Grand Central's grand 1st Class service

[Johnny Lewis]

I'm travelling on the 10.01 York to Sunderland service, and have now been on it for just over an hour.

In that time, the trolley stewardess has been through THREE times and has offered tea/coffee, juice/water and a choice of biscuits. (She has let me have 1 packet of each of the FIVE types of biscuit available).

No requirement to be on the train for over 70 minutes, no rush to throw the food/drink at you as soon as possible. Just good, friendly, professional service, as one would hope to expect travelling in First Class.

East Coast - take note. You could learn a thing or two from how Grand Central's staff operate.

 

[Bungle73]

The 70 minute rule on EC is if you want a meal, and since GC don't do meals it's hardly a fair comparison. In fact you'd get exactly the same on EC (ie snacks and refreshments) during an under 70 minute journey as you got on GC.

I'm not sure what you're getting at with this comment either? :?

no rush to throw the food/drink at you as soon as possible

 

[sprinterguy]

Sounds like you've been lucky to get one of the "better" Grand Central first class experiences. I travelled first class with GC once and was thoroughly nonplussed as the level of service was very poor especially when I was already accustomed to the exquisite offering provided by Wrexham and Shropshire. To be fair GC were having a very busy and challenging day on the train I travelled on and had had supply problems prior to leaving Kings Cross. Nonetheless, given that GC don't offer a great deal more to the First Class passenger than to those in standard and that their HSTs often run with declassified first class vehicles acting as standard class accomodation I don't see the need to make use of their first class accomodation again, which is to say that I think that their standard class offering is excellent to begin with.

Conversely, I travelled first class with East Coast a couple of months ago to have a crack at their new first class offering, and was suitably impressed with what I found, barring a certain stinginess with the provision of the drinks. And that was on a sub-70 minute journey from York to Newcastle.

 

[tbtc]

I'm travelling on the 10.01 York to Sunderland service

I'd imagine that this would be one of the quietest bits of a GC service, as far as First Class goes - the attentive service may be because of this? Not a fair comparison to EC really.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I'd imagine that this would be one of the quietest bits of a GC service, as far as First Class goes - the attentive service may be because of this? Not a fair comparison to EC really.

It also involves regular stops rather than an uninterrupted 2 hour run - hardly less involving for the staff, quite the opposite in fact.

I've found the first class service to be exactly as described by Johnny Lewis every time I've used it the full length of the route including the peak northbound train, even when FC has been near full, no matter where on the route.

Sprinterguy, sounds like your experience was the exception rather than the rule (as you do pretty much acknowledge)

 

[AndrewP]

I travel first with both as a paying passenger.

The new meal service on EC is good but the frequency of drinks being offered (coffee in particular) has definitely reduced. I have also noticed resentment in some staff who seem to think its below them to serve free meals although most are still excellent.

The staff are always very attentive on GC even when the trains are heaving but the catering offer (and the buffet car food) is very poor. It would be nice if they used it to showcase regional foods or simply get better sandwiches! I know I could procure a better offering but not better staff.

My preferred service is that of Hull Trains (although I have not travelled with them in a while) as they had the best of both worlds.