• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Value for money - best and worst First Class

Status
Not open for further replies.
The DJ

The DJ

Member
Joined
17 Aug 2020
Messages
88
Location
North Kensington, London
Apologies if there is a similar thread. I did look. If this is the case, a link to said thread would be far more useful than criticism.

I enjoy LNER First Class. I have a First Class booking on LNWR London-Birmingham next week and my expectations are low but couldn't resist the very reasonable fare.
I really enjoy travel by train but lack the budget for anything but journeys for a specific purpose but I am curious about what the various TOC's offer on a First Class ticket
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

B

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
113,483
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
I would say that the best value is provided by Avanti Standard Premium. Excellent seat (best 1st seat in the UK in my view), no gimmicks and an attractive fare/upgrade.

The worst value is LNR, because the seats are inferior to those in Standard in my view, so are not even worth 1p extra.

Anything in an 80x must be fairly low down - the 1st seats are not much better than the awful Standard ones.
 
T

TravelDream

Member
Joined
7 Aug 2016
Messages
1,162
Best value has to be the Premier Service (Gerald) service ran by Transport for Wales.
I haven't been on it since the ATW days so haven't seen the new carriages, but it's comfortable and includes a slap-up three-course meal.
 
Mcr Warrior

Mcr Warrior

Veteran Member
Joined
8 Jan 2009
Messages
17,256
Southern's first class "offering" has often just been an anti-macassar cloth on the seat headrest, and not much else!
 
AlterEgo

AlterEgo

Verified Rep - Wingin' It! Paul Lucas
Joined
30 Dec 2008
Messages
29,477
Location
LBK
TravelDream said:
Best value has to be the Premier Service (Gerald) service ran by Transport for Wales.
I haven't been on it since the ATW days so haven't seen the new carriages, but it's comfortable and includes a slap-up three-course meal.
Click to expand...
This. It’s hard to get better value than this, because it is subsidised!
 
AlterEgo

AlterEgo

Verified Rep - Wingin' It! Paul Lucas
Joined
30 Dec 2008
Messages
29,477
Location
LBK
Darandio said:
Is the meal back on TfW? I thought it was still a limited buffet?
Click to expand...
It is indeed back. Saw some great pictures on Twitter this week. Think it’s literally just come back. Get on it!
 
Horizon22

Horizon22

Established Member
Associate Staff
Jobs & Careers
Joined
8 Sep 2019
Messages
11,001
Location
London
Worst has to be something like Southern or Southeastern for which you get... a headrest. There's hardly anything that stands out and it doesn't seem to be regularly checked so you get standard class passengers in there anyway.
 
J

Jim the Jim

Member
Joined
18 Dec 2020
Messages
279
Location
Cambridge
I got to sit in first class on London Northwestern the other week as it was declassified; it was nice enough but I'm not sure it would have been worth the extra money except perhaps as a better guarantee of a seat! Though the seats were able to recline, if you're into that sort of thing (though I hear this may not be case on all sets).

I've sat in first class on Great Northern once or twice and I'm struggling to remember if there is any difference from standard except for the antimacassars, except again possibly a slightly better chance of not having to stand (and even then I expect the seats would have tended to fill up at peak times pre-covid, and off-peak you can usually get a seat in standard anyway).
 
S

swt_passenger

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Apr 2010
Messages
34,277
Horizon22 said:
Worst has to be something like Southern or Southeastern for which you get... a headrest. There's hardly anything that stands out and it doesn't seem to be regularly checked so you get standard class passengers in there anyway.
Click to expand...
You can add most of SWR to that as well. Except the DMUs and they’ll go 2+2 soon…
 
ServerHoster

ServerHoster

Member
Joined
15 Jun 2019
Messages
242
Location
North West
Avanti first class can be a bit hit and miss. You get bargain flexible tickets on tickets that AREN'T set by them - eg. return £66 from Crewe (CRE) to Birmingham International (BHI). Set by WM Trains. (note: this is split tickets, splitting at Wolverhampton (WVH))

Another example is Runcorn (RUN) to Llandudno (LLD) - return £35 altogether, set by TfW. (no split tickets here)

Then you get stuff like roughly £100 for an advance *single* from CRE to Euston (EUS) or £130 for an off peak single (restriction code 2C so you can barely use it at a convenient time anyway). Double that price if you actually want to go back to CRE. It's not worth splitting tickets on this route as many trains go nonstop or they only stop at one station (which usually varies depending on the specific train).

