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RailUK First Class Lounge Guide

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donald2007

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I have a 1st Advance Ticket Edinburgh-Carlisle via Glasgow. It's a VT & Connections ticket. Can I use the EC (would be SR) lounge at Waverley?
 
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Butts

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I utilised the Virgin Lounge at Wolverhampton this afternoon on my way to the Airport via BHI.

One other person was in at the time.

Plenty of Crisps, Biscuits, Fruit, Cans Pop and Tea/Coffee Machine.

Not bad for a £5.20 Virgin Only Anytime Day Single. :p
 

Deerfold

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I utilised the Virgin Lounge at Wolverhampton this afternoon on my way to the Airport via BHI.

One other person was in at the time.

Plenty of Crisps, Biscuits, Fruit, Cans Pop and Tea/Coffee Machine.

Not bad for a £5.20 Virgin Only Anytime Day Single. :p

Did you use the one at BHI too?
 

Butts

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Did you use the one at BHI too?

I'm not that tight :lol:

No seriously the 1445 Euston Service was cancelled so I actually had to buy another ticket and get the 1441 XC Bournemouth Service. There is only one Virgin Service per hour to BHI and getting the 1545 would have been cutting my Plane Time.

I will have to get a refund on my original £5.20 Virgin Only 1st Class Anytime Day
Single. Don't worry I conducted a serious "raid" on the Virgin Lounge Stock by way of compensation.:p
 

dvboy

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picture.php


Wolverhampton - Sandwell & Dudley FDS is £4.80
Wolverhampton - Birmingham stations FDS, route Virgin Trains Only, is £4.70

There's no Virgin Only fare for WVH-SAD.

Also note the London trains generally depart from platform 4 now, since they were combined with the Birmingham-Scotland services, sitting at WVH for a good 12 minutes, so that advice needs changing also.
 
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Deerfold

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picture.php


Wolverhampton - Sandwell & Dudley FDS is £4.80
Wolverhampton - Birmingham stations FDS, route Virgin Trains Only, is £4.70

There's no Virgin Only fare for WVH-SAD.

Also note the London trains generally depart from platform 4 now, since they were combined with the Birmingham-Scotland services, sitting at WVH for a good 12 minutes, so that advice needs changing also.

No - the main section of this guide has not been updated in a year or so (with a large number of updates further down the thread having not been added) with the author having disappeared off the site. I did suggest to mods that a note be put at the beginning warning people it may be out of date.

EDIT: They have put one at the top of the first post.
 
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Butts

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In the Virgin Lounge at Glasgow Central on Thursday on my way to Barrow. As well as the usual "goodies" they had One World Snacks packets of Chocolate Raisins and Peanuts - very tasty :lol:

Anyone seen these in any other Virgin Lounges - I have never seen them before.
 

Iskra

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Currently sat in the EMT lounge at Sheffield. Have to say it's very good; I'm the only way person in it other than the attendant, I've received free coffee, biscuits newspaper and wi-if. It's also warm, peaceful, has comfy chairs and PIS.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Used VT's 1st class lounge at Glasgow yesterday. It was adequate, but a little cold and noisy as it's merely partitioned off from the ticket office by a temporary hoarding and everytime the automatic doors opened there was a massive draft.
 

Deerfold

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Used VT's 1st class lounge at Glasgow yesterday. It was adequate, but a little cold and noisy as it's merely partitioned off from the ticket office by a temporary hoarding and everytime the automatic doors opened there was a massive draft.

Shame it wasn't a massive draught - that'd be more welcome.
 

Butts

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Currently sat in the EMT lounge at Sheffield. Have to say it's very good; I'm the only way person in it other than the attendant, I've received free coffee, biscuits newspaper and wi-if. It's also warm, peaceful, has comfy chairs and PIS.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Used VT's 1st class lounge at Glasgow yesterday. It was adequate, but a little cold and noisy as it's merely partitioned off from the ticket office by a temporary hoarding and everytime the automatic doors opened there was a massive draft.

You need to know where to sit to avoid the draught :p

It couldn't have been first thing you were in there as from my experience it is normally empty of people but full of tempting treats....
 

BlueFox

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If I have an East Coast first class ticket between Darlington and York, can I use it to get into the first class lounge at Newcastle?


There's nothing on the East Coast website to say you can't. But it also doesn't say you can.
 

Deerfold

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If I have an East Coast first class ticket between Darlington and York, can I use it to get into the first class lounge at Newcastle?


There's nothing on the East Coast website to say you can't. But it also doesn't say you can.

I would assume not as I doubt Newcastle is on a valid route between Darlington and York. Basically your ticket has to be valid on an EC service on that day which serves the station where the lounge is located.
 

Butts

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I would assume not as I doubt Newcastle is on a valid route between Darlington and York. Basically your ticket has to be valid on an EC service on that day which serves the station where the lounge is located.

I wonder if he went ???

My visit this afternoon did not produce much in the way of enticements....

There was no one on the reception and the door was unlocked so I just walked straight in to......

