Upgrading to First / Standard Premium Avanti

[Deerfold]

I may be missing something obvious, but is it possible to upgrade in advance of travel with Avanti if you haven't booked with them? The website suggests you can upgrade but when I click on their link it just takes me to the booking engine.

 

[yorkie]

The standalone standard premium upgrade fares are available on board, subject to availability.

I don't think there is a first class upgrade product as such, but you could pay the excess, if the original fare is a walk-up fare, but this would be extremely expensive.

 

[Watershed]

Once you've bought a ticket your upgrade options prior to boarding are as follows:

• If you have an Advance, change it to a Standard Premium or First Advance for the same train. There should be no admin fee according to the internal industry guidance since you are only changing the class of travel and not the journey, but I suspect most retailers still apply the usual £10 admin fee (if they charge a fee - not all do). If you have a walk-up ticket then you would simply obtain a refund and buy a new ticket as appropriate.
• Obtain an excess to the applicable first class walk-up fare at a ticket office. This is likely to be extremely expensive as Avanti's first class walk-up fares are very dear.
• Bid for an upgrade through the SeatFrog app, or pay the "buy now" price (which is usually a similar price to the above excess, but with a £3 "platform fee" added on).

The first or third options are likely to be the best value.

 

[Furrball]

Standard Premium upgrades are now available via Seatfrog in addition to the long standing First Class ones

 

[yorkie]

Standard Premium upgrades are available via Seatfrog

Also, bear in mind Seatfrog implement unlawful 'drip pricing'; an additional amount will be charged, erroneously, on top of the upgrade fare.

Anyone unlawfully charged the additional amount can claim it back, however this could be a time consuming and difficult process; I kno a few people who are evidencing all such charges and waiting until they reach a reasonable sum before putting in a claim.

 

[Furrball]

The platform.fee is now shown on the page when selecting a service and also on the bidding page

 

[yorkie]

The platform.fee is now shown on the page when selecting a service and also on the bidding page

It needs to be in the headline price, but there is a dedicated thread at:

ORR publish review of online retailer fee transparency ('drip pricing')

The ORR have today published a review into how online retailers present fees (such as booking fees, share of saving/finder fees and fulfilment fees) to consumers. We reviewed the general information provided on retailers’ websites and apps about fees and purchased tickets through desktop...

www.railforums.co.uk

(As the thread hasn't had any recent posts, it may be automatically locked, in which case if anyone wants to add anything new, feel free to submit a report)

 

[MrJeeves]

Standard Premium upgrades are now available via Seatfrog in addition to the long standing First Class ones

These have been available for at least a year, or maybe longer. The trouble is that (until recently) you had to scroll up on the list of services to see the First/SP toggle as it'd be off-screen by default! Good to see that's been resolved, though upgrade prices may increase as a result...

 

[Trackman]

Standard Premium upgrades are now available via Seatfrog in addition to the long standing First Class ones

Well I never. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[Deerfold]

Once you've bought a ticket your upgrade options prior to boarding are as follows:

• If you have an Advance, change it to a Standard Premium or First Advance for the same train. There should be no admin fee according to the internal industry guidance since you are only changing the class of travel and not the journey, but I suspect most retailers still apply the usual £10 admin fee (if they charge a fee - not all do). If you have a walk-up ticket then you would simply obtain a refund and buy a new ticket as appropriate.

My question was how to do that. I assumed Avanti would sell a Weekend upgrade.

• Obtain an excess to the applicable first class walk-up fare at a ticket office. This is likely to be extremely expensive as Avanti's first class walk-up fares are very dear.
• Bid for an upgrade through the SeatFrog app, or pay the "buy now" price (which is usually a similar price to the above excess, but with a £3 "platform fee" added on).

They'd run out at Seatfrog.

The first or third options are likely to be the best value.

Thanks.

 

[Huntergreed]

On this point, I’m doing Euston - Carlisle next month, splitting my ticket at Coventry (but on the same train throughout).

Can I buy just a single upgrade on Seatfrog or do I have to buy 2 as I’m splitting the ticket?

 

[MrJeeves]

Can I buy just a single upgrade on Seatfrog or do I have to buy 2 as I’m splitting the ticket?

I've never had an issue with just the one upgrade.

 

[Cantab26]

On this point, I’m doing Euston - Carlisle next month, splitting my ticket at Coventry (but on the same train throughout).

Can I buy just a single upgrade on Seatfrog or do I have to buy 2 as I’m splitting the ticket?

I've never had an issue with just the one upgrade.

Same here: never had an issue using one upgrade with multiple tickets on Avanti, TPE and CrossCountry

 

[Lost property]

As a normal who formerly used train travel quite extensively, but, no longer does due to the abysmal service / unreliability and costs (even with a railcard) I did use the Standard Premium service last year. I couldn't book on line though as Avanti wanted me to open an account. No problem, I just went to my local station and booked an Advance rtn on the first possible date. However, this was booked by the usual uncooperative station staff who kindly, I discovered when I went home and checked the seating plan, booked me into the very Standard seats I had specifically asked not to be allocated.

Contrast and compare. On the day, I asked which carriage was for SP....a finger grudgingly pointed at one. Thereafter, when the guard came along, a quick swipe of the card, and £25 later, I enjoyed the ride to Glasgow Central...and then to Gourock.

Coming back, I "endured" the queue at Glasgow Central, a non event, station staff very helpful and communicative, and, repeat upgrade on board. Not interested in the fripperies and being fawned over in First, so yes, in this instance, the fare was reasonable and the train comfortable and on time.

 

[Watershed]

My question was how to do that.

The same way as you change the date and time of an Advance. Which retailer did you buy your Advance from?

I assumed Avanti would sell a Weekend upgrade.

Avanti no longer sells Weekend upgrades.

Your onboard options are either paying the full fare difference to first class or the supplement to Standard Premium (which is available every day of the week at the same price - except on a handful of weekday peak trains which don't offer SP at all),

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's worth noting that "if you have a walk up you apply for a refund and repurchase" isn't quite correct unless you want to switch from walk-up to Advance. There are no SP walk-up tickets at all, not even Anytime. The walk-up option for SP is to buy a Standard ticket and an upgrade. This does have the annoying effect of not being able to reserve a seat in SP (curiously Virgin did used to sell walk ups with reserved weekend upgrades online!)

 

[Deerfold]

Avanti no longer sells Weekend upgrades.

Thanks. As someone who was familiar with those upgrades, their webpage inviting people to upgrade doesn't make it at all clear that the only way to do that is by buying a new ticket and refunding the old one.

Standard Premium and First Class Upgrades | Avanti West Coast

Upgrade your journey with Avanti West Coast. Travel in style with premium ticket upgrades for extra comfort and luxury on your UK rail adventure.

www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk

Your onboard options are either paying the full fare difference to first class or the supplement to Standard Premium (which is available every day of the week at the same price - except on a handful of weekday peak trains which don't offer SP at all),

How do you pay that supplement to Standard Premium? That's the question I'm trying to answer. Is this just available onboard?

Their website could certainly be more helpful - I'd have upgraded on board if it had been a reasonable price. But without knowing what the price would be I didn't want to start off sitting in Standard Premium.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thanks. As someone who was familiar with those upgrades, their webpage inviting people to upgrade doesn't make it at all clear that the only way to do that is by buying a new ticket and refunding the old one.

Weekend First no longer exists, but Standard Premium upgrades do (all week).

How do you pay that supplement to Standard Premium? That's the question I'm trying to answer. Is this just available onboard?

Yes. If you want to know the costs, look it up on brfares.com for the specific journey you are making.

 

[Watershed]

Thanks. As someone who was familiar with those upgrades, their webpage inviting people to upgrade doesn't make it at all clear that the only way to do that is by buying a new ticket and refunding the old one.

Standard Premium and First Class Upgrades | Avanti West Coast

Upgrade your journey with Avanti West Coast. Travel in style with premium ticket upgrades for extra comfort and luxury on your UK rail adventure.

www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk

Yes, that page largely seems to envisage you "upgrading" by buying a SP/First ticket rather than a Standard one in the first place.

How do you pay that supplement to Standard Premium? That's the question I'm trying to answer. Is this just available onboard?

You just pay the Train Manager onboard the train - that's the easiest way of upgrading to SP. The only advantages of buying it in advance are that you can guarantee getting a SP seat (though it's rare for none to be available) and that you get a Railcard discount on the supplement if you buy a SP Advance ticket.

Their website could certainly be more helpful - I'd have upgraded on board if it had been a reasonable price. But without knowing what the price would be I didn't want to start off sitting in Standard Premium.

Agreed. But BR Fares shows the prices; it varies from just a couple of pounds for short journeys, to £35 for the longest journeys (London to Carlisle and north thereof).

 

[Bletchleyite]

You just pay the Train Manager onboard the train - that's the easiest way of upgrading to SP. The only advantages of buying it in advance are that you can guarantee getting a SP seat (though it's rare for none to be available)

More common than it used to be now the 11-cars have had a 1st coach converted to Standard.

 

[Deerfold]

Yes, that page largely seems to envisage you "upgrading" by buying a SP/First ticket rather than a Standard one in the first place.


You just pay the Train Manager onboard the train - that's the easiest way of upgrading to SP. The only advantages of buying it in advance are that you can guarantee getting a SP seat (though it's rare for none to be available) and that you get a Railcard discount on the supplement if you buy a SP Advance ticket.

So there is a way of upgrading in advance?

Agreed. But BR Fares shows the prices; it varies from just a couple of pounds for short journeys, to £35 for the longest journeys (London to Carlisle and north thereof).

Silly me. I thought Avanti would advertise it somewhere.

I may just go back to avoiding Avanti as much as I can.

 

[Bletchleyite]

So there is a way of upgrading in advance?

No.

Silly me. I thought Avanti would advertise it somewhere.

They prefer people to buy the Advances.

 

[AlterEgo]

So there is a way of upgrading in advance?

No, you can however buy SP advances in their own right.

 

[Haywain]

you can however buy SP advances in their own right.

Is that only from Avanti directly?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is that only from Avanti directly?

No, all retailers can sell them. Trainline for instance does.

 

[Deerfold]

No, all retailers can sell them. Trainline for instance does.

Unfortunately I don't think LNER does, which is where I bought. At the time I bought I'm not sure I knew about Standard Premium.

 

[Trackman]

No, all retailers can sell them. Trainline for instance does.

Although I dont use Trainline, where is the option for SP?
It does say they sell them. Also went through to checkout to see if they was an option.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Unfortunately I don't think LNER does, which is where I bought. At the time I bought I'm not sure I knew about Standard Premium.

It does. When you pick the train, select the View All Tickets link as per the attached image (image is of fares available on a randomly selected peak Avanti train).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Nov 2024 ==

Although I dont use Trainline, where is the option for SP?
It does say they sell them. Also went through to checkout to see if they was an option.

Pick the train and select "View more tickets". If it is available it will show there. See the attached screenshot from Trainline (showing the same set of fares as LNER are above plus a SplitSave entry).

 

[Trackman]

It does. When you pick the train, select the View All Tickets link as per the attached image (image is of fares available on a randomly selected peak Avanti train).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Nov 2024 ==



Pick the train and select "View more tickets". If it is available it will show there. See the attached screenshot from Trainline (showing the same set of fares as LNER are above plus a SplitSave entry).

Ah, I see, thanks. Doesn't do this on my home web browser, so I need to use the app?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ah, I see, thanks. Doesn't do this on my home web browser, so I need to use the app?

If available they do appear on the LNER website too - though annoyingly "Advance Single Standard Premium" gets truncated so looks like just "Advance Single Standard" (the actual Standard ticket is just called "Advance Single"). If you don't see them, they are not available on any trains in the list.