Weekend first on CrossCountry

[jazzy]

What’s the best way to get an upgrade to first tomorrow (Saturday 18th April) between Plymouth and Bristol on CrossCountry? Seatfrog are saying £33 for an upgrade but https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=PLY&dest=BRI&expert=on&flow=2&multi=0&fare=0&rte=24&tkt=XCU suggests it should only be £15. Am I missing something?

 

[voyagerdude220]

Do you have an Advance ticket? Last time I checked Cross Country officially don't allow you to upgrade Advance tickets with Weekend First but I think you can upgrade them using Seatfrog.

(Therefore if you don't have an Advance ticket just upgrade on the train when the Train Manager checks your ticket. Or if it is an Advance one I'd buy an upgrade on Seatfrog now.)

 

[alistairlees]

Do you have an Advance ticket? Last time I checked Cross Country officially don't allow you to upgrade Advance tickets with Weekend First but I think you can upgrade them using Seatfrog.

(Therefore if you don't have an Advance ticket just upgrade on the train when the Train Manager checks your ticket. Or if it is an Advance one I'd buy an upgrade on Seatfrog now.)

I can't find any mention of such a restriction on the CrossCountry website (I can't even find anything about weekend 1st at all!). National Rauil mentions no such restriction. I would take that as definitive. See https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ticket-types/tickets/xcu/

 

[jazzy]

Do you have an Advance ticket? Last time I checked Cross Country officially don't allow you to upgrade Advance tickets with Weekend First but I think you can upgrade them using Seatfrog.

(Therefore if you don't have an Advance ticket just upgrade on the train when the Train Manager checks your ticket. Or if it is an Advance one I'd buy an upgrade on Seatfrog now.)

I’m on the return leg of an off-peak return so that sounds ok.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Apr 2026 ==

I can't find any mention of such a restriction on the CrossCountry website (I can't even find anything about weekend 1st at all!). National Rauil mentions no such restriction. I would take that as definitive. See https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ticket-types/tickets/xcu/

So, I can only buy on board and it should be £15 as per https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=PLY&dest=BRI&expert=on&flow=2&multi=0&fare=0&rte=24&tkt=XCU ?

 

[alistairlees]

So, I can only buy on board and it should be £15 as per https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=PLY&dest=BRI&expert=on&flow=2&multi=0&fare=0&rte=24&tkt=XCU ?

Correct

 

[John R]

Do you have an Advance ticket? Last time I checked Cross Country officially don't allow you to upgrade Advance tickets with Weekend First but I think you can upgrade them using Seatfrog.

(Therefore if you don't have an Advance ticket just upgrade on the train when the Train Manager checks your ticket. Or if it is an Advance one I'd buy an upgrade on Seatfrog now.)

My experience is that a TM will be happy to sell you the upgrade, even with an Advance ticket.