Virgin Trains (West Coast) - "Priority boarding"

[ScouserGirl]

There is a difference between the booked platform and the actual platform. RTT will keep the actual platform updated.

yeah they do change it only when they know what platform it is, but still it's best to hang around the top off the platform in case of last min platform change

 

[Master29]

Seat reservations should be done away with in standard class, it just seems to cause to many repeat issues.

So, because of the people who don`t reserve (either because they`re not aware of the system or plane lazy) we all have to suffer. Great idea.....NOT. That`s the whole point of having it in the first place, so there isn`t any issues. Why should there be any issues in the first place. On FGW there are paper tickets yet wallies still have to be asked to move, and why standard class and not first.

 

[philthetube]

The actual problem is that Virgin sell too many reduced rate tickets on busy services, they must have a good idea about loadings in advance and people knowing that they are going to pay £100 plus and stand at busy times must reduce peak sales.

Cheap tickets should be used to fill up quiet trains, not pack busy ones.

 

[Taunton]

In early morning trains departing Euston, more than 50% of the apparently reserved seats are not taken up. It would have been better if Virgin had spent their time getting to the bottom of this issue.

 

[Puffing Devil]

The actual problem is that Virgin sell too many reduced rate tickets on busy services, they must have a good idea about loadings in advance and people knowing that they are going to pay £100 plus and stand at busy times must reduce peak sales.

Cheap tickets should be used to fill up quiet trains, not pack busy ones.

Try getting a cheap advance on an early morning service into Euston.

 

[All Line Rover]

Try getting a cheap advance on an early morning service into Euston.

Mon 13 Jun, Manchester 07:00 to London Euston 09:00: £21 STD / £53 1ST.

Walk-up fares cost £166 STD / £237.50 1ST and, on the day, the train will be full.

Oddly, before mid-2015, the cheapest Advance fares available on the 07:00 departure were £110 STD / £205 1ST.

 

[Puffing Devil]

Mon 13 Jun, Manchester 07:00 to London Euston 09:00: £21 STD / £53 1ST.

Walk-up fares cost £166 STD / £237.50 1ST and, on the day, the train will be full.

Oddly, before mid-2015, the cheapest Advance fares available on the 07:00 departure were £110 STD / £205 1ST.

Same day, ex Crewe, Advances £90/£145 dep 07h17 arr 08h54. Perhaps the benefits of the additional capacity?

 

[All Line Rover]

Same day, ex Crewe, Advances £90/£145 dep 07h17 arr 08h54. Perhaps the benefits of the additional capacity?

No, there is currently an arbitrary drop in Advance fares (when booked sufficiently far in advance) on Liverpool and Manchester arrivals into Euston from 09:00. The 08:54 arrival is still busy, but not as busy as the 09:00 arrival.

 

[neilb62]

I wonder if they'll give the driver a reserved seat so he gets a txt at Euston to tell him where the train is? This will save us and the rest of the crew making frantic phone-calls when the dam'd thing still isn't showing on the screens with a few minutes to go......

 

[Senex]

In early morning trains departing Euston, more than 50% of the apparently reserved seats are not taken up. It would have been better if Virgin had spent their time getting to the bottom of this issue.

Absolutely! But unfortunately they're quite happy to shew no consideration at all for their turn-up-and-go passengers paying their very high full fares.

 

[philthetube]

Try getting a cheap advance on an early morning service into Euston.

06:14 Birmingham New Street [BHM]
Platform 7
London Euston [EUS]
Platform 8
08:39 2h 25m 0 More Details on the 06:14 service from Birmingham New Street to London Euston

Single Fare£16.00
Buy Now

Add to basket
First Class Advance Show Other tickets

 

[Puffing Devil]

06:14 Birmingham New Street [BHM]
Platform 7
London Euston [EUS]
Platform 8
08:39 2h 25m 0 More Details on the 06:14 service from Birmingham New Street to London Euston

Single Fare£16.00
Buy Now

Add to basket
First Class Advance Show Other tickets

OK - perhaps I should have said "Try getting a cheap advance on an early morning service into Euston from Crewe"

Sits back and waits for a flurry of cheap fares.....

 

[bramling]

So, because of the people who don`t reserve (either because they`re not aware of the system or plane lazy) we all have to suffer. Great idea.....NOT. That`s the whole point of having it in the first place, so there isn`t any issues. Why should there be any issues in the first place. On FGW there are paper tickets yet wallies still have to be asked to move, and why standard class and not first.

Or because they are, quite reasonably, unable or unwilling to be tied down to particular trains - and have already paid for this in the form of a walk-up fare.

 

[urbophile]

Just watching Dave Gorman demolishing "priority boarding" on the telly

Seems like pointless airline flim-flam, the sort of which Virgin seem particularly fond of, to me.

