Virgin Trains First Class

Has anyone travelled on Virgin Trains First Class at a weekend or bank holiday before? if so, do you know what sort of service is offered? their website states only tea, coffee and biscuits from the shop are available, yet on the phone they have told me the full service is always provided.

Hello Kevin

I mainly travel the West Coast mainline (into London) 1st Class during the week on such a regular basis I qualify for their Traveller membership which gives free 1st class travel anytime Fri to mid day Monday. (Can't go and return on a Friday though).

I've only used it once as the engineering works taking place at a weekend have made the journey times (due to diversions and coach replacements) to London or Scotland and back pretty unattractive. On the train to London on the Friday normal service depending on the time of day - breakfast, sarnies or early evening menu. On the return on Sunday there was nothing apart from the arrangements you describe - which took me by surprise. However, they do do some very cheap upgrades so there are probably not that many full fare paying passengers to make a full service economic.

If I were you I'd stock up before getting on as the queues at the shop were awful - not worth it for a cup of tea and a packet of 2 biscuits.

I suspect service on Monday morning is full service but not if its a bank holiday


Regards

Pat

Thanks Pat.

It will be the bank holiday weekend, travelling to Manchester from London on the Saturday and back to London on the Monday. Two First Class returns are £144 or two Standard returns are £88. Without the food would you say £56 is worth it for the bigger seats, never been on Virgin's new trains so not sure what they are like.

Hi Kevin

Are those prices each or for both of you? I can't find anything like those on the website.

The best I could find were saver returns @ £55 each which wou could upgrade to 1st class for £15 each way on most trains those days - this would be a total of £170 so if you've been offered 2 for £144 I'd go for it.

Is it worth it anyway? - I'd say so definitely for a reserved, bigger seat in a coach that shouldn't be overly full. Standard can be full to bursting with luggage everywhere on some trains, especially round the bank holidays. You could get a bottle of very decent wine and put a mini picnic together for a lot less than the £56 difference.

PS - if it makes you feel any better my weekday first class ticket travelling at peak times from Wigan to London costs £282!

Regards

Pat

Thanks once again Pat. The prices were quoted over the phone by Virgin and were for the two of us.

Do you know if the two types of new trains have the same layout inside? I wasn't aware you can reserve seats on the train, I will ask when I phone up and book.

Hi Kevin

On the Pendelinos first class is usually in coaches g, h, j & k - as far as I know the London/Manchester route is operated by Pendelinos

On the Voyager ones it's coach A and this is designated Club, not first - the at seat service isn't as good.

The seats are identical as far as I remember and are laid out as a two, then the aisle, then a single. Most on the Pendelinos are arranged around a table, wheras the others have more airline type seats, but still with a fixed rather than drop down table.

Regards
Pat

quote:Originally posted by kevinjp


It will be the bank holiday weekend, travelling to Manchester from London on the Saturday and back to London on the Monday. Two First Class returns are £144 or two Standard returns are £88. Without the food would you say £56 is worth it for the bigger seats, never been on Virgin's new trains so not sure what they are like.

Hi,

I suspect the fares you have been quoted are the Virgin Value fares which have more restrictions than the Saver fares. To answer your question, I wouldn't say the £56 extra is worth the money in 1st class anymore. I've travelled first class with VT for more years than I care to remember. In my view, these new trains are horrible. The legroom in 1st class has been reduced (as well as in Standard) and you used to receive complimentary sandwiches, crisps, cakes etc when travelling at the weekend and on bank holidays. Not any more.

Virgin used to upgrade anyone and everyone willing to pay the supplement and 1st class on the Manchester route on a Sunday evening (before the train frequency increased) was always brimming with many people holding cheap tickets which, according to the rules, were non-upgradeable. I don't know how busy the weekend service is now as I no longer travel to Manchester. You're lucky the Voyager trains don't run on this route, I just can't bear them! 1st class just isn't the same as it was before.

The Strawb

With regard to the service on 1st class at the weekend, it's certainly not what you get in the week [:(]

As most people can upgrade on the train for as little as £5-10 they don't really put on that much of a service.

You can get a bacon roll (warmed up in the microwave) and tea/coffee/orange juice/water but not much more I'm afraid.

On the return journey (ie. 5-6pm ish) you will get offered sandwiches and the usual tea/coffee etc - certainly no wine or anything better than that.

If I buy two standard tickets from thetrainline.com and reserve seats, when I get to the station can I go to the ticket office and ask how much it'd be to upgrade, or can I do a cash upgrade on the train?

No, it doesnt work the same way as airlines im afraid. You have to purchase the upgrades on the website in the same transaction as your standard tickets. IF 1st class is particularly light that day, the Train Manager will inform you in his announcement that upgrades are available for X pounds, but they dont always do this. IMO the £15 each way isnt worth it anymore. As long as you have reserved seats you can spend half as much at M+S Simply Food and get much more!

Thanks for your response, I had a feeling it wouldn't work the same as airlines. I guess if I really want it I could ask the Train Manager or equilivant on other train services. But you are right about M+S Food!