First Class travel in the 21st Century

[CosherB]

But bunching the reservations helps when walk-up passengers - who have paid more join the train as the crew can say the far end of that carriage is all free.

Errr... paid more? Not always!..... Just before I retired I was travelling Wilmslow to Euston and back once a week, on the 06:50 from Wilmslow and didn't know what train I'd need to get for the return journey, so I'd paid full open return fare. Everyone on that train had paid full fare no matter when they bought the ticket - no cheapo tickets available for that peak time train.

CS

 

[me123]

But bunching the reservations helps when walk-up passengers - who have paid more join the train as the crew can say the far end of that carriage is all free.

It does make sense, on long trains even allowing announcers to point out that unreserved seats are towards the rear of the train (although I've never heard this done, it could theoretically be).

 

[vc-10]

First bunch them up as they use the paper ones, and it's easier for the guard to put them in if they're all in one end of a 158 or in only a couple of coaches of the HSTs... On the HSTs, the first class reservations are usually in coach H, the one behind the 43, which means you get a lovely rumble from the MTU engine when accelerating out of a station, and you don't get people wandering through to the buffet car.

 

[djw1981]

It does make sense, on long trains even allowing announcers to point out that unreserved seats are towards the rear of the train (although I've never heard this done, it could theoretically be).

NX often have an unreserved coach and refer you to that coach is you have no reservation. XC do the same - coach B on a 5car IIRC (this gets round the 4car vs 5car issue).

 

[Tom B]

Personally, I don't see a point in FC on a suburban etc service.

However, on a long distance intercity service, absolutely.

Booking in advance makes it very economical too. It was about £1.80 more for me to to Edinburgh to Doncaster, First Class as opposed to second. For that you get peace & quiet, a few free biccies, and extra legroom. I'm quite happy to pay a bit extra for that.

 

[voyagerdude220]

XC do the same - coach B on a 5car IIRC (this gets round the 4car vs 5car issue).

I always refer to Coach B on West Coast Super Voyagers as unreserved, but I once got an offer of a reservation in coach B for the first diversion over the S&C with a SOS, which i wasn't going to buy.- I was just looking at the prices.

I hope that coach B isn't being offered on weekday VWC services, as a few trains each way are booked as 4-car sets, although they aren't set in stone by any means.

 

[Zamracene749]

Just completed another 1st Durham- Banbury return.

Out was a pleasure (taking in the sunday diversions via Tinsley and Long Eaton and the long way around into New street ). No free hot food, just a snack box. Really canny bloke staffing shop though.

The return was on thursday. The main problem as ever on XC was overcrowding. Some people in 1st could not get a seat, never mind the dozens standing in 2nd( sorry 'standard'). Getting to the shop on a packed 5 car voyager was as good as impossible(why is it so far from 1st class?), there was no hot water for drinks and the toilet went technical a couple of times (what is wrong with good old fashioned hinged doors with a bolt!).

On the plus side, the woman doing the the at seat service couldn't have been more charming; in fact most of the staff were pleasant on both journeys. The train was cleaned a few times mid journey too, a nice touch.

Worth a few quid extra? Certainly.
Worth the price of a 1st open? No way- get a limo......

To me 1st class is the minimum level of service that all passengers should get on long distance services- maybe then we could entice people out of cars?
Or should we have three levels? Dirt cheap, cramped no frills coaches for budget travellers, 1st class level for the majority and a small super luxury option for the genuinely well off?

 

[vc-10]

The genuinely well off have chauffeurs...or fly on a Domestic business flight. BA make a huge amount of money on London City-Edinburgh (and they've got about 15 flights each way from Heathrow too!)

 

[CosherB]

The genuinely well off have chauffeurs...or fly on a Domestic business flight. BA make a huge amount of money on London City-Edinburgh (and they've got about 15 flights each way from Heathrow too!)

