Weekend 1st upgrade with standard priv

I guess this has been done to death. But I'm travelling on Sat 20/5 Liv-Eus.
Bought my off peak return priv. Looking to upgrade to 1st. Can I do this on board and how much is it return. Cheers

Yes, on board is fine (subject to seats being available).
It's £20 each way. Though the guard might see the Priv and forget to charge you, as he is so busy.

Lad Brookes said:

Yes, on board is fine (subject to seats being available).
It's £20 each way. Though the guard might see the Priv and forget to charge you, as he is so busy.

Click to expand...

Only if you work for West Coast!
I have always (okay both times) been charged weekend first when travelling on VWC with a Priv because I work for a 'lower' TOC, and yes one of them did say that!

455driver said:

Only if you work for West Coast!
I have always (okay both times) been charged weekend first when travelling on VWC with a Priv because I work for a 'lower' TOC, and yes one of them did say that!

Click to expand...

Unlucky then. I've been up-graded on my NR ID, and I don't get Priv.

On a recent journey the guard checking tickets advised me (and my wife) that we should have sat in 1st with our Priv tickets. This is the first time in 17 years that such a thing has happened to me (other than a couple telling me I didn't need to buy tickets) so it is far from common in my experience, and should not be expected.

I had a similar experience a couple of years ago, my wife suffered from her medical condition flare up on arrival at Euston I put get in the first carriage ( first class) of the Pendo, then went to find the TM in coach C, showed him my Dated Priv and quickly explained what I'd done and that we would move to standard once she recovered. Was told in no uncertain terms to stay put in First , and asked why had I dated the Priv box!

Thanks for all your replies

Was told in no uncertain terms to stay put in First , and asked why had I dated the Priv box!

Click to expand...

G'day

Back in the 1980's it was amazing how far you could travel on a Harringay Stadium (now Harringay Green Lanes) to Willesden Jct residential pass.

Cheers
DJ737
Melbourne, Australia

455driver said:

Only if you work for West Coast!
I have always (okay both times) been charged weekend first when travelling on VWC with a Priv because I work for a 'lower' TOC, and yes one of them did say that!

Click to expand...

I've probably roughly travelled with VT, as many times as XC whilst using my Std Priv to buy a priv off peak ticket.

In my experience... XC have charged me roughly 75% of the time. Excluding one "incident", whereby, upon leaving Wolverhampton on a Saturday afternoon in an extremely quiet First Class carriage (on a 220/221) and presenting my priv return, whilst asking to upgrade, the TM in no uncertain terms told me that I should have told him that I wasn't a First Class ticket holder when I saw him by the carriage door. He was one of the rudest members of staff I've ever encountered.
I once was travelling between Bristol Temple M and Birmingham New Street and eventually got charged to upgrade, as we passed through Longbridge- the TM had been having issues with her machine.

VT on the other hand have only ever once charged me (Wolverhampton based TM I believe)- On an admittedly busy Class 221 working, however, I didn't appreciate his comment of "everybody's got to pay", after I (tongue in cheek) mentioned that it was the very first time, out of dozens of journeys on VT, that I've ever been charged. They then went on to later on in the journey refrain from charging staff from another TOC, as they knew them. I've even had a few Wolves VT TMs jokingly say to me "don't be silly" as I offered to pay them to upgrade before this journey, so I suppose it just depends on how kind the TM is.

voyagerdude220 said:

Excluding one "incident", whereby, upon leaving Wolverhampton on a Saturday afternoon in an extremely quiet First Class carriage (on a 220/221) and presenting my priv return, whilst asking to upgrade, the TM in no uncertain terms told me that I should have told him that I wasn't a First Class ticket holder when I saw him by the carriage door.

Click to expand...

What utter tosh from that TM - the way weekend first works is you take a vacant seat and upgrade when the conductor/guard comes round.

Mag_seven said:

What utter tosh from that TM - the way weekend first works is you take a vacant seat and upgrade when the conductor/guard comes round.

Click to expand...

Indeed and as the TM knew they were dealing with a member of staff, I don't see why they tried to convince me that this wasn't the case.

He was an extremely rude, aggressive person- certainly not a good ambassador for his TOC.

Had I not been a member of staff myself, I would have reported the issue to XC.

455driver said:

Only if you work for West Coast!
I have always (okay both times) been charged weekend first when travelling on VWC with a Priv because I work for a 'lower' TOC, and yes one of them did say that!

Click to expand...

Sounds like you did pretty well. When I worked for them, even their own staff on non-permanent contracts weren't eligible for any travel benefits beyond the Priv discount. Don't really buy into this superior, lesser TOC crap, especially when their employment T&Cs are pretty poor for some grades.

That said, I've always found their guards to be friendly and welcoming, particularly the London crew.

I travel approx monthly from Reading to Lancaster via xcountry and Virgin, I have been charged weekend first once by Virgin Woverhampton based TM after the previous tm had already checked my ticket. He was very grumpy & it was a busy service. Otherwise staff have always been friendly and kind. Guess the process is be willing to pay when asked and really appreciate it when fellow staff are generous.