[jonmorris0844]

Originally Posted by Skimble19

... if it was contracted out to some fancy design company there would no doubt be "outrage" at them wasting money..

I know, and this is what I was getting at. Marketing can be a very important investment, but I am sure EC set a very limited budget to ensure that they limited the criticism.

[Blindtraveler]

i'm sure that feedback on everything will play a major part in refining the offer. That and how stock levels of certain items are at the end of a few days. i'll bet the staff are a little shattered after the introduction. Incidentally, have a friend who had breakfast going south today who has just emailed saying hes impressed

[Dine and Go]

First try of the weekend service yesterday and my initial impression is the old way was better.

The sandwiches were nice but no comparison to the hot food available in the past (I used to try and travel on services with at-seat dining).

I think having to queue at the buffet is a significant downgrade. I had to stand in a queue for 15 minutes just to get some beer. So previously I had beer and burger served at my seat now it's sandwiches and joining the queue for the buffet.

The way the buffet is designed makes it a pain to join if you're approaching from first class and there's a queue.

[MadCommuter]

Today's Metro pointed out that East Coast were 'ditching the dining car.'

[googolplex]

I was holding off my judgement until I'd seen the sample first class menu to see what the all day offering entailed.
But I must say I'm disappointed to see the lack of decent hot food provision southbound in the evenings, as the service I travel on most frequently is the 14:55 Aberdeen to King's Cross, joining at Dundee at 16:04.
At that time it's a bit too early to grab anything for dinner, so I'd usually have a burger or something else from the at seat dining menu, now I'm not sure what I'll do for food, as the train doesn't arrive in Stevenage until nearly 10pm, which is then too late to eat.
I only make the journey every few months, but if people are travelling southbound for 6+ hours through meal times, surely it would make sense to offer the evening meal service on some of the southbound trains as well.

[silentone]

The menu's may be published at a later date but not until everything is ironed out.

The service from Aberdeen above, is doing an Evening Offer which I'm sure is the Biryani and the Crayfish & Noodle salad.

The issue of purchasing items in First has been raised and there are various arguments from all corners.

On one side, you have to focus on providing the core First Class service over any paid sales to ensure all passengers receive the new service. If you start selling items in First the service slows down and becomes the same as the old.

Crews were told they can sell items in First if they feel comfortable to do so and feel they have the time to do so.

And as always the Union has apparently said not to sell items in First until the company give every train extra staff to do so, and by doing so now we are proving we don't need extra staff.

I say that's nonsense and I have been selling alcohol in First. Firstly it's easier than having people wandering up and down the aisle while you are delivering the new service. I haven't, and don't intend to sell Panini's etc in First Class at the Weekend, I know people would buy them if offered but this really slows things down and would take focus off the new service.

So far only 1 person has asked me about hot meals, and he was less than impressed when I explained the new offer. I think this Weekend change is only going to be a problem to the Weekend Travellers who think they can click their fingers and staff will come running. Those travellers also seem incapable of getting out their seat to make their way to the bar. In this instance the gentleman was sat in Coach J.

Everyone else has been fairly impressed.

[YorkshireRider]

Im unimpressed with the morning weekend offer to customers, an option to buy a bacon sandwich or a pannini served on a plate should be available before 11, and an option to buy alchohol after 11 served in a proper glass. As far as im aware there are 2 people working first class on all weekend services so this can be done. Most people will just take the free stuff so i doubt we would be overrun with orders but the option should be there. Dine and gos experience of waiting at the buffet for 15 mins is not good and not a first class service, dont forget the upgrade is 20/25 quid, much more than other tocs

[jonmorris0844]

Some will say that for £20/£25 you shouldn't expect much, but it's a nice earner for the TOC - presumably getting the whole amount for itself. And, for what, providing what costs next-to-nothing in terms of food and drink?

If EC took £25 from me and gave me even £10's worth of food and drink (and that would be quite a lot), it has still made a cool £15 it wouldn't have had - and until FC is full at weekends, that's got to be worth promoting.

In fact, when I came back from Leeds, FC was barely used at all - suggesting EC might actually want to consider offering cheaper upgrades on some services/routes.

How many people may even travel with EC purely with the intention of getting a cheap FC upgrade with some nice benefits? I'd certainly consider travelling on a Saturday morning to get an upgrade, than starting on a Friday night for example.

EC (and others) can then really push the upgrades as I noticed NXEA did on the MK3s when they were running extra services for V Festival. They actually invited people to upgrade via the PA system on the train. Does EC make a big deal of weekend first? I've never heard it being promoted by the TM - but I don't travel enough for that to really mean anything!

[Max]

Originally Posted by silentone

I think this Weekend change is only going to be a problem to the Weekend Travellers who think they can click their fingers and staff will come running. Those travellers also seem incapable of getting out their seat to make their way to the bar. In this instance the gentleman was sat in Coach J.

If I had paid the extra for first class (often significant on East Coast), and an at-seat service was advertised, I would be a tad irritated if I had to go to the buffet to be honest. Probably not so much the getting up (I'm not completly bone idle), more the queuing. I am not a businessperson so when I travel First it's often on long journeys when I want to relax, so I would prefer not to have to stand in a queue for ages.

[DaveNewcastle]

Travelling at weekends?
Suppose your weekend travel was Newcastle - London & back on Saturday.

Originally Posted by Max

If I had paid the extra for first class (often significant on East Coast), and an at-seat service was advertised, I would be a tad irritated if I had to go to the buffet to be honest.

If you wanted flexible tickets, the cheapest 1st Class would be £255 in contrast to the cheapest Standard Class at £110.
So your "paid the extra for first class" would be £145.
(Unless you just bought a Standard and knew to ask for the 'weekend upgrade' offer.)

How's that for your "having to go to the buffet" and silentone's "Weekend Travellers who think they can click their fingers and staff will come running. Those travellers also seem incapable of getting out their seat to make their way to the bar"?

[silentone]

I do believe the new First Class service is being advertised as a new Complimentary Offer. Menu's on the table only show the available complimentary items, and I do kind of agree that if someone wishes something not on that menu then they should goto the Cafe Bar.

Personally I will continue to offer saleable alcohol at Weekends in First, my experience so far is that is something there is demand for. The only other item requested was Kit Kat's and so I might have my arm twisted to carry some of them.

[jonmorris0844]

You can't go wrong with selling Kit Kat's!

[Blindtraveler]

be interesting to see how it all goes after a few days. i doubt silentone wil be the only one to serve weekend booz in first.

[jonmorris0844]

Weekends may well be the busiest time for booze, with people upgrading to cane the freebies.

Business users may well have to go easy, as they're on their way to a meeting, or on the way back and driving home from the station.

This might be a rather simplistic assumption, but I think it's plausible.

[amcluesent]

First experience post "trial" today, must say the food offering was a wee bit variable.

South out of PBO this morning, coffee and a muffin from a basket was offered. No fruit juice or bottle of water (to be saved for the Tube) from a trolley, have they gone for good? Several peeps trying to order their 'usual' bacon sarnie told it wasn't going to happen.

Northbound this evening on an HST, which seemed to complicate the logistics a great deal. (NB big photo op on KGX platform for Harrogate service). I was in 'L' and it was 30 mins into journey before drinks/sandwich trolleys came through. However, no asking about destination and 4(!) sandwiches on plate.

The complementaries in the KGX lounge have been refreshed (I popped in for water...), fruit bowl is back, plus some quite nice cheese twists and more muffins so marks awarded there.

Just as an aside, have the EC staff been given a pep-talk on being nice to customers. All the EC staff today seemed to be on 'best behaviour'.