I was offered £90 for a Standard Premium advance single from Edinburgh (EDB) to CRE. For two people, with a railcard. However, after some calculations, going via York (YRK) and Manchester Pic (MAN) in First Class with LNER/TPE would actually work out cheaper - at about £105 (that's without a railcard). However, where standard premium isn't that absurdly priced, it's actually good value.

Another reason why Avanti first class isn't good value sometimes because there are 18 first class seats on each Pendolino train (regardless of 9 or 11 car). Voyagers are much more reasonable with 30 seats per 5 carriages or 60 for 10 carriages.
 
G

GC class B1

Member
Joined
19 Jun 2021
Messages
460
Location
East midlands
I travel first on EMR, TPE, LNER and Cross Country trains quite a lot, and Avanti, GWR, LNR and Thameslink less often. LNER has a good food selection as does Avanti and the seating is ok, but I find the service slow. EMR, Cross Country and TPE food is Ok but the seating isn’t as good. Virgin West coast was probably the best. The non - intercity services like Thameslink and LNR aren’t much different in First as it is only a bit more space and they are often busy.
 
YorksLad12

YorksLad12

Established Member
Joined
5 Feb 2020
Messages
2,713
Location
Leeds
I've used First on LNER a lot over the years, and enjoyed it. Did it once on XC from Newcastle to Leeds, no-one came to give me a brew or suchlike which, when used to whatever the east coast operator was at the time, was a bit of a comedown!

In the Before Times I went from Leeds to Edinburgh. Looking at the costs with TPE and XC for a through train I chose to travel Standard to York (on the train to Edinburgh, ironically!) and change onto an LNER service - better the devil you know, XC would be crowded, TPE catering is sparse compared with even LNER's weekend sandwich offering. They also change catering at Newcastle I discovered, so if you're lucky you can get lunch (or at least some biscuits) twice ;)
 
yorksrob

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
44,359
Location
Yorks
Best, EMT/R, HST 1st class without a shadow of a doubt.

Superbly comfortable seating - good meal on weekdays for a very reasonable price.

Oh how I miss it :(

Don't bother with any of the current overpriced rubbish.
 
T

Towers

Established Member
Joined
30 Aug 2021
Messages
2,999
Location
UK
FGW/GWR refurbished HST first was always high on the list, presumably the sets which passed to Scotrail continue to offer the same superb travelling ambience?
 
D

domcoop7

Member
Joined
15 Mar 2021
Messages
272
Location
Wigan
Virgin West Coast always used to be good value for what you got, especially peak times as you'd be paying only a few quid more than the standard peak tickets for a first class advance (or even cheaper depending on the service and how close to departure it was) but a considerably better ambience than in Standard (which on a Pendolino can be horrible at times) and the free food and drink. This was before Seatfrog though.

On the other hand, as a lad "from the sticks" I recall when I first saw a Southern Region EMU (not slam door) in the late 90s and being shocked that first class was basically the same as a 156! (And thinking who on earth would pay for that, and why?). Don't remember which units they were though.
 
W

Wolfie

Established Member
Joined
17 Aug 2010
Messages
7,425
Jim the Jim said:
I got to sit in first class on London Northwestern the other week as it was declassified; it was nice enough but I'm not sure it would have been worth the extra money except perhaps as a better guarantee of a seat! Though the seats were able to recline, if you're into that sort of thing (though I hear this may not be case on all sets).

I've sat in first class on Great Northern once or twice and I'm struggling to remember if there is any difference from standard except for the antimacassars, except again possibly a slightly better chance of not having to stand (and even then I expect the seats would have tended to fill up at peak times pre-covid, and off-peak you can usually get a seat in standard anyway).
Click to expand...
Sounds like you were on an unrefurbished 350/4. Those seats, which are 2+1, are being removed.
 
HSP 2

HSP 2

Member
Joined
4 Dec 2019
Messages
641
Location
11B
ServerHoster said:
Another reason why Avanti first class isn't good value sometimes because there are 18 first class seats on each Pendolino train (regardless of 9 or 11 car). Voyagers are much more reasonable with 30 seats per 5 carriages or 60 for 10 carriages.
Click to expand...
Are you sure about the number of first class seats in a Pendolino, I thought that they had 18 seats in the driving coach then 2 or 3 coaches after that with first class seating.

Back to first class seats, I can't comment on the first class seats in the Grand Central 180s, but if the standard seats are anything to go by the first class ones are going to be good.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top