On 23 Jan 2006 17:34:20 -0800, "NW3" wrote:

Currently having a nightmare trying to work out the best fare combo
from Belsize Park to Gatwick Airport, at various times of the day (i.e.
sometimes in the morning peak, sometimes not).

1) The guy at the desk the other day offered to sell me a ticket from
Belsize Park to Gatwick (Thameslink), Cheap Day Rtn for 11 quid -
seemed like a good price, so took it. Is this ticket likely to be
cheaper than Oyster to the NR terminus, and then normal NR CDR etc. to
Gatwick.

It's definitely worth checking.

2) Doing the reverse journey (almost - Gatwick to West Hampstead), the
bloke at LGW gave me a Day Travelcard to R1256 instead of the single.
On the Y-P railcard, it was cheaper than the single to West Hampstead.
Anyway, is there any way to use this sort of travelcard in reverse -
i.e. get it issued at the 'London' end of the journey, and use the
Railcard bit, then the journey to LGW and back, and then the railcard
bit at the end.

The equivalent of this bought at the other end would be an all zones
Travelcard together with a CDR from Boundary Zone 6 to Gatwick.

LU ticket offices do not sell the full range of NR fares so you might
not be able to get the BZ6 ticket at Belsize Park (they definitely do
sell YP discounted ODTCs), but you should be able to get it at the NR
terminus if not.

Any advice on this journey - currently driving me insane (how can
London Bridge to Gatwick have about three different prices for each of
SDS, SDR, SOR...)

Each London Terminals to Gatwick ticket type comes in 4 flavours. In
increasing order of price:

Southern Only
Thameslink Only
Not Gatwick Express
Gatwick Express Only

I don't know whether this also applies to BZ6-Gatwick fares.