In message , at 11:50:07 on Sun, 17
Feb 2013, tim..... remarked:

Maybe. I'm finding that it's more and more difficult to buy Advance
tickets [in general, not for Southern] for some times of day, for the
cheapest prices, and if not months in advance.

You didn't look it up on the Southern Web site, did you?

This is Roland's hobby-horse gripe.

He just inserted into this thread for effect

I'm trying to set the OP's expectations when it comes to finding one of
these elusive fares from Gatwick. Too many people (and Colin has
swallowed it hook line and sinker) seem to believe these tickets should
be widely available on most routes, when in practice they aren't.

It's almost a "bait and switch" operation by the ToCs, who insist
whenever fare increases are mentioned that "all you have to do is buy in
Advance", when time and time again that proves futile in practice. And
it's not just because quotas have been sold, increasingly there are
blackout periods where the quota is zero.
--
Roland Perry