How to get a discount on Stansted Express train tickets

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• Concerto says:

  22 Feb22 February 09:55

  Any recommendations on coach services? I’ve never used Stansted as a destination airport for London, considering it too far away and costly to get to.

  • sarahluv says:

    22 Feb22 February 10:13

    National Express from Liverpool Street is £8. They also run from Stratford.

    • CV3V says:

      22 Feb22 February 13:32

      Ive used National Express from Stansted to Stratford, nice quick drive down the motorway. Then at Stratford you can take your pic of train services to where you need to get to.

  • Rob says:

    22 Feb22 February 11:58

    More Londoners now live East of Tower Bridge than live West of it …

  • Neil says:

    22 Feb22 February 15:01

    Whatever you do , dont choose the terravision coaches, they left me stranded in stratford as their coaches didnt show up. When i googled them i found they had been barred from Stansted earlier in the year but were still running services to a long stay car park nearby. I ended up paying for a new ticket on national express and filed a successful paypal claim against terravision.

  • nerd. says:

    22 Feb22 February 17:55

    National Express also go to Finchley Road, Golders Green and Victoria if that’s any better.

  • Red says:

    23 Feb23 February 08:56

    Just be aware the standard ticket is for a specific coach. If your flight is delayed they may not allow you to travel on the next coach and ask you to buy a new ticket. Saying that the staff seem fairly nice at the airport coach station so if there was space on the next coach I would imagine they would let you on.

    You can buy a flexible ticket for £5 extra, but that puts it at a similar price to the train.

• bob mcbob says:

  22 Feb22 February 10:51

  A ticket to Elsenham is valid and will save you a load on the expensive airport fare.

  • harry says:

    22 Feb22 February 13:04

    £6 each way cheapest

    good spot

    do all Elsenham trains stop at Stansted?

    • Rob says:

      22 Feb22 February 15:20

      If there are gates at Stansted, the ticket shouldn’t, in theory, let you out. Gatwick was the same (may still be) if you bought a ticket to one station further down.

      • Genghis says:

        22 Feb22 February 15:32

        Are you sure Raffles? The line is a National Rail line and terms and conditions for both anytime and off peak tickets state that you can do a ‘break of journey’.

        • Rob says:

          22 Feb22 February 16:04

          There are reasons why everyone doesn’t do this. I also doubt you’d get back through the gate with a ticket starting in Elsenham.

        • James S says:

          22 Feb22 February 17:02

          You can break a journey from London to Elsneham. However, you MUST buy a anytime single not a super off peak day single. Prices have got more expensive since I did it a few years ago but cheapest way is Tottenham Hale to Elsneham Anytime Day Single for 14.80 (9.75 with railcard).
          Break of journey is permitted under the national rail conditions of carriage and is perfectly permitted tactic.

    • Andrew says:

      22 Feb22 February 15:59

      There aren’t any trains which go London-Stansted-Elsenham so I’d be surprised if you were allowed to do this. It’s not so much breaking a journey as going a completely different route. Having said that there are plenty of special exceptions on railway tickets but I’d want to see it written down before trying it.

      • Daniel says:

        22 Feb22 February 18:51

        It’s a permitted route shown in the national rail routing guide. Whilst there are no direct services via Stansted, there are services from Stansted to Elsenham, which makes it a legitimate route for those starting their journeys south of the airport. For once I’m afraid Raffles is wrong – provided you have an anytime ticket, for which break of journey is permitted on both portions as per the NRCoC, the gates will open as it is perfectly valid – you are permitted to leave at Stansted Airport Station.

        • harry says:

          22 Feb22 February 19:45

          oh right – that sounds like it would work London —> Elsenham —> Stansted

          but for Elsenham (starting at Stansted)—> London, you go north Stansted —> Elsenham, then south Elsenham —> London? I guess the reverse would not work

        • Genghis says:

          22 Feb22 February 21:48

          From London you’d buy a ticket to Elsenham but ‘break’ (stop) your journey at Stansted. For the reverse if you’ve already bought tickets, you ‘broke’ your journey at Stansted and then head to London.

        • friendofbiffin says:

          23 Feb23 February 19:32

          I couldn’t find any Stansted to Elsenham services when I skimmed through the timetable. There are plenty of Stansted to Audley End trains though and Stansted Airport shows up as a legit interchange station when you search for a Tottenham to Audley End journey. The off-peak return price is £25.40 for Tottenham to Audley End, compared to an Anytime return price of £30 from Tottenham to Stansted. That’s not a bad saving.

• Sarah Murray says:

  22 Feb22 February 22:33

  There are no automatic gates at Stansted train station, sometimes human checks though.

  It’s worth pointing out that one Network Railcard costs about £30 and gets a 34% discount for up to 4 people of any age (subject to time restrictions).

• CheapTrains says:

  24 Feb24 February 20:07

  Advance tickets from Stansted Airport to Rugby and Coventry via London are available for around £11.
  I believe travelling “short” (i.e. ending your journey in London) is illegal but unlikely that this could be enforced once you get off the train at Tottenham Hale or Liverpool Street…

  • harry says:

    24 Feb24 February 20:24

    It wouldn’t be criminally illegal. It might – just possibly – leave you open to a fine from the railco – but I doubt it – and they would have to prove a lot of things, eg that when you broke your journey you had no intention of resuming it.

• Tim Millea says:

  12 Mar12 March 11:35

  I am at Stansted and can confirm that a non Standard Express FIrst Class ticket was sufficient to grant access to Fast Track security. The chap on duty actually didn’t have a good look at the ticket and seemed to let be by on the bsis thhat I clearly thought I was entitled to Fast Track.

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