Thanks @Yorkie . This shows the savings you made in a very clear way.

The vast majority who ask for advice are not looking for 1st class fares. 2nd class has a much higher range of discounted rates on many railways.

At a simple glance it is obvious you have not listed the lowest fares available for certain journeys. For example the price you give for London - Leeds is nowhere near the cheapest available tickets for that route, even in 1st class. The lowest tier of 1st class advance is €48.30, the availability of any given fare is not predictable without an actual search at the time of asking.

You seem unable to understand that other people may not want to travel the way you do and the method chosen by you for yourself is not a template for how every one else needs to travel.

I will continue to advise people to consult regular fares when I believe there is a reasonable chance they may provide a cheaper solution for their needs.

You also have a bit of a-tipical journey compared to most newbees-understandable, after all you´re moreorless a pro in train travel. If one sees the endless monotonous listings of these newbees-with mostly just 1 trip/day to reach next famous city, it is very understandable that main forums like tripadvsior-esp for the difficult to organise countries like FR and ES-all advice to simply use fixed booked advance tickets.

But well done-must have kept you busy in the quiet days before 1/1. And all the best for 2023

I am not suggesting that people should not either advise to check prices or to buy a pass whatever. The example simply shows the spreadsheet I used to do that comparison for a real trip.

I did consider pricing second class but my journey was first class and, where possible I chose the specific trains I travelled on ( or their nearest equivalent). The prices are all from reputable sites - usually the operator’s own site.

As for LNER the prices I quoted were the cheapest available on LNER for the peak time trains we travelled on and these prices are genuine. Yes if I wanted to wait till late in the evening I could buy cheaper tickets, but the pass allowed me to travel on first available train after arrival, which was at 1630 and did not need pre-reserving but we did that at the station to avoid the risk of standing.

Obviously every pass user has to do their own research, but many either do not have our knowledge of trainline, Omio, OBB, D Bahn……….

Dare I even suggest some, like me, simply want a one-off purchase of a travel pass with a lot of flexibility and don’t really care about a relatively small saving and hugely increased level of stress - I arrive for low cost flights at least 2 hours early. 

So yes I could have chosen different trains to save a little more and I could have costed second class but that isn’t how I planned my journeys. I planned the trains that most closely matched my travel plans and on that occasion I got first class for the second class price, but now would always get a first class pass (The savings are fantastic compared with buying flexible first class tickets and the space is brilliant).

I accept that my preferences do not suit all for many reasons, but my reading of the various forums is there are many newbies now replacing fly/stay holidays and cruising (often costing £1000+) but they do want flexibility and comfort with travelling adventure. They are happy to work with a single pass price (+ a few reservation fees) rather than have a mass of different tickets and the always present risk of needing a large reserve fund for itinerary glitches (not at the fault of the operator). 

And yes we had to adjust our train a few times to handle late, missed and broken down trains and simply transferred to alternatives with no need to bother harassed station staff - just added to pass and away we went.

Thanks for your reply but I do not see my journey as atypical of a pass user - but accept the specific details were specific to my needs on that journey. We travelled between popular destinations over Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium and Eurostar and a regrettably shortened second journey from Nice to home (We were planning Nice - Venice - Vienna - Prague with flights each end). Many travel days were single trains or natural connections from A to B.

Because I am very familiar with timetables and planners (and spreadsheets) it actually only took a couple of hours this morning to do the comparison, but I suspect most newbies would struggle to do this in days.

Yorkie, I find this overview very helpful.  I have the exact same feeling, even if it were a little more expensive.  I also choose first class.  With the flexibility of interrail, it is even possible to adjust the journey/destination to the upcoming weather forecast! Thank you very much!