"Tea and Biscuits" <D - plus Orange Juice in the Fridge.

Later on I was in Edinburgh and the Lounge had..........shock horror :o

Crisps in addition to the "Tea and Biscuits" !!!

Hopefully the pending "Virginalisation" will result in a little more by way of sustenance.
 

Starmill

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The EMT lounges have a good selection of crisps and packeted biscuits and cakes. Even that'd be better than just border biscuits (although they ARE delicious) and fruit.
 

BlueFox

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I would assume not as I doubt Newcastle is on a valid route between Darlington and York. Basically your ticket has to be valid on an EC service on that day which serves the station where the lounge is located.

What prompted the question is the bit on the EC website that says you can get entry to the lounge using "Any First Class Anytime ticket valid for travel on the East Coast route". The wording of "the East Coast route", rather than saying a route involving the station where the lounge is seems to be ambiguous.

Virgin have much clearer (and stricter) rules for their first class lounges so no doubt the wording will change soon.


I'm doing a North East rover in a few weeks and will get a first class lounge pass for one of the days. My plan is to start at Edinburgh and visit each of the EC first class lounges apart from Euston. It will be interesting to see how they change once they're under new management.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I'm doing a North East rover in a few weeks and will get a first class lounge pass for one of the days. My plan is to start at Edinburgh and visit each of the EC first class lounges apart from Euston.
Oops. I meant King's Cross, not Euston, obviously.
 

Deerfold

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Just been to the First Class lounge at Kings Cross. There's a sign saying it's closed for refurbishment over this weekend. Presumably it's going to be Virginised. Now is that going to be a lick of red paint or something more substantial?
 

Ascot

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Apologies for the lack of updates re the guide (usual excuses work life etc..). I've gone through each lounge on the network and updated them locally which will be updated over the next day.

I am removing the buy-in notes and creating a generic access rule card for each company (such as the EastCoast one) as fares change very quickly. Once again apologies for the lack of update and thank you for the contributions.

Thanks to Ian who took over for the last few months. My job has reverted to travel so more updates should be appearing.

EDIT:
Updated half of the guide (rest will be done tomorrow evening). East Coast fare rules will be updated following the franchise change.
 
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DEE-DE

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Serco Caledonian Sleeper replied to a Facebook message saying the lounge at Euston supplement for STD passengers is going to be £5.
 
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PaxVobiscum

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Serco Caledonian Sleeper replied to a Facebook message saying the lounge at Euston supplement for STD passengers is going to be £5.

Keep them out at all costs I say - we don't want people with embarrassing infectious conditions in the lounge! :)
 

Butts

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Keep them out at all costs I say - we don't want people with embarrassing infectious conditions in the lounge! :)

I think you deserve a round of applause - or at the very least a clap :p

As East Coast is about to be superseded,can I ask, did they used to have more substantial "fayre" in their Lounges prior to easing the entrance requirements ?
 

Ascot

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Serco Caledonian Sleeper replied to a Facebook message saying the lounge at Euston supplement for STD passengers is going to be £5.

£5 is reasonable for Standard Class passengers, they could get away with £10 and still get a few in. One thing I must look into is Inverness with the day room agreement.

With regards to updates to the lounge, I've got a few TOCs left to upload tonight and then I will start preparing for the franchise take-overs.

- East Coast will still have a separate section to Virgin West Coast but I will be keeping an eye on Edinburgh and Glasgow as this will be common ground for Virgin.

- Caledonian Sleeper will have a separate section and it will be access cards (similar to ScotRail Euston) if they use other TOCs lounges. Likewise if ScotRail use Cal Sleeper lounges.

- Eurostar and Eurotunnel are a sore thumb in the guide and this may lead to the international lounges being created for these operators. This won't be thought about until after the franchise changes above.

As always, many thanks for all the contributions and keeping the cobwebs off over the last few months.

EDIT: See below the new look for Virgin East Coast (the image is on the other coast). This will go over Monday after the franchise starts.

picture.php


EDIT2: East Coast gone over to Virgin.
 
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Butts

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Anyone been in a "provincial" East Coast Lounge post "Virginisation" ?

Has the offer been extended from the parsimonious "Tea and Biscuits" which prevailed prior to the Franchise Change.
 

furgus2

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I went in the Newcastle and Doncaster lounges a couple of times last week and absolutely no change in what refreshments are available. That includes the fact that the entrance doors are left unlocked and no one checks that you have a 1st class ticket.
 

Mark62

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The lounge at Doncaster is ok. It's basic but warm and comfortable. Also the staff police the lounge judicially for interlopers. These are usually drunken children. It's a good service at Doncaster and a nice perk for first class passengers.
 

Iskra

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Leeds lounge this morning was exactly the same as previous, except for some leaflets about the new franchise.
 

BlueFox

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Today I've been to the lounges at Edinburgh, Newcastle, Darlington, Doncaster, Wakefield and Leeds. The food and drink on offer is exactly the same as it was before VTEC took over.
 
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