I'm not sure that's so for routes shorter than London to Scotland, though. Who wants to get stuck on the M6 and M1 in the continuous traffic jams, even if you have a chauffeur? It is not a pleasant experience. Neither is flying, with the extensive security checks and generally being treated like cattle that is the experience of modern air travel.

I gave up on the Manchester - Heathrow shuttle when I was working (I retired in January) in favour of the fast and comfortable first class train - about the same price, much faster door to door (2 hours Wilmslow to Euston), and far more pleasant experience. And I'm a licenced pilot!

But London to Scotland, I'd fly (never in a million years would I drive). Unless, of course, we had a north - south TGV! Ha! Some hope in this country!

CS

 

[me123]

I'm not sure that's so for routes shorter than London to Scotland, though. Who wants to get stuck on the M6 and M1 in the continuous traffic jams, even if you have a chauffeur? It is not a pleasant experience. Neither is flying, with the extensive security checks and generally being treated like cattle that is the experience of modern air travel.

As I've mentioned before, my Dad travels to London a lot. He drives occasionally because he does enjoy it but only if he's got lots of time to spare and that's not very often.

He prefers the train to the plane for Scotland. Whilst the plane is half an hour quicker end-to-end, it's not worth it for the hastle at security. Also, he can take advantage of wifi on the train that is not available on the plane and can get a lot more work done on the way down. It's more comfy and there's fewer changes (he doesn't need to get a train from Euston as he has a hotel near the station). As there's o reasonable air link to Glasgow Intl. he needs a driver or has to pay huge parking fees, which his work does not class as an expense.

You do the maths: it's easier to travel FC train to Scotland.

 

[Tom B]

A friend was travelling from London to Edinburgh. On the way up, they travelled on cheap first class tickets, took 4.5 hours, in a nice quiet coach, with WiFi.

On the way down, they had to get to the airport, an hour on the bus and £1, then faff around with check-in, wait, wait some more, get on the plane, eventually take off, fly, come down, wait for baggage, wait some more, get baggage, then take tube into city centre...

They're taking the train both legs, in future.

 

[voyagerdude220]

That's very good news then

Yet another traveller "sees the light"

 

[vc-10]

The reason I said that people fly from City Airport is that there aren't the typical queues that you get at Heathrow. If you check in online, then it doesn't take long at all. I'm flying up to Edinburgh for a Uni open day because it's so much easier to get to Heathrow than to King's Cross. BA is more expensive, but means that I don't have to stay the night in Edinburgh the day before (saving time and money). To get to King's Cross for a 5:50 departure then I'd have to get up very early. It only takes 20 minutes to get to Heathrow, and that's on a bad day. Check in the night before, and it's fine.

 

[gordonthemoron]

or you could get a sleeper

 

[me123]

In cases like this, I don't really see the problem with air travel. Some poeple need to be in Edinburgh or Glasgow or London really early and in these cases flights are the best way of doing it. What I am opposed to is leisure travellers flying, because it's easy enough to get cheap train tickets nowadays, and business travellers who have the time to train it.

PS: Enjoy the open day; I've been to Edinburgh's twice and both times they've been excellently organised.

PPS: I forgot about the sleeper: if you got a bargain berth it could be cheaper.

 

[vc-10]

Yeah, forgot about that one! Certainly be more fun than an early morning rise to get to Heathrow, and then negotiation of T5...

 

[Tom B]

TIP: When you get to Edinburgh, if you are paying for a bus cash single, buy it from a red street machine. They cost £1 there as opposed to £1.10 on the bus. (Day saver is £2.50 either way.)

 

[vc-10]

I'll be taking a return bus from the Airport to Waverly, as the Uni will have a whole load of students at the station to guide everyone to the Uni itself, but thanks for the advice!

 

[me123]

If you're going to the main campus, it's just a short walk away from the station IIRC. I used the local buses to go to the other sites (the medical school at ERI and King's Buildings for science courses). There's frequent local buses between the three sites and I think the uni runs some as well, but I didn't use them: if you're not going to the main campus, you'd be as well getting the local buses which are cheap.