Booking Ahead vs Flat-Rate Promotions?
US Americans traveling for a wedding who are fairly new to traveling by rail, so excuse the ignorance! We are going in July, and we don't have a concrete idea for numbers yet on a particular leg of our journey (rendezvous and 'homebase' in Liverpool, heading to Bolton, and then many trips to Manchester in the following days, and then, eventually, up to Blackpool, but always back to Liverpool.) Is it best to book the known travel's tickets now and then book the remainder of the group's later? Or just best to do it ALL later?
We're considering the 4 in 8 Freedom of the Northwest Promotion, but are uneasy about spending +£100 per person, unless it really would save money (flitting spontaneously between the aforementioned cities) and afford us the flexibility that we would most likely need. Does it operate similarly to Germany's Deutschlandticket where the ticket is valid on any of the (participating) rail companies throughout the day?
Or is it more worth it to get the Lancashire Day Ranger Promotion? Basically, I'm asking whether paying for something like this is more worth it because it's a fixed day rate versus being at the whims of the booking and pricing gods in and around the day of action, just because I KNOW that people will be leaving me out to dry until the day of for some of these plans LOL.
Since we're going to be making so many train transfers, do the promotion tickets just make sense anyway? Just in case we miss our connections? Or if the first train runs late and into the time for the following train, is your initial ticket still valid on continued journeys?
Would appreciate some local insight, thank you!
Edit: Forgot to mention that we're staying for 4 days, hence the consideration for the 4 in 8 ticket.