1st class ticket 3rd class service

[Lawman]

Folks,
Saved up my hard earned wages and booked a 1st class ticket for me and my partner on a virgin Glasgow to London service on sat 12 feb.

l have travelled many times in virgin 1st class midweek.l find the staff,service,train and whole journey excellent.

l was however very disapointed with the service at the weekend.My big disapointment was the catering and the pricing within the onboard shop.

moan no 1-why can't virgin operate to the same standard at the weekend as they do midweek, ie hot food,sandwiches served at your table.There was indeed a trolley service and to be fair tea/coffee and crisps available for free......well within the cost of yout fare!.


moan no 2-l was under the impression that if you attended at the onboard shop,if you produced your 1st class ticket you could obtain a packet of sandwiches at no cost.................not true,:cry:the lady behind the counter informed me that you need to buy the sanwiches,oh well if thats the case so be it.

Picked up a ham sandwich,just plain ham.....£3.........anywhere else in the world you'de get a meal deal for that price with crisps/juice.why so expensive:roll:

Then my partner picked an alcoholic drink,cost just under a fiver,it would have cost around £2 in a supermarket:roll:

Bottom line is you may say well buy your stuff from a supermarket before boarding,well fair point however if the onboard shop provided fair prices then most folk would buy from the onboard shop.

l enjoy using virgin,l wish you could get the same level of service at the weekend as you do midweek,cos 1st class tickets are not cheap......to me anyway.

 

[bnm]

Bottom line is you may say well buy your stuff from a supermarket before boarding

You've rather answered your own moan there!

As for the price of the sandwiches then there's a couple of things you have to remember. Firstly the overheads are far greater for onboard catering versus a supermarket and secondly VAT is payable when you buy a sandwich on a train.

You pays your money, you makes your choice. I would hardly call Virgin's weekend 1st class provision 3rd Class.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

The catering is vastly inferior during the weekend with Virgin and they make this very very clear on their website.

Your fault.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Different markets mate: midweek - business travellers, high quality service and food. Weekend: leisure travellers, much more contented on tea/coffee and crisps. as CTR pointed out, this is very clear on their website.

 

[dk1]

Virgin do some very good meal deals on board. I usually buy a well filled BLT which is very nice & not OTT in my opinion at £3.50. Even better when you also get crisps & a hot drink for less than a fiver!!

Trouble with 1st class service is at the weekends the bulk of 1st class punters are on advance & heavilly discount tickets. This is opposed to the high full fare business tickets which are the norm during the week. To be fair to Virgin i understand this as the level of service is clearly printed on-line & in their on-board magazines.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I'm sure the OP will be back on here with another report shortly.
It will be the ocassion when he and partner are only travelling from one station to the next and during that brief 1st class journey, they enjoy an at-table hot snack and drinks without charge. It would be SO unfair.

 

[NSE]

Glad I read this, I'm off to Stafford in First Class next week, although I'm on an advance ticket do I still get the same perks as everyone else? (On Tuesday)
I'll ask here save starting another thread

 

[driver9000]

You could have bought a standard class fare and then upgraded to first class on board for £15 at the weekends saving quite a bit of money. Maybe a thought for next time.

 

[bengolding]

Around 18 months ago, I seem to recall that Virgin did run a trial of complimentary breakfast (as per weekday offering minus the salmon) and sandwiches (excluding alcoholic drinks) on selected weekend services in First Class. I used this quite often, e.g. on the 10:30 to Glasgow on a Sat, and I think they were keen to get more First Class upgrades out of it. However, it ended abruptly after a few months and the weekend offering has reamined the same ever since.

 

[YorkshireRider]

Glad I read this, I'm off to Stafford in First Class next week, although I'm on an advance ticket do I still get the same perks as everyone else? (On Tuesday)
I'll ask here save starting another thread

Yes.

 

[Mojo]

Around 18 months ago, I seem to recall that Virgin did run a trial of complimentary breakfast (as per weekday offering minus the salmon)

Sounds like Virgin were doing everyone a favour there. Don't get me wrong, I love my smoked salmon, but bleurgh... for breakfast. Really???

 

[bnm]

I've had the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on a Bendyleano for breakfast and it was delicious!

 

[laird]

Around 18 months ago, I seem to recall that Virgin did run a trial of complimentary breakfast (as per weekday offering minus the salmon) and sandwiches (excluding alcoholic drinks) on selected weekend services in First Class. I used this quite often, e.g. on the 10:30 to Glasgow on a Sat, and I think they were keen to get more First Class upgrades out of it. However, it ended abruptly after a few months and the weekend offering has reamined the same ever since.

I tried out the version on a Manchester bound train at the time, it wasn't a patch on the weekday service, ultimately it gave first class four tiers of service:
Primo
Weekday
Weekend breakfast
Weekend

That probably was part of its downfall in a way, I got onboard expecting something much more akin to the standard weekday breakfast, instead I got a slice of toast and a bacon roll. It really wasn't up to the standard, although definitely a step in the right direction. It was rather pointed at the time that you got one roll and one slice of toast and that was it. Lots of food was therefore returned unused to the kitchen.

Cetainly the new service was pushed with announcements extolling the benefits of the weekend breakfast for the £15 upgrade price, it was a busy First Class certainly.

Lawman, your memory I think is correct, I seem to recall though it wasn't a sandwich instead they used to give out a "snack box" normally there was a roll, chocolate, fruit bag and a mini-pretzel pack in there. That stopped though when the weekend at seat trolley service came in. Effectively the snack box was the same one used on the Virgin Cross Country route. Other times I would just end up with a drink, fruit and biscuits so at least today's service seems less variable?

It is a shame Virgin can't find a way of giving a strong incentive to travel first class at the weekend based on using the kitchen. I know they don't get the first open ticket sales but in effect they are getting £15 upgrades or standard open tickets which might ultimately lead to those passengers thinking about treating themselves during the week too?

 

[rail-britain]

l was however very disapointed with the service at the weekend.My big disapointment was the catering and the pricing within the onboard shop.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=41377
Advice was previously given; basic service, but you can buy from the shop
For that reason many people take their own food for such journeys...

Although I do agree, £3 for a sandwich is a bit expensive on-board
At weekends I tend to purchase sandwiches and salads from the M&SSF at either Glasgow Central or Euston

Compare that to East Coast, where you (currently) pay for all "food", although also at weekends there is a basic range and little/no hot food