Absolutely. We have moved from a national rail service with common standards and expectations, to a privatised 'come fly with me' commercialism which might well enhance Mr Branson's profits but which either confuses or inconveniences passengers (sorry, customers).

'Priority boarding' seems like the worst example of imitating the airlines. It makes sense with planes because an aeroplane has only two doors and embarking is a slow and difficult procedure, especially for those with special needs. What is the sense of holding back the majority of passengers when an 11-coach train (hence 22 doors) is ready in the platform?

Comments above about discrimination against interconnecting passengers or through booking with different airlines (sorry, train companies) are spot on.

In my experience at Euston, there is usually much less than 20 minutes between the platform being indicated and the departure time. What sort of time advantage are the 'priority' passengers likely to have?

Finding either your own reserved seat, or which seats are unreserved, would be a lot easier if the electronic displays above them were more legible. Or even working, which in many cases - especially of late running - they are not.

 

[Taunton]

I wonder if this Early Boarding of those with reservations is an attempt to get around the reservations not being shown above the seats until well after passengers have boarded at Euston.

Letting the reserved passengers in first, they will (presumably hopefully) take their correct seat numbers, so when the remainder are let on board there are less of the abusive scenes regularly seen, where those with reservations take umbrage with those who sat down in perfectly unreserved seats.

It's extremely embarrassing to get into a coach which has filled well up, to find that an elderly pensioner has taken your unreserved seat only for the displays to come on later (or maybe are still not on yet).

It would have been a lot better if Virgin had sorted out the basic problem with the displays in the first place. Or if the displays are not working when the gates are opened, prohibit putting them up later.

 

[bramling]

I wonder if this Early Boarding of those with reservations is an attempt to get around the reservations not being shown above the seats until well after passengers have boarded at Euston.

Letting the reserved passengers in first, they will (presumably hopefully) take their correct seat numbers, so when the remainder are let on board there are less of the abusive scenes regularly seen, where those with reservations take umbrage with those who sat down in perfectly unreserved seats.

It's extremely embarrassing to get into a coach which has filled well up, to find that an elderly pensioner has taken your unreserved seat only for the displays to come on later (or maybe are still not on yet).

It would have been a lot better if Virgin had sorted out the basic problem with the displays in the first place. Or if the displays are not working when the gates are opened, prohibit putting them up later.

Yes resolving the issue with reservations not appearing until late would ease many issues. With the wonders of modern technology surely this should be practicable?

 

[Bletchleyite]

The problem is largely that they are 15 year old technology!

Stickers saying "if the reservation screens are not lit up, reservations have not downloaded yet, and so all seats except in coaches F and U may be reserved" might help, though.

 

[neonison]

I personally very rarely sit in allocated seat and will always look for table, power, window.
I would just use this a way if skipping the queue if I knew earlier than the rest

Absolutely. Regardless of what I pay I always seem to get an airline seat next to a bulkhead with no view. Early boarding c/o RTT gets me a table seat in coach U or F.

 

[Starmill]

Mon 13 Jun, Manchester 07:00 to London Euston 09:00: £21 STD / £53 1ST.

Walk-up fares cost £166 STD / £237.50 1ST and, on the day, the train will be full.

Oddly, before mid-2015, the cheapest Advance fares available on the 07:00 departure were £110 STD / £205 1ST.

I thought that. With a railcard, the 1st Advance is only £35. Worth it for the complimentary breakfast and getting you to London nice and early. Not a chance I would consider the £145 Advance or the £237.50 walk-up. Especially when you can leave an hour or so earlier and arrive at a similar time with LM.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Absolutely. Regardless of what I pay I always seem to get an airline seat next to a bulkhead with no view. Early boarding c/o RTT gets me a table seat in coach U or F.

Why not book on the VWC site and use the seat selector?

 

[tbtc]

I agree. £2 would seem a sensible sum, and it would reduce the number of "I might as well, it's free" type réservations in a similar way that the 5p bag "tax" has reduced carrier bag usage.

If £1 was refunded for cancelling a reservation, all the better, the system would be yet more trustworthy.

That sounds worth a try - it's amazing how much of a change in demand the five pence bag "tax" has caused - people no longer take it forgranted.

I swear, it's getting to the point where if Virgin gave out free lollipops someone on here would bash Virgin for not thinking of diabetics. They can't seem to do anything right

Best comment on the thread

Or, passenger A gets on first, sits in the unreserved seat next to his reserved seat, passenger B then ignores the vacant reserved seat. Result passenger A gets a double seat to himself, unless passenger B comes back down the train after departure looking for a 'no-show' to sit in

A problem with this with a very busy service might come if too many of the "reserved" first boarders decide they don't like the seat they've been allocated and go and sit in free seats. Then the people without reservations come along and find that there are seats reserved that are not going to be taken because their occupants are already installed elsewhere

One of the issues is those with reservations will regularly find they don't like the seat they are assigned (no window, wrong way round, not with friends, etc) and will move on to vacant unreserved seat they prefer. Then those of us with high priced tickets board to find the seats either reserved or already taken.

