advance tickets must be booked before 18:00 on the day before you travel.
• If you search for Advance tickets and only see a limited range of mostly full-price off-peak tickets, particularly at weekends or on Bank Holidays, this probably will be because there is engineering work on the main line from London to Norwich.  Even though we always ensure that a full range of Advance tickets is available on days when engineering work is taking place, Advance tickets may not be shown in your search results.  This is because the booking system defaults to show the quickest journeys, which may be by other routes or other train companies' services where Greater Anglia Advance tickets are not valid.   This occurs mainly with journeys between London and Norwich and beyond, in either direction.
  
  To ensure that the full range of trains offering Advance tickets is shown, please click on "Advanced Search" at the bottom of the red "Buy Tickets" box on the home page.  On the booking page, enter your journey details as usual in steps 1 and 2.  In Step 3 , in the box that says "Go Via or Avoid", select "Go Via" from the drop-down menu, and enter "Ipswich" in the box.  "Ipswich Station" should appear - select this and then click "Check Fares and Availabilty".  The full train service via the main line will then be shown with Advance tickets bookable subject to the usual availability.

Please go to our online booking engine to check current Advance fares.