I apologise if this question has been asked before, I couldn't find it.
And it's a bit sensitive/delicate I don't want to embarrass anyone.
To cut a long story short, I'm booked on a weekday evening, last long distance train from London, first class, and now I discover, by coincidence, that a dear friend is travelling on the same train. I'm sure she will have a standard class ticket.
Of course I will sit with her but I wondered whether it was worth my finding an excuse to talk with the ticket collector about paying for an on-the-spot upgrade for her.
So my question is - will I typically get an unhelpful response to offer only a full fare last minute ticket in first at a huge cost (I won't belittle my friend by buying that), or am I likely to be offered an upgrade to first at close to what the difference in cost might have been if she had booked first in advance?
Obviously there are no guarantees, and it is a space-available situation, but assuming the first is relatively empty what would the typical policy (in practice) be?
I think you can understand I want to get a feel for the likelihood of the outcome before making specific enquiries. If I could pretend I was booked in standard and avoid the whole situation I would, but I fear it is too late for that. I know in the old days of BR you could do an upgrade. Many many years ago my boss did this for me!
To me, it is common sense, if first is largely empty and I'm offering to put money in the hands of the railway you would think they would be keen to offer a reasonable deal. But common sense is in short supply on today's railways, we all know that.
And it's a bit sensitive/delicate I don't want to embarrass anyone.
To cut a long story short, I'm booked on a weekday evening, last long distance train from London, first class, and now I discover, by coincidence, that a dear friend is travelling on the same train. I'm sure she will have a standard class ticket.
Of course I will sit with her but I wondered whether it was worth my finding an excuse to talk with the ticket collector about paying for an on-the-spot upgrade for her.
So my question is - will I typically get an unhelpful response to offer only a full fare last minute ticket in first at a huge cost (I won't belittle my friend by buying that), or am I likely to be offered an upgrade to first at close to what the difference in cost might have been if she had booked first in advance?
Obviously there are no guarantees, and it is a space-available situation, but assuming the first is relatively empty what would the typical policy (in practice) be?
I think you can understand I want to get a feel for the likelihood of the outcome before making specific enquiries. If I could pretend I was booked in standard and avoid the whole situation I would, but I fear it is too late for that. I know in the old days of BR you could do an upgrade. Many many years ago my boss did this for me!
To me, it is common sense, if first is largely empty and I'm offering to put money in the hands of the railway you would think they would be keen to offer a reasonable deal. But common sense is in short supply on today's railways, we all know that.