Avanti West Coast: Standard Premium

[Bletchleyite]

Thats true and it is the same with the middle seat unoccupied and a free sandwich and drink (certainly on BA) and they cant possibly call that first class so its effectively Standard Premium . I should have said that i was more alluding to the long haul product where the distinction is much clearer!

On KLM the middle seat wasn't free and the product was called Business Class.

I thought that a bit rubbish to be honest. But the point is that I don't see any sort of problem with the differentiator to proper 1st being the "soft product", provided that "soft product" is very, very good. And it isn't. I'd be thinking your drink being topped up as soon as it's empty without needing to even raise your hand, and a high quality, full-meal, silver-service food product to the standard of the paid-for restaurant on GWR. Maybe even to the extent of storing data so you "know your customer", so it's not just "Tea or coffee, sir?", but "Welcome on board Mr. Bletchleyite, tea, I presume?"

 

[AlterEgo]

Thats true and it is the same with the middle seat unoccupied and a free sandwich and drink (certainly on BA) and they cant possibly call that first class so its effectively Standard Premium . I should have said that i was more alluding to the long haul product where the distinction is much clearer!

On airlines like KLM Cityhopper and BA Cityflyer, there is not even a middle seat block. It’s business class.

 

[Furrball]

Had a message from a friend traveling from Manchester to London that the service he is on is 2 x Standard premium carriage and was clearly announced as being the "new setup"

 

[Butts]

On airlines like KLM Cityhopper and BA Cityflyer, there is not even a middle seat block. It’s business class.

They'd have a job doing that on an Embraer E-190 in BA Cityflyers case.

However you've got a better Lounge prior to boarding and regular top up's onboard.

 

[Trackman]

Isn't today meant to be the official launch date?

Yes, didn't get off to good start for Gary Neville this morning as they forgot to load the cutlery packs!

On a Euston - Manchester 11 coach service this morning, told that as of today only coaches J and K are First, G and H both now Standard Premium.

Had a message from a friend traveling from Manchester to London that the service he is on is 2 x Standard premium carriage and was clearly announced as being the "new setup"

G will be converted to standard in the upcoming 11-car refurbs.

 

[superalbs]

Yes, didn't get off to good start for Gary Neville this morning as they forgot to load the cutlery packs!




G will be converted to standard in the upcoming 11-car refurbs.

Was just expecting some sort of press release, but nothing!

 

[Hawkwood Junc]

I'll be in First on the way back from Birmingham this Sunday. Will report back on the weekend service. At the time of booking (couple of weeks ago) only Coach K was reservable on my service.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'll be in First on the way back from Birmingham this Sunday. Will report back on the weekend service. At the time of booking (couple of weeks ago) only Coach K was reservable on my service.

Staff won't be happy losing their nice messroom!

 

[station_road]

Good service on return from Manchester - printed menu handed out from trolley with water service (from large bottles into real glasses) and Prosseco, then tea and cofee, then orders for food. Both First coaches very busy, but the whole train was (Creamfields in Manchester at the weekend, I suspect)

 

[Carlisle]

(Creamfields in Manchester at the weekend, I suspect)

That was a fortnight ago .

 

[Starmill]

One of the biggest problems appears to be locating the Standard Premium Advance. It is frequently being hidden by the availability of a lower priced Standard advance, because technically it is still a Standard ticket.

For example if you want to go from Manchester to London this Friday afternoon you're offered these choices by the NRE app:




A Standard Advance for £49.20, a Standard Off Peak at £66.10, a First Advance at £129.30, a First Off Peak at £163.10.

But if you then select all outward fares, you actually can see the Standard Premium Advance:

Standard Premium Advance £74.20

Also note just how high those prices are.

 

[Trackman]

Was just expecting some sort of press release, but nothing!

Nothing on Twitter either, unless they seeing how it goes then have a launch day. I'd be making a song and dance about it from the off.

That was a fortnight ago .

Think it was Parklife (Heaton Park?) sadly read about a stabbing this morning.

 

[furgus2]

Staff won't be happy losing their nice messroom!

Very true
Personally, on the very few occasions over the years when I had to sit in K, I really disliked the experience. It felt quite claustrophobic to me plus the noise from the kitchen when the door was open. However, back on topic, I’ve looked at booking 1st class tickets for more than one date and the default seems to be to allocate a seat in K but when trying to change it to J, it comes up that this coach is not available for that type of ticket. Does this mean that at some times that K is the only 1st class accommodatio?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Very true
Personally, on the very few occasions over the years when I had to sit in K, I really disliked the experience. It felt quite claustrophobic to me plus the noise from the kitchen when the door was open. However, back on topic, I’ve looked at booking 1st class tickets for more than one date and the default seems to be to allocate a seat in K but when trying to change it to J, it comes up that this coach is not available for that type of ticket. Does this mean that at some times that K is the only 1st class accommodatio?

