Club Avanti to launch

[Jimini]

I wonder what the criteria is, I’ll keep booking with them and hope for the best!

21+ trips in a 12-month period was the threshold for my one I think it said. We probably manage that between the two of us in a month!

 

[jfollows]

I wonder what the criteria is, I’ll keep booking with them and hope for the best!

I think it's "criterion" in the singular; nonetheless I got my invitation following two return tickets for two people in February and April, so it's not a high bar to getting the invitation.

 

[XAM2175]

I wonder what the criteria is, I’ll keep booking with them and hope for the best!

I had an invite to Silver level come on the 9th, and my history with them in the last year has only been seven mostly-low-value bookings (apart from a London-Glasgow trip in SP for three adults last month) so either they're just firing the invites out randomly or there's some extra hidden criteria. It does occur to me, for example, that my customer account with Avanti is a continuation of the one I had with Virgin since early 2012.

EDIT: I've just seen in the invitation email a line saying "take nine trips a year and move up to Gold membership", but that still doesn't indicate how you get invited in the first place!

 

[Jimini]

I had an invite to Silver level come on the 9th, and my history with them in the last year has only been seven mostly-low-value bookings (apart from a London-Glasgow trip in SP for three adults last month) so either they're just firing the invites out randomly or there's some extra hidden criteria. It does occur to me, for example, that my customer account with Avanti is a continuation of the one I had with Virgin since early 2012.

EDIT: I've just seen in the invitation email a line saying "take nine trips a year and move up to Gold membership", but that still doesn't indicate how you get invited in the first place!

I think it’s automatic based on your journey history when booking through their app / website? Could be wrong though. We both got our emails pretty much at the same time — worth noting however that you have to be opted in to marketing emails as part of your profile / account in order for the invite to land.

 

[VideozVideoz]

Has anyone succeeded in being invited for this?

I booked several train journeys with Avanti over the past week or so (including one return of quite substantial value) using their website and I’ve not had anything through - is the “qualifying” number set really high?

Yes, I’m in

 

[RAPC]

Finally got my Silver invitation yesterday. Had circa 25 qualifying returns booked and completed to date this year, so past bookings didn't count for much in my case. Still, better than nothing.

 

[Chiltern006]

i got a silver invitation after making a new account for a single crewe-euston in standard premium. tried to redeem my free hot drink in my welcome email and the staff had no idea about it whatsoever

 

[Chrism20]

Daft question but does the clock start when you enrol in gathering your eight journeys Or are previous journeys so far this year included? im probably missing something but the details on things like this seem a bit sketchy

 

[Chiltern006]

mine started when i signed up to the club, but i’m not too sure on the journeys within a year

 

[Johnny Lewis]

I have also been invited (and accepted), despite only having made one booking with AWC in over a year - and that was for a journey on LNER which in the end I didn't make! The only reason I booked with AWC was, for some reason I couldn't get the LNER website or app to work on the day I was trying to book my ticket. So clearly anyone who has had dealings with AWC is going to be invited, regardless of whether they're frequent travellers with Avanti or not!

 

[Kite159]

I got invited but didn't bother trying to see if I would get accepted, and like with Johnny above me, I've only ever booked one service using the Avanti website, and that was last December time (can't remember why I didn't use Trainsplit), due to XC cutting back a Bournemouth - Manchester train to Birmingham with pretty much no onward connections.

These days Avanti costs too much.

 

[Chiltern006]

i must say ever since standard premium launched, first class prices have been massively risen. previously you could find a good deal in first, often only a few pounds more than standard.

fares can be relatively cheap depending on when you book. for example if you book London-Glasgow around 10 weeks in advance you can easily get it for around £32-33

 

[MKB]

Still no invite for me, despite marketing/comms preferences set correctly, 10+ years of Traveller membership, and a couple of dozen bookings direct via the Avanti website in the past year. (I travelled much more, but I normally book through LNER for their cashback.)

My partner, who has no Avanti bookings in the past year, has had an invite. Go figure!

 

[Huntergreed]

i must say ever since standard premium launched, first class prices have been massively risen. previously you could find a good deal in first, often only a few pounds more than standard.

Indeed, the current SP prices aren’t far off what the first prices used to be, and first now has a massive premium (frankly, I’d be expecting a full 3 course meal with wine on every pendolino given current first class prices!)

fares can be relatively cheap depending on when you book. for example if you book London-Glasgow around 10 weeks in advance you can easily get it for around £32-33

Indeed - however they’re a lot harder to come by than they used to be!