Leeds trains: Northern brings back 12-week booking window for cheapest tickets by popular demand

The new features significantly increases the booking window for Advance Purchase tickets and comes after high demand from rail passengers who want to plan their journeys further in advance of their trips.

It comes into effect on Friday, August 23, when tickets as far ahead as Friday, November 15 will be available to purchase at the cheapest rate.

Advance Purchase tickets offers train passengers up to 65 percent off the standard ticket price and are currently available on select routes across Northern’s railway network, and tickets are cheaper the further in advance they are purchased.

The 12-week booking window was last available before the Covid-19 pandemic when strict travel restrictions came into effect. Since then, they have only been available as far as six weeks ahead of the travel date.

Mark Powles, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “We’ve listened to our customers and are reinstating the 12-week booking period.

“Advance Purchase tickets offer great low fares to places all across our network and we hope this decision will encourage people to use the train to get out and explore the region.” 

The train operator added that the decision to reinstate the extended booking window is part of an industry move to “provide more certainty to customers and enable them to plan further in advance”.