It is equally likely that passenger A does not like their reserved seat and decides to occupy a seat that passenger B would have selected

These are all moans about the idea of reserved seats (and the idea that someone might reserve a seat but then not sit in it).

Whilst that's an issue, that's a separate issue to the matter in hand here - I don't know how you deal with people not sitting in their reserved seats (should Guards insist on seeing seat reservations?), but that's going to happen regardless of whether Virgin text a minority of passengers in advance.

Well, seemingly VT have managed to pi55 off another significant proportion of their paying customers while the rest will give minimal credit to them after the novelty period has worn off (give it a week).

Isn't the whole point of a regular clock face timetable to enable those who can't predict what train they'll be on before hand (you know, those business types stuck in long all day meetings who pay top dollar for their tickets) turn up and go! Do they stop on the way and reserve a seat with their expensive season / anytime ticket tucked in their pocket? I doubt it.

VT marketing - very smart, not very clever.

Eh?

I wouldn't take the opinions of a few vocal enthusiasts in an echo chamber as any kind of representation of Virgin customers.

I'm also not sure how this latest scheme changes the situation whereby people on expensive advances don't guarantee having a seat - it's been the case for many years - this initiative by Virgin doesn't change that.

The other thing this thread made me think of is the way airlines try to spread boarding out (not only the priority boarding, but also staggering the people boarding after them into a few groups). I wonder if trying to reduce the number boarding at the same time could actually make the whole process faster.

Sounds reasonable.

 

[Mordac]

Why not book on the VWC site and use the seat selector?

Can't select a seat facing direction of travel.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Can't select a seat facing direction of travel.

Yes you can. First Class is at the London end on all VWC trains unless there has been an accidental reversal.

 

[Mordac]

Yes you can. First Class is at the London end on all VWC trains unless there has been an accidental reversal.

Do they actually say that on the seat selector though? They didn't last time I looked, but that was a while ago. On VTEC you've always been able to select that though.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Do they actually say that on the seat selector though? They didn't last time I looked, but that was a while ago. On VTEC you've always been able to select that though.

No, but it is a fact - all VWC sets are meant to have First at the London end unless a diversion or similar has reversed them, and that happens only rarely.

Now you know it, you can book a forward facing seat with the seat selector.

 

[nottsnurse]

It is equally likely that passenger A does not like their reserved seat and decides to occupy a seat that passenger B would have selected. .

Time to 'fess up. I do this all the time. I don't use many TOCs other than EMT (so don't know if this is common) but EMT have an infuriating policy of only reserving seats in a couple of coaches when you book online, seemingly regardless of the number of coaches in use. This means that if those who reserve seats stick with those allocated then two/three coaches will be packed and the rest of the train will be fairly empty. This is most apparent on the Nottingham to Liverpool services.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Had the pleasure of the service yesterday.

Not much of a priority, more a convenience of not having to stand directly in front of the departure screens.

I received a text, by the time I got my phone out of my bag and read the text, the herd of wildebeest were charging towards the ramp.

What I don't understand is why the departure platform cannot be revealed earlier so people can queue on the ramp rather than in the concourse. At 1810 yesterday, of all the trains on the departure boards, only 2 had their platforms showing, thus an extremely congested concourse.

PS received the text at 1812 for an 1820 departure. Given that the train doors are closed 2 minutes before departure that gives you a maximum of 6 minutes to catch your train. Tough if you are old and slow on your feet I suppose.

 

[Taunton]

PS received the text at 1812 for an 1820 departure. Given that the train doors are closed 2 minutes before departure that gives you a maximum of 6 minutes to catch your train. Tough if you are old and slow on your feet I suppose.

Marylebone has had evening departures with all the passengers still waiting on the concourse - late putting the train up due to short staffing, and achieving an (empty) on time departure trumped any passenger convenience.

 

[DarloRich]

PS received the text at 1812 for an 1820 departure. Given that the train doors are closed 2 minutes before departure that gives you a maximum of 6 minutes to catch your train. Tough if you are old and slow on your feet I suppose.

You should hitch a lift in one of those blue buggies - guaranteed first footing on every train!

 

[exile]

Absolutely. Regardless of what I pay I always seem to get an airline seat next to a bulkhead with no view. Early boarding c/o RTT gets me a table seat in coach U or F.

Same here. And yet I can always find an unreserved
table seat after I board - why didn't the system reserve that for me?