Travel question: Is it cheaper to travel by air than by rail domestically?

Q Can you tell me how it’s possible that looking at a train ticket from Glasgow to London in October is £147 when flying is about one-third of that? Is it because I want to go on Friday and come back on Saturday?

Name withheld

A I am afraid that your experience is just one example of the way that the railways lag behind the airline industry.

On Friday 11 October, returning the following day, easyJet will get me from Glasgow to Luton and back for £58; if Gatwick is easier, then British Airways will happily sell me a ticket for £76 return.

In contrast, Virgin Trains will not offer any trains from Glasgow Central to London Euston beyond 29 September, while LNER cannot currently sell a ticket for departure after the end of June. Trainline, in contrast, will sell tickets for October – but only the standard open off-peak return at a price of £147 plus the £1.50 booking fee (which you would avoid if you buy direct).

It would not, though, be rational to buy an unrestricted ticket in advance. You could get exactly the same fare if you turned up at Glasgow Central station five minutes before any of the London departures on Virgin Trains (all of which, by the way, are classed as off-peak). Instead, hang on for an advance ticket. As you know, the earlier you book, the cheaper. It is just a question of timing.

Virgin Trains says: “Our standard and first-class advance tickets are our cheapest, and released up to 24 weeks before departure.” LNER goes one better, with an early bird ticket alert (bit.ly/LNERearly), which will notify you as soon as your dates are on sale. And if you would prefer not to decide the precise train you want until your departure day, good-value advance tickets are now available up to a couple of hours before departure on both train operators. You won’t find that on the airlines.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder