Avanti West Coast- thoughts?

[hypercolius]

Any thoughts on the notorious train operator?

I travelled with them 4 times in October and currently 2 in November.
Literally every single time I went, my 19:10 train to Euston got cancelled, forcing me to seek a slower service.
A trip to the Lake District last week saw 2 out of my three trains cancelled at short notice (thought that did result in me getting a direct service on 390044, so I am not complaining)
This does get me naturally interested in whether my next Avanti train, which I have specially selected to be a Voyager, will get cancelled too

Is LNER better? I'll be rather upset if my advance ticket, carefully chosen for an IC225, also burns

 

[dk1]

Any thoughts on the notorious train operator?

I travelled with them 4 times in October and currently 2 in November.
Literally every single time I went, my 19:10 train to Euston got cancelled, forcing me to seek a slower service.
A trip to the Lake District last week saw 2 out of my three trains cancelled at short notice (thought that did result in me getting a direct service on 390044, so I am not complaining)
This does get me naturally interested in whether my next Avanti train, which I have specially selected to be a Voyager, will get cancelled too

Is LNER better? I'll be rather upset if my advance ticket, carefully chosen for an IC225, also burns

It’s just the luck of the draw really. Cant rely on or expect the booked traction being on your service.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It’s just the luck of the draw really. Cant rely on or expect the booked traction being on your service.

Because Voyagers are slower than Pendolinos it is very unusual for a Pendolino-Voyager swap (because other than on the Birmingham semifast or the Liverpool it would lose time, and Voyagers don't run to Liverpool ever - I suspect Liverpool crews don't sign them?), but a swap the other way isn't unknown.

I think the only place you are even vaguely likely to get a Pendolino to Voyager swap is a Birmingham or a Scotland via Birmingham. And obviously if you want a certain Voyager you could ride one on a Chester/North Wales service.

I find Avanti OK at the moment, certainly no worse than anyone else.

 

[Jamesrob637]

They're fine as an operator, not quite as good as Virgin were, but the unrefurbished Pendolini are very dated now. This should obviously change within the coming weeks, as more and more 9-cars get done.

 

[zero]

I don't have high expectations and quite often my Avanti trips are free due to delay repay. Cheap advance tickets seem to be a lot rarer than in 2019 so I kind of want them to continue cancelling trains and paying me back

They seem to be more reliable in the morning and less in the afternoon/evening, which are trends I use in my trip planning.

 

[Jamesrob637]

In their defence, Avanti (and a couple of others) had literally weeks between their launch day just before Christmas '19, and the UK going to pot for around 1.5-2 years after March 2020. Therefore, they've only really been finding their way in 2022 and 2023.

 

[dk1]

Because Voyagers are slower than Pendolinos it is very unusual for a Pendolino-Voyager swap (because other than on the Birmingham semifast or the Liverpool it would lose time, and Voyagers don't run to Liverpool ever - I suspect Liverpool crews don't sign them?), but a swap the other way isn't unknown.

I think the only place you are even vaguely likely to get a Pendolino to Voyager swap is a Birmingham or a Scotland via Birmingham. And obviously if you want a certain Voyager you could ride one on a Chester/North Wales service.

I find Avanti OK at the moment, certainly no worse than anyone else.

Oh yes of course, I was inferring more to the IC225 comment.

 

[birchesgreen]

I don't travel on them a lot (5 times this year my records show). I've never had a problem with them, i much prefer the Pendos after the refurb.

 

[Butts]

The worst thing they have ever done (from an aficionados viewpoint - or cheapskates ) was the introduction of Standard Premier which at a stroke virtually doubled the price of what were very reasonable Advanced 1st Class Tickets.