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1st class tickets (advance)

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martyn29

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Does anyone know what the best value ticket is, Ie the furthest you can get or that includes food?

Many thanks
 
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voyagerdude220

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If that's considered to be the one to go for, i'd just like to add that I'm not 100% sure whether the 18:40 Glasgow to Euston Pendo actually offers the evening meal, as the timetable states that it doesn't, despite it indeed leaving between 16:00 & 19:00.

Hopefully someone can confirm if it does. :D
 

bengolding

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If that's considered to be the one to go for, i'd just like to add that I'm not 100% sure whether the 18:40 Glasgow to Euston Pendo actually offers the evening meal, as the timetable states that it doesn't, despite it indeed leaving between 16:00 & 19:00.

Hopefully someone can confirm if it does. :D

The 18:40 doesn't offer the hot option. Patronage on that train in First is always low due to late arrival into Euston, so doesn't merit the hot option. I normally travel on Open tickets so opt for earlier services with faster journey tims than this one at just under 5 hours, but you can get very cheap First AP singles on this train.

I've travelled twice during that timeframe, on the 16:40, which offers the hot option until Preston. Service by the Scotish crew is excellent, so I'd opt for that service. As First occupancy increases southbound, I find the at-seat service south of Preston by the London-based crew isn't as attentive as from the start. If that's too late, then the 14:40 offers the hot option from Preston.
 

ChrisTheRef

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With EUS-GLC services, it's too long for one meal service, so you either get Breakfast then Light Bites or Light Bites then Evening Meal or indeed Evening Meal then Light Bites.

I'd say the 1640 is your best bet. If your meal option changes, it will change at Preston as this is where the train crew changes.
 

cyclebytrain

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1st class hosts don't change at Preston any more; that changed a couple of weeks back. They now go Glasgow to Euston then (if I remember what the host said correctly) Liverpool and back, then back to Glasgow (there's usually an extra staff member on between Preston and Euston).
 

voyagerdude220

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I've travelled twice during that timeframe, on the 16:40, which offers the hot option until Preston. Service by the Scotish crew is excellent, so I'd opt for that service. As First occupancy increases southbound, I find the at-seat service south of Preston by the London-based crew isn't as attentive as from the start.

Thanks for that, I've travelled on the 16:40 at least 6-8 times over the last few weeks and always found it to be very good.

The only time i've been on the 18:40, I had to go to the shop because we had no staff for the at seat service in FC, but I was still able to get the sandwiches etc shown on the light bites menu. I was just unsure whether or not the 18:40 was supposed to offer the evening meal, as I overheard the outward crew say that they'd leave the extra cutlery out ready for the evening meal. (I travelled out on the same set which formed the 18:40 return)
 

googolplex

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I've managed to find quite good deals with East Midlands Trains on the Midland Main Line.
I did Bedford to Nottingham at the beginning of September with First Class Advance tickets for around £30 return with a railcard, booked 2 days before departure. Prior to that the tickets were around £20-25 for a return trip.
 

googolplex

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I do like the first class seating on the FGW HSTs, however when I travelled on the Swansea to Paddington service I didn't find the service as good as on NXEC or EMT - the person didn't seem to come around as frequently. I did however like the offering of crisps in the snack selection.
I also prefer my tea or coffee in a proper mug rather than a paper cup. However saying that, NXEC occasionally have issues getting their mugs fully clean.
Another thing, which is rather niggly was that I found the power sockets to be too close to the table top, so when I was plugging my laptop in I struggled to manage it as there wasn't enough space for the cable coming out of the bottom.
Additionally, wifi would be a great addition to the service as quite a few people I noticed had laptops tethered to their phones or dongles, but the 3G coverage along the line isn't that great.
Of the 3 intercity TOCs I've experienced, I'd say FGW are very good, but I found the service with EMT to be slightly better. However that could be as when I've travelled with them I've always been in the carriage with the kitchen.
 

Greenback

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cool! I like the 1st class in FGW does anyone else think they have the best 1st class?

I preferred FGW to Virgin Pendolino 1st class, not least ebcause I could see out of the window without dislocating my neck! I haven't been in 1st for many TOC's, but I think it's the best of those I've sampled (GNER, XC & Virgin)
 
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I've used that a couple of times. I find the Manchester to Euston great value as well with 1st class tickets, the breakfast is great.
 

WillPS

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Booked some 1st Class tickets for a shopping trip to London.

£79.20 (there and back) for 3 passengers (all with 16-25 Railcard) Sheffield to London St. Pancras, which I thought was pretty good. What can I expect with EMT? Found out we're not allowed in the First class lounge which is more than a bit flipping cheeky!!
 

bengolding

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Booked some 1st Class tickets for a shopping trip to London.

£79.20 (there and back) for 3 passengers (all with 16-25 Railcard) Sheffield to London St. Pancras, which I thought was pretty good. What can I expect with EMT? Found out we're not allowed in the First class lounge which is more than a bit flipping cheeky!!

What time of day will you be travelling? You will get tea and coffee along with complimentary light snacks such as mini Eat Natural bars and still/sparkling water. Complimentary copies of the Times and FT should also be available, along with complimentary wine on services departing between 4 and 7.

There is no First Lounge at Sheffield. You can use the First Lounge at St Pancras station but for First Advance ticket holders you have to pay £5 per person to gain entry. This is a harsh policy compared to Virgin and FGW and explains why the First Lounges in the Midlands are now only open in the mornings, since EMT naturally got no custom from full fare First ticket holders in the afternoon.
 

Failed Unit

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Booked some 1st Class tickets for a shopping trip to London.

£79.20 (there and back) for 3 passengers (all with 16-25 Railcard) Sheffield to London St. Pancras, which I thought was pretty good. What can I expect with EMT? Found out we're not allowed in the First class lounge which is more than a bit flipping cheeky!!


If you think the first class lounge is cheeky on EMT, look at nationalised express' £10 charge for us mugs on East Coast. When you add this to some of thier higher priced tickets it works out at the same price as buying the open single! Makes the open single good value when you couple this with the fact that you can get an earlier train and probably wouldn't want to be hanging around in the lounge anyway for that reason.

On EMT, I can't see many people paying £5 at St Pancras. For you £5 you can buy a coffee and a snack from one of the many retail units and you have free wi-fi in the station anyway, so you are getting a better offering for less money!
 

Edvid

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I recently purchased a 1st Class single from Ipswich to London Liverpool Street for travel on October 28 - thanks to my Railcard and the 10% Advance discount via NXEC WebTIS it cost just £7.05, a pretty sweet deal even if there are no 'freebies' to go with it. (If you opt for the loco-hauled 1342 this minute, you'll actually save money by choosing 1st instead of Standard Class! ;))

Out of curiosity I've checked out prices fror Brockenhurst - London Waterloo. There are still a good handful of services running tomorrow for which the Standard/1st Class prices (including Railcard discounts again) are £8.60 (2nd tier) and £9.25 (1st tier) respectively - and the units involved should be 444s AIUI.

Southern are planning on introducing 1st Class singles themselves in future (involving 377s) - not that I'd bother with paying extra for a very similar seat. :lol:
 

Railjet

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Does anyone know what the best value ticket is, Ie the furthest you can get or that includes food?

Many thanks

Two vastly different ideas:

1. Standard class anytime return, Tame Bridge - Banbury, £7.50, then upgrade one way to 1st class. Upgrade should be £16 - £6.50, so total cost £17 including meal.

2. If/when you have more money and time, London - Salzburg 1st class is from €99 (single advance), via Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich. You can even build in two stopovers of up to 48 hours each. Some different routings are allowed, so if you buy a return ticket, you can effectively do a 1st class mini-rover for €198 including Leisure Select on Eurostar.
 
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