LNER Simpler Fares Update – Phase 2a

The Simpler Fares pilot, which started in January 2024, sees often-complicated Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak fares removed and the introduction of a new, widely available Semi-Flexible fare.

Research shows more than a third of people are put off from travelling by rail because of confusion around fares. To help make customer journeys simpler, the Simpler Fares pilot includes three fares in both First Class and Standard:

• Fixed: The best value fares, only valid for the booked service(s) stated on the ticket.
• Semi-Flexible: A new ‘70min Flex’ fare allowing customers to travel as booked or start their journey up to 70 minutes earlier or later, travelling with LNER for the main leg of their journey. The 70min Flex may not always be shown alongside the Fixed fare.
• Fully Flexible: Valid for travel at any time of day.

Originally introduced for travel between London King’s Cross and Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed, and Edinburgh, the pilot was extended in August 2024 to include smaller, intermediate stations, served by other train operators such as Northern, CrossCountry, and TransPennine Express, making fares simplification a reality for more journeys and customers.

Now, in the planned next stage of the pilot, 27 stations around London will be added, including stations between London King’s Cross and Stevenage. As part of this planned stage, LNER has been working with Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Transport for London (TfL) to make sure that the new Semi-Flexible fare is available for connections using their services where applicable.

This means that the pilot fares will now be available for most journeys between the stations in the north from previous phases, including Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Edinburgh, and surrounding areas, and the stations in the south introduced in this latest phase, where an LNER service is the main part of a journey.

Other journeys between origin or destination stations not included in the pilot will see no changes made to the ticket types available.

This important next step is designed to more closely resemble a vision for long distance fares simplification and enables LNER to capture much richer learnings to consider for the future.

During the two-year trial, LNER is continuing to gather and review feedback from customers and industry partners to understand more about how the changes are working for customers, while ensuring a wide range of affordable tickets are available across the pilot routes.

Simpler Fares tickets for the latest phase of the pilot are available to purchase from Sunday 10 August 2025 for travel from Sunday 7 September 2025.