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East Coast V East Midlands

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stuartmoss

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Hi All, i'm just looking at travelling down to London from Leeds later this month on a Sunday, but going First Class. I've seen an East Midlands journey for £31.00 and an East Coast for £44.00. I know the East Midlands journey is longer, but I'm just wondering how the 1st class services compare, i.e. complimentary food, internet etc? Any advice appreciated.

Cheers.
 
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MidnightFlyer

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EMT gets you a free cup of tea / coffee and free WiFi. EC gives you free tea / coffee, light snacks, free WiFi and access to first class lounges.
 

calc7

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EMT gets you a free cup of tea / coffee and free WiFi. EC gives you free tea / coffee, light snacks, free WiFi and access to first class lounges.

Not on Advance First tickets. Though I would suggest in such instances to get a 'friend' to sign up to EC rewards and print you a voucher with their 100 introductory reward points.
 

Yew

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You can buy reasonably priced meals fromEMT though, and they are good too. If its not a breakfast or dinner service I would be tempted to the emt route

EDIT : didn't realise it was a Sunday :(. It will be free rail gourmet tea/coffee and stuff to buy off the standard trolley
 
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Bungle73

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You can a proper meal (of sorts) on EC as well
Not on Advance First tickets. Though I would suggest in such instances to get a 'friend' to sign up to EC rewards and print you a voucher with their 100 introductory reward points.

Not anymore you can't. The buy-in is only £5 though
 

philjo

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The OP is travelling on a Sunday so it will be the weekend offering.
 

stuartmoss

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Thanks for all replies.

Telstarbox - it is a direct service from Leeds, no changes. Will that be a 125?

I won't need to use the 1st class lounge at Leeds so that's OK.

I have had the weekend EC 1st class snacks before and thought they were excellent. Beef sandwich, cake, crisps, biscuits, coffees and bottles of water, that plus the free wi-fi, added comfort and lack of crowding made it a sound choice for me previously. I haven't booked yet, I'm waiting to see if anyone can make the case for East Midlands :D
 

Bungle73

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The OP is travelling on a Sunday so it will be the weekend offering.

Oh, I missed that. I keep forgetting about the weekend offering because I've only ever travelled during the week.
 

DarloRich

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It should be an EMT HST off Leeds for St Pancras. I have done that trip twice in FC. It is very comfy being the old style HST seat.

It is worth a run out just for a change of scene and you get a couple of free brews and a square of cake
 

stuartmoss

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DarloRich - Yes I agree the change of scenery would be nice, and I do prefer the 125s, and as there will be two of us travelling it would be a saving of £26, so I guess I need to ask myself is the sandwich, crisps, biscuits, bottled water and faster journey worth the extra?

The other thing to consider is the reliability of the internet on these trains, I personally haven't been let down by East Coast yet (although I know others that have).
 

pdq

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I went on the EMT last year. It was interminable slow and all I remember is thinking "I'd be there by now if I'd gone EC." I wasn't offered any refreshments over a cup of tea or two.
 

telstarbox

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The refreshments on EMT are poor but the Leeds-London services are HSTs (125s) which are very comfy in FC. You still get the free Wi-Fi so you could use the price saving to treat yourself in M&S!
 

notoemt

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First class is likely to be fuller than usual on EMT due to the weekend upgrades of £9.

Says it all about StP when the cheapest place in there is M&S.
 

asylumxl

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Take EMT. People berate it all the time but I have had many good experiences with them and found their staff to be lovely. I am not the kind of person who travels First Class for the food/drink anyway.

£26 pounds is a lot of money to save, and could buy you a proper meal instead of a few complimentary drinks and snacks.

Being my local line, I also feel the MML offers some nice scenery in places, more so than the ECML.
 

Skymonster

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EMT weekend - the HST will be comfortable, never had a problem with the wifi, it won't be too busy because they don't seem to get many weekend first upgraders (they don't even seem to announce it much and at £9 each way I'm not convinced its a good offer anymore - first advance is rarely £9 more than standard anyway), but the journey is lomger than EC and catering will be carp as the weekend complimentary offer is only a free tea/instant coffee from the RailGourmless trolley

Andy
 

ashworth

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My experience with EMT First Class is that it can get quite full at weekends. That is certainly the case when travelling between Nottingham and London. With Saturday Advance Tickets often being at the most only £5 extra to travel First Class I usually do this for the extra comfort even if you don't get any complimentary refreshments.
The only downside I have found with EMT at weekends is the number of families with noisy children that take advantage of the cheap First Class travel! I thought I could travel First Class to avoid that!
 

stuartmoss

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The only downside I have found with EMT at weekends is the number of families with noisy children that take advantage of the cheap First Class travel! I thought I could travel First Class to avoid that!

In that case I'm DEFINITELY paying extra to go East Coast - I'm going to escape my noisy lot!
 

MidnightFlyer

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My experience with EMT First Class is that it can get quite full at weekends. That is certainly the case when travelling between Nottingham and London.

That's true of the stopper in any class on any day of the week ;)
 
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