Improving LNER app notifications?

[LickeyIncliner]

For the last 2-3 years, I’ve used the LNER mobile phone app for nearly all my ticket purchases, and for buying/storing tickets I’m quite happy with it.

One of the advantages is supposed to be in-journey information sent to my phone as notifications. But most of the notifications I get immediately before and during the trips I’ve booked are unhelpful, ranging from irritatingly useless to thoroughly misleading. A selection of recent examples:

Irritating: telling me my train is delayed leaving Waverley 15 minutes after it was due to depart from there, but just after it has started moving (so if I’ve caught the train I know this already, and if I was late getting to the station it would give me hope of catching it when I’d just missed it).

Unhelpful: telling me the platform and expected departure time of my connecting train at York, which leaves 9 minutes after my scheduled arrival, just after telling me that my train into York is running 75 minutes late (at Northallerton). (And no, it doesn’t give any information at all about alternative connections.)

Misleading: there seems to be a stock message about unreserved seats being in coaches C, E or M which LNER send whenever I’m travelling without a reservation on almost any other operator. This is almost amusing when boarding a two-coach train; but if notifications are intended to help people less familiar with British train travel, this would cause unnecessary concern.

Seriously misleading: telling me less than hour before my train that my “journey is cancelled”, and that I should get a refund, when my planned journey involved three connecting services of which only the middle one (non-LNER) was cancelled. That was concerning because it seemed to imply my entire ticket had been cancelled. As it happened, I’d already spotted the cancelled train (it was due to industrial action and showed up a day or two in advance) and had arranged to set out 20 minutes earlier to make an alternative connection. But if I’d done what the notification suggested I would at the very least have arrived late after buying another (more expensive) ticket for a later service.

I’ve put “improving” in the title of this thread in the hope that LNER will pick up on this rant these kinds of problems and improve the system. In the meantime if anyone can recommend an app that gives more useful and reliable notifications I’d be delighted to hear about it!

 

[Segedunum]

I've noticed recently that it's developed a knack for telling you which platform your train is at...when you're on the train and its already departed.

It never used to do that - the platform info tended to be useful.

 

[800Travel]

I've noticed it only sometimes tells you which zone to go into the platform - it would be more helpful if it always said that, and gave you the option to view it in the app when you've reserved a seat on a service.

 

[kez19]

I would make a small suggestion ( saying this as a leisure traveler), but I wouldn’t mind knowing the train has arrived earlier than planned.

Example: Newcastle to Aberdeen 0847 (I believe it arrives between 0830-0840 it’s already on Platform 2), I don’t think any app I use either says this either other than designated time.

 

[Segedunum]

I would make a small suggestion ( saying this as a leisure traveler), but I wouldn’t mind knowing the train has arrived earlier than planned.

Example: Newcastle to Aberdeen 0847 (I believe it arrives between 0830-0840 it’s already on Platform 2), I don’t think any app I use either says this either other than designated time.

This particular service is scheduled to arrive at 08:34 to allow the 08:42 Lumo service to overtake.

Granted a "your service will arrive at..." notification could include the scheduled arrival time.

 

[kez19]

This particular service is scheduled to arrive at 08:34 to allow the 08:42 Lumo service to overtake.

Granted a "your service will arrive at..." notification could include the scheduled arrival time.

You are right about the Lumo service at that time too, platform 3 I think?

I’m guessing to add its early on arrival there due to possible crew change or pick up from Newcastle (I know it leaves Leeds).

 

[Segedunum]

You are right about the Lumo service at that time too, platform 3 I think?

I’m guessing to add its early on arrival there due to possible crew change or pick up from Newcastle (I know it leaves Leeds).

It used to arrive around 08:40ish but that will have been when it was timed as an HST.

The Lumo service is hot on its heels and arrives at 08:39 so it can't be much later than 08:34 in the timetable.

 

[kez19]

It used to arrive around 08:40ish but that will have been when it was timed as an HST.

The Lumo service is hot on its heels and arrives at 08:39 so it can't be much later than 08:34 in the timetable.

Yet the Lumo one goes straight head followed by the 0847 not long after but it makes sense I guess.

 

[markymark2000]

I sent in this feedback to LNER a while ago about their poor notifications but seemingly that fell on deaf ears. It seems that whoever developed the app forgets that there are other train operators and that LNER does not just sell LNER tickets.

Other issues that I have with the notifications are that it notifies you far too early about the platform. I think I had a notification once about 2 hours before departure and the first problem with that is a lot can change and so the platform should only be notified about 15-30 minutes prior to departure (I've not tried it at Euston, I wonder what the uproar would be though if everyone turned up waving their LNER app at the gateline staff wanting to get access to the platform as LNER announces the platform before the trains do). The other issue is that in 2 hours, people swipe their notifications away and so then it's all meaningless.

Final issue I have is that when the train is delayed by more than a minute, it notifies you. I know people like to know about delays but a minute, really? The best is when you are sat on the train and you get the notification that you are delayed. It seems to forget that the railway runs on 15 second intervals and so a train leaving at 11:23:45, as the train won't be into the next signalling section in time, you get pinged saying the train is delayed by 1 minute. Well, it's not delayed, it's on time, just the train hasn't entered the next signalling section so customer information systems haven't updated.

Best way to describe it is, does anyone remember Farmville on Facebook and they used to send you 300 notifications in an hour, that is what the LNER app is like. It's a shame about how poor the app is as I much prefer booking via LNER for my journeys but someone seems to have had a good idea but it's been extremely poorly executed.