Rail passengers can book their Christmas travel well in advance this year as LNER has released tickets for train journeys up until January 4.
The operator, which runs trains on the East Coast Mainline connecting Edinburgh, Berwick, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington and York to London, and has launched a new direct route from Middlesbrough to Kings Cross, usually sells advance tickets for journeys no more than three months away, but with a spike in interest this year after 2020's local lockdown Christmas it has decided to put December 2021 and early January 2021 tickets on sale now.
LNER Managing Director David Hornse said: "Over the past couple of months we have seen signs that leisure rail travel is on the rebound, with our long-distance services becoming busier than they have been in the past 18 months.
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“The fact that the number of customers planning journeys on the LNER website is almost equal to that of our pre-pandemic numbers is hugely promising. We’re pleased to see that customers are feeling confident to travel by rail and we’re excited to host people who are looking to explore the East Coast route this winter.
“Whether they are planning to go ice skating in Edinburgh, Christmas shopping in Newcastle, heading to the Christmas Festival in York or seeing the Christmas lights in Leeds there is something for everyone to experience after the disappointment of last Christmas. We hope that our customers can feel secure when making bookings with us and that planning ahead will give them something to look forward to in the coming months.”
An LNER poll found six out of 10 are looking to make travel plans well in advance this year and 68% are looking to make Christmas ‘extra special’, while 47% said they would consider upgrading to First Class on a train this Christmas.
Head to LNER's website to book LNER tickets for Christmas 2021 and early January 2022, and other journeys for the remainder of this year.
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