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Value for money - best and worst First Class

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The DJ

The DJ

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Apologies if there is a similar thread. I did look. If this is the case, a link to said thread would be far more useful than criticism.

I enjoy LNER First Class. I have a First Class booking on LNWR London-Birmingham next week and my expectations are low but couldn't resist the very reasonable fare.
I really enjoy travel by train but lack the budget for anything but journeys for a specific purpose but I am curious about what the various TOC's offer on a First Class ticket
 
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Bletchleyite

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I would say that the best value is provided by Avanti Standard Premium. Excellent seat (best 1st seat in the UK in my view), no gimmicks and an attractive fare/upgrade.

The worst value is LNR, because the seats are inferior to those in Standard in my view, so are not even worth 1p extra.

Anything in an 80x must be fairly low down - the 1st seats are not much better than the awful Standard ones.
 
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TravelDream

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Best value has to be the Premier Service (Gerald) service ran by Transport for Wales.
I haven't been on it since the ATW days so haven't seen the new carriages, but it's comfortable and includes a slap-up three-course meal.
 
Mcr Warrior

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Southern's first class "offering" has often just been an anti-macassar cloth on the seat headrest, and not much else!
 
AlterEgo

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TravelDream said:
Best value has to be the Premier Service (Gerald) service ran by Transport for Wales.
I haven't been on it since the ATW days so haven't seen the new carriages, but it's comfortable and includes a slap-up three-course meal.
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This. It’s hard to get better value than this, because it is subsidised!
 
AlterEgo

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Darandio said:
Is the meal back on TfW? I thought it was still a limited buffet?
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It is indeed back. Saw some great pictures on Twitter this week. Think it’s literally just come back. Get on it!
 
Horizon22

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Worst has to be something like Southern or Southeastern for which you get... a headrest. There's hardly anything that stands out and it doesn't seem to be regularly checked so you get standard class passengers in there anyway.
 
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Jim the Jim

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I got to sit in first class on London Northwestern the other week as it was declassified; it was nice enough but I'm not sure it would have been worth the extra money except perhaps as a better guarantee of a seat! Though the seats were able to recline, if you're into that sort of thing (though I hear this may not be case on all sets).

I've sat in first class on Great Northern once or twice and I'm struggling to remember if there is any difference from standard except for the antimacassars, except again possibly a slightly better chance of not having to stand (and even then I expect the seats would have tended to fill up at peak times pre-covid, and off-peak you can usually get a seat in standard anyway).
 
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swt_passenger

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Horizon22 said:
Worst has to be something like Southern or Southeastern for which you get... a headrest. There's hardly anything that stands out and it doesn't seem to be regularly checked so you get standard class passengers in there anyway.
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You can add most of SWR to that as well. Except the DMUs and they’ll go 2+2 soon…
 
ServerHoster

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Avanti first class can be a bit hit and miss. You get bargain flexible tickets on tickets that AREN'T set by them - eg. return £66 from Crewe (CRE) to Birmingham International (BHI). Set by WM Trains. (note: this is split tickets, splitting at Wolverhampton (WVH))

Another example is Runcorn (RUN) to Llandudno (LLD) - return £35 altogether, set by TfW. (no split tickets here)

Then you get stuff like roughly £100 for an advance *single* from CRE to Euston (EUS) or £130 for an off peak single (restriction code 2C so you can barely use it at a convenient time anyway). Double that price if you actually want to go back to CRE. It's not worth splitting tickets on this route as many trains go nonstop or they only stop at one station (which usually varies depending on the specific train).

I was offered £90 for a Standard Premium advance single from Edinburgh (EDB) to CRE. For two people, with a railcard. However, after some calculations, going via York (YRK) and Manchester Pic (MAN) in First Class with LNER/TPE would actually work out cheaper - at about £105 (that's without a railcard). However, where standard premium isn't that absurdly priced, it's actually good value.

Another reason why Avanti first class isn't good value sometimes because there are 18 first class seats on each Pendolino train (regardless of 9 or 11 car). Voyagers are much more reasonable with 30 seats per 5 carriages or 60 for 10 carriages.
 
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I travel first on EMR, TPE, LNER and Cross Country trains quite a lot, and Avanti, GWR, LNR and Thameslink less often. LNER has a good food selection as does Avanti and the seating is ok, but I find the service slow. EMR, Cross Country and TPE food is Ok but the seating isn’t as good. Virgin West coast was probably the best. The non - intercity services like Thameslink and LNR aren’t much different in First as it is only a bit more space and they are often busy.
 
YorksLad12

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I've used First on LNER a lot over the years, and enjoyed it. Did it once on XC from Newcastle to Leeds, no-one came to give me a brew or suchlike which, when used to whatever the east coast operator was at the time, was a bit of a comedown!

In the Before Times I went from Leeds to Edinburgh. Looking at the costs with TPE and XC for a through train I chose to travel Standard to York (on the train to Edinburgh, ironically!) and change onto an LNER service - better the devil you know, XC would be crowded, TPE catering is sparse compared with even LNER's weekend sandwich offering. They also change catering at Newcastle I discovered, so if you're lucky you can get lunch (or at least some biscuits) twice ;)
 
yorksrob

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Best, EMT/R, HST 1st class without a shadow of a doubt.

Superbly comfortable seating - good meal on weekdays for a very reasonable price.

Oh how I miss it :(

Don't bother with any of the current overpriced rubbish.
 
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Towers

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FGW/GWR refurbished HST first was always high on the list, presumably the sets which passed to Scotrail continue to offer the same superb travelling ambience?
 
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domcoop7

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Virgin West Coast always used to be good value for what you got, especially peak times as you'd be paying only a few quid more than the standard peak tickets for a first class advance (or even cheaper depending on the service and how close to departure it was) but a considerably better ambience than in Standard (which on a Pendolino can be horrible at times) and the free food and drink. This was before Seatfrog though.

On the other hand, as a lad "from the sticks" I recall when I first saw a Southern Region EMU (not slam door) in the late 90s and being shocked that first class was basically the same as a 156! (And thinking who on earth would pay for that, and why?). Don't remember which units they were though.
 
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Wolfie

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Jim the Jim said:
I got to sit in first class on London Northwestern the other week as it was declassified; it was nice enough but I'm not sure it would have been worth the extra money except perhaps as a better guarantee of a seat! Though the seats were able to recline, if you're into that sort of thing (though I hear this may not be case on all sets).

I've sat in first class on Great Northern once or twice and I'm struggling to remember if there is any difference from standard except for the antimacassars, except again possibly a slightly better chance of not having to stand (and even then I expect the seats would have tended to fill up at peak times pre-covid, and off-peak you can usually get a seat in standard anyway).
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Sounds like you were on an unrefurbished 350/4. Those seats, which are 2+1, are being removed.
 
HSP 2

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ServerHoster said:
Another reason why Avanti first class isn't good value sometimes because there are 18 first class seats on each Pendolino train (regardless of 9 or 11 car). Voyagers are much more reasonable with 30 seats per 5 carriages or 60 for 10 carriages.
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Are you sure about the number of first class seats in a Pendolino, I thought that they had 18 seats in the driving coach then 2 or 3 coaches after that with first class seating.

Back to first class seats, I can't comment on the first class seats in the Grand Central 180s, but if the standard seats are anything to go by the first class ones are going to be good.
 
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