I get the impression than on 11 car sets it's J and K but only K on 9 car sets.

If SP is really successful they really do need to consider resetting that to 1st and getting rid of "full service" 1st, surely. K isn't great for full 1st as it's mostly airline seats.

 

[p.d87]

The default 1st class should be J&K weekdays. K only at weekends. Some deviations will apply.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

The default 1st class should be J&K weekdays. K only at weekends. Some deviations will apply.

How absolutely ridiculous. One (barely even) half carriage on an eleven car train on weekends?!

 

[roversfan2001]

How absolutely ridiculous. One (barely even) half carriage on an eleven car train on weekends?!

If all First Class passengers fit in half a carriage on weekends, why would they allocate more of the train to First?

 

[Bletchleyite]

How absolutely ridiculous. One (barely even) half carriage on an eleven car train on weekends?!

In line with demand.

 

[CyrusWuff]

One of the biggest problems appears to be locating the Standard Premium Advance. It is frequently being hidden by the availability of a lower priced Standard advance, because technically it is still a Standard ticket.

Another issue is that they're still marked as Standard coaches in the reservations system, so (for example) Trainsplit's seat selector will show the seats as being available but (correctly) throws an error if you try to select one against a Standard ticket.

 

[p.d87]

How absolutely ridiculous. One (barely even) half carriage on an eleven car train on weekends?!

Forgot to mention, I believe the first 6 seats In J including the wheelchair area have been mentioned to remain as 1st at weekends however this may have been changed

 

[Ianno87]

Forgot to mention, I believe the first 6 seats In J including the wheelchair area have been mentioned to remain as 1st at weekends however this may have been changed

As per the other discussion, you would have to have enough proper first class to include at least one wheelchair space.

 

[jon0844]

I have conflicted views on this. I am happy to pay a reasonable premium to get first class seating but none of the extras.
My concern is that unlike on say eurostar where you can book any if the three classes in any of the trains, room permitting if course, with this you need to know if the train will be a pendolino or a voyager, and if a pendolino is it going to have one, two or anything in between coaches given over to 1st or SP.
It is this that causes the confusion, not the number of classes per se.

I want the seat and room more than some freebies that I may or may not want. What I would like even more is that once you've paid for standard premium, you could perhaps get a voucher code for 5 or 10% off anything you order with the at-seat service. That could also entice people to spend a little more!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I want the seat and room more than some freebies that I may or may not want. What I would like even more is that once you've paid for standard premium, you could perhaps get a voucher code for 5 or 10% off anything you order with the at-seat service. That could also entice people to spend a little more!

TBH I wish First Class was German style - same as SP but with at-seat service of paid-for buffet items, ideally on proper crockery etc.

 

[Grumpy Git]

TBH I wish First Class was German style - same as SP but with at-seat service of paid-for buffet items, ideally on proper crockery etc.

May I refer you to my previous post #1,008?

 

[Bletchleyite]

May I refer you to my previous post #1,008?

Clearly we agree!

To be fair SP does have at seat service of buffet stuff as Standard now does too, but the "proper crockery" thing is a nice touch, as would be going round taking orders rather than having to faff about connecting your phone to the wifi etc.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

The menu aside, I'm still failing to see what the difference between First and Standard Premium is now other than food, drink and use of a lounge when it's open. It really does seem like the extra money paid for First goes towards a small plate of pea gnocchi, a glass of prosecco and the option to sit and have a biscuit in a waiting room when I arrive.

I'm not expecting anything grand, I just don't understand why that would cause a ticket to be £175 rather than £90, for example. Eighty-five pounds for a glass or two of cheap prosecco and a meal with no meat in it? It would cost less to buy three or four three-course meals from Cote Brasserie!

 

[D6130]

Good service on return from Manchester - printed menu handed out from trolley with water service (from large bottles into real glasses) and Prosseco, then tea and cofee, then orders for food. Both First coaches very busy, but the whole train was (Creamfields in Manchester at the weekend, I suspect)

Surely the tea and coffee should come after the food and not before?

 

[station_road]

Surely the tea and coffee should come after the food and not before?

I got off before the food service, assume there was a drinks trolley and more tea and coffee later

 

[STINT47]

Surely the tea and coffee should come after the food and not before?

At the prices now being charged I would expect the tea and coffee to come on demand when a passenger requests it.

 

[Furrball]

IF standard premium takes off they need to come up with a way of people on flex tickets being able to prebook & select seats. Out & return Advance fares come in at higher price than an off peak return on a lot of journeys at the moment