My pme and thankfully only trip so far on the service post-Serco was in 'scum class' on a £26 railcard Discounted AP Glasgow>London.
Whilst previous operators have always not hidden the fact that your a bit of a cheapskate travelling this way I found that you really did feel like the passenger they didn't really want this time. If a sensible standard berth upgrade such as FGW's £35 had been offered then I may have taken it, particularly as I was travelling with someone else who would have been equally willing to occupy the other bed.
However as this was very much a done on the cheap bashing trip, with the Caly merely acting as a necessary evil that delivered us to London early on a Monday Morning then even £50 was too much and in fact only £8 less than I paid to an independent budget hotel near Birmingham the following night for an ensuite room with free WiFi, 2 course dinner, 3 drinks and an English Breakfast!
£62 would get you a non advance rate room in a Premier Inn and £75 would almost get you that same room plus the meal deal (3 course dinner plus boozy drink and a full breaky) at the same premier inn. Serco a few years ago were given the Northlink Ferries contract to Orkney and Shetland and as an excercise in crap customer relations, even crappier staff ones and prioritising tourists above all else it's been a huge success. It does not however hide the fact that for onboard services local people are paying more and getting less and reliability (for which they conveniently blame the weather) has suffered too!
Everything anyone has ever said on here about the promises made by the Scottish Government and Serco being far from the reality is true and accurate and whilst I admit the old way of doing things wasn't great I can still recall the time I got a berth supplement from London to Aberdeen on Easter Thursday for £49 with 29hrs notice!
As I've said elsewhere I think Serco are merely the Rock Bottom SmartPrice Contractor appointed to make the whole thing look unviable so that the order for new stock can be ditched and the service scrapped when the trains either fall apart or become illegal.
Anyone wishing to dispute this should take a look at RyanAirs website where £15 gets you an Edinburgh or Glasgow to London flight and another £15 gets you home again. Easybus singles Stansted>London (only 20 mins slower than AGA) AND YOUR CHOSEN Scottish transfer and you've done London and back for £50. OK this isn't overnight and certainly isn't what you'd call relaxing but if the Sleeper wants to attract the business traveller who doesn't work for a huge rich company or the tourist on even a moderate budget then it needs to rethink, and fast!
NB If you're a railcard holder you can get VTWC Advances Scotland>London and return on the slower Via Birmingham route for £72, that's £3 less than this rip-off of an upgrade and it includes 2 meals, 1x Scotland and the other X Birmingham. This price is also available on quieter services changing at Crewe.
