East Coast First Class: What am I Supposed to get?

[ssaamm]

Hi,

I regularly travel between Newcastle and York and usually purchase first class tickets as booking in advance usually only costs a couple of pounds more. The complimentary food I receive tends to vary each time I travel. Most of the time I receive a sandwich and some combination of a cake/biscuit/crisps, yet have sometimes received nothing at all, once been told I can't have a sandwich only a biscuit because I'm not on the train for long enough and once received a full cooked meal.

What am I supposed to actually get? East Coast's website states first class journeys under 70 minutes come with snacks, does the sandwich class as a snack or a meal? The general consensus seems to be that a sandwich is a snack but I have been told by an attendant that it is a meal. Does anyone know what I am supposed to get because it seems that half the time even East Coast doesn't.

I have also received a free bacon sandwich on a CrossCountry train when the menu states that you need to pay for it but the attendant just said it was fine. Are you supposed to pay for things on CrossCountry trains?


Thanks for your help

 

[yorkie]

You're not entitled to expect any food (other than things like crisps) whatsoever, and yes sandwiches are excluded from journeys under 70 mins.

However, in practice it's good customer service for discretion to be shown, so in reality you often will get the food offering.

If you avoid Northbound trains which terminate at Newcastle, you should generally be OK.

You might also be better off with the 'Afternoon Tea' trains if possible, as the only food offering on these is sandwiches, therefore the attendants on these trains never ask where you are getting off, and you will therefore always be offered sandwiches on these trains, providing it's not a northbound Newcastle terminator.

There is a East Coast First Class service thread where people report back with their experiences.