How to save money while travelling with Greater Anglia

With thousands of people planning to explore the UK this year, there’s never been a better time to try the train. Whether you fancy a day at the beach, a mini break in the countryside or a city getaway to see the sights and hit the shops, there’s a destination for every occasion on our network.
And to help you save money on your tickets, we’ve compiled a handy list of ways to save when you travel:

Buy online

It’s easy to buy a ticket online for our trains and journeys on other networks too.
For the cheapest tickets online, go to the Greater Anglia website. In the top left-hand corner, you’ll see a "Buy tickets" box. Just enter where you’re travelling to and from and follow all the instructions. There is a drop down box to select stations – and options include every station in the UK. You then need to fill in all the details about your journey – how many adults and children are travelling, what time you want to go and if you want to avoid or travel via certain stations, for instance you may wish to avoid going through London. When you press the button marked "Find times and tickets" some discounts, such as Groupsave, are automatically applied.
The fastest journey is selected for you – but you’ll see there’s an option at the end of the grid of tickets to choose a slower journey which may be cheaper. This applies mostly to longer journeys across the country where there are different route options available.
When you’ve selected your journey, you’ll be offered some extras where applicable such as "plus bus tickets" which include bus travel in the price. You can also book some assistance if you need a bit of help getting the train.
Before you check out, you need to choose how you get your ticket. The best and most convenient way is to opt for an e-ticket – which you can either print out or show the PDF on your phone. E-tickets are available on most of our routes where an Advance ticket is offered. Otherwise you can purchase a mobile ticket (m-ticket) for most other ticket types on Greater Anglia. Mobile tickets barcodes that are sent to your phone only and can’t be printed. You can pick up your ticket via a station ticket machine, but you may need to queue and you lose the contact-free advantage of having a digital ticket. If none of these methods are suitable for you, then you can opt to have your tickets sent to you in the post, with a small charge for postage.
Once you’ve chosen everything you want, it’s time to pay. You can set up an account or check out as a "guest".

Download the Greater Anglia app

To save time at the station, buy a ticket on the Greater Anglia app before you travel. Tap the "Plan & Buy" button, select your journey, what sort of ticket you want, how many adults and children are travelling, and the app does the rest for you. Under the "Travel flexibility" option, you’ll see all the different ticket types and prices available for your journey. If you’re travelling with three adults and you’re all going to be sticking together, then make sure you tap "GroupSave" to bag yourself a 1/3 discount. Mostly you can only get e or mobile tickets via the app, with some exceptions - particularly where other operators are involved in the journey. Your tickets can be found in the ticket wallet on the app and if you have a mobile ticket, you just need to activate it when you travel. If it’s an e-ticket, just ensure you have it ready to show on your phone or printed in advance.

Get further discounts with a railcard

There is an "Add Railcards" button both online and on the app. There is a large range of railcards available, most of which give you a third off the cost of your journey – even off the cost of our cheapest Advance tickets. There’s a page on our website which tells you all about the different railcards available and how to get them. If you’re planning on making several journeys, then you’ll get back the cost of the railcard and more in savings.

Other discounts are available

We have a large range of discounted fares available to buy online. You can find out about them on our website. They range from discounts if you’re in a group of three or more (GroupSave), a special London evening out fare if you’re staying overnight in the capital to our Club 50 discount if you’re aged 50 or over.
For the greater value fares, book ahead. By purchasing an Advance ticket available on most longer distance journeys, you’re able to choose the best time to travel at the lowest available fare. Advanced fares start from as little as £6, and the earlier you book, the more you can save. You can also book with confidence , as Advance tickets can now be changed fee free until the end of the 2021, so you know if your plans have to change, you have the reassurance that you can easily change your ticket with now change fees. On our website you can sign up for alerts so you can be the first to know when advance tickets are on sale.

Back to work

If you’re returning to the office a couple of days a week, the Flexi Season ticket is perfect if you need to make regular trips but are not sure when you’ll be travelling. With a Flexi Season ticket, you’ll receive a bundle of 8 day passes for a specific journey to be used in 28 days, giving you the flexibility of an Anytime Day Return with added convenience and savings.

Travel with confidence this summer

Once you’ve bought your ticket you can get on your way. A lot has changed since the start of the pandemic; many of our new trains are now in service. They are longer with more seats and have plug points, free Wi-Fi and air conditioning. Please follow our advice to help us help you to travel safely. We’ve done a lot to make our trains and stations safer, including extensive cleaning and sanitising, and keeping trains as ventilated as possible. The government recommends wearing a mask in busy places including on public transport. You can read more in our Welcome Back blog . We’re looking forward to welcoming you back.