First Class lounges why pay?

[Failed Unit]

To prevent a thread going off topic, East Coast and MML now charge to use first class lounges if you have AP tickets.

I don't see an awful lot of point at St Pancras, there are so many nice places to wait anyway.

At other stations where would you rather pay to relax rather than the £5 entry fee that the TOCs charge. At Edinburgh Waverley I think I would go for Cafe Nero as it is not as exposed as the Costa and you can get a tea / coffee and a snack and still have change from your £5. At other station on the ECML I can't really think of anywhere nice to sit, I guess Kings Cross will have many options once it is completed.

Likewise other than St Pancras are a there any lounge avoiding places that will get you change from your £5?

 

[Flamingo]

You can use the FGW 1st class lounge at Pad for £10 if you do not have a !st class ticket. Otherwise free.

 

[Failed Unit]

You can use the FGW 1st class lounge at Pad for £10 if you do not have a !st class ticket. Otherwise free.

Good that they offer standard class passengers the option, Paddington is another station with excellant retail alternatives as well.

 

[TEW]

However the First Class Lounge there is also very nice.

 

[Dennis]

East Coast and MML now charge to use first class lounges if you have AP tickets.

So you pay for a first class ticket and cannot recieve all of the benefits without a surcharge. What's next on the agenda? Cutting freebie snacks and drinks, charging first class AP ticket holders more to sit down?

 

[EM2]

EMT never used to let you in the lounge *at all* on an AP. This is an improved service!

 

[DaveNewcastle]

First Class lounges why pay?

The answer to that question depends on you having the right question!!!

Suppose a group of people from several UK locations wanted to meet to discuss something - a brief meeting, but one which would be easier, or necessary, to conduct in person.
So an administrative person has to find and then book a conference room in an hotel in some city near a station - provide directions and book it all in advance.
Or, (using Newcastle as my obvious example), simply meet in the conference room above the first class lounge in Newcastle on Platform 3.
Quick, easy, cheap, confidential.
Everyone can get away within minutes of the meeting ending. £5 a head for APs is well worth it.

I regret that this thread is another one which fails to quantify the market demand - like those threads that want something for its own sake without knowing if there is a demand.

 

[Dennis]

EMT never used to let you in the lounge *at all* on an AP. This is an improved service!

Didn't know that.

Never having been in a FC lounge, what do you get for a fiver?

 

[Scotty]

You can use the FGW 1st class lounge at Pad for £10 if you do not have a !st class ticket. Otherwise free.

Could you not buy a first class ticket for less than £10 and get in?

 

[Butts]

I hope Virgin don't jump on this bandwagon

Or all the beggars like me with Advanced 1st Tickets will be out in the cold

 

[cuccir]

I paid in very specific circumstances: when flying into London and travelling onwards by train. I wanted to build in enough time to allow for flight delays. Having the first class lounge tickets for kings cross guarenteed an activity to fill some of the time. Given that even with the first class lounge supplement I paid significantly less than a walk on single, i was quite happy!

 

[YorkshireRider]

EMT never used to let you in the lounge *at all* on an AP. This is an improved service!

Likewise EC and NXEC and GNER before them, its only recently EC have offered this option, it was always the first open/anytime tickets only in the lounges

 

[TEW]

Could you not buy a first class ticket for less than £10 and get in?

A single from London Paddington-Acton Main Line would only cost £5.10.

 

[SS4]

I hope Virgin don't jump on this bandwagon

Or all the beggars like me with Advanced 1st Tickets will be out in the cold

Same here, the danger to the customer is that once one TOC does it the rest will jump on the bandwagon, especially since there isn't any competition for the lounges.

It is a disgrace though, Advance 1st is still a 1st. Given the expense of station retail outlets it is still a reasonable price to sit down, get a cup of tea/coffee and read the paper.

 

[142094]

Dave has hit the nail on the head - some people are willing to pay for the service, so let them if they want to. Same as that discussion earlier on in the year about using thetrainline.com - even though it charged more and when we pointed out using a TOC website, the guy still said he would use thetrainline

 

[bengolding]

When I was a GNERtime Privilege member, that allowed me entry into all of their Lounges with any ticket, which was great. Nowadays, whenever I use the Kings Cross Lounge, it is pretty empty even at peak times but it's nice to get the exclusivity over Lounges with less restrictive policies like Euston. Busy London termini such as these have a great selelection of SSP outlets, and it is even better value with 20% off using a Bitecard.

 

[Failed Unit]

Everyone can get away within minutes of the meeting ending. £5 a head for APs is well worth it.

I would love to use that option from time to time, the trouble is my collegues are often not using East Coast tickets so although I can get in, the XC mob can. :cry:

The thread title is probably not what it should be, maybe I should have asked the question where else would you spend you £5 instead of the lounge, at Newcastle if I recall we have the pub and Darlington the cafe.

I would certainly pay the £5 if I was hanging around for more than 30 minutes, as I would feel it was unreasonable to sit in somewhere such as Pret-a-manger for more than that amount of time to have a hot drink & snack. I would also be more than happy to pay if I was needing to do some work, as again I don't think that it is correct to do that in very public places. I also strongly suspect that my works policy would frown on working in a cafe but be OK with a lounge. I don't know why because both are public places but I guess it is because of a degree of screening in the lounge. I know you had not interpreted the question as don't bother with lounges at all, but I feel I must also redress the balance that I can see why people would want to pay even if not everyone.

The other prickly issue is the entrances, but this has got covered so many times. Someone with a £160 AP ticket for East Coast is not allowed in Newcastle lounge without the supplement but people with a 1st class ticket between Newcastle and Durham. I know GNER initially stopped the lowest AP tiers and an answer to this will never be found but some AP tickets are worth a lot of money (so why moan at an extra £5 )

 

[cuccir]

The thread title is probably not what it should be, maybe I should have asked the question where else would you spend you £5 instead of the lounge, at Newcastle if I recall we have the pub and Darlington the cafe.

It dependd on who your with and how heavy your bags are. With my mates at Newcastle I'd probably rather spend £5 in the Head of Steam, but with I was with my Gran I'd probably opt for the First Class Lounge (hypothetically; I'm not sure why I'd ever be on a first class train ticket at Newcastle station with my zimmer frame-using Gran who lives in Cumbria, but that's beside the point). Similarly at Kings Cross if I were to have heavy bags I might plump for it, but if not then I'd rather spend nothing and go to the British Library for an hour! The point is that this service is clearly useful in some circumstances, not in others.

Dave has hit the nail on the head - some people are willing to pay for the service, so let them if they want to. Same as that discussion earlier on in the year about using thetrainline.com - even though it charged more and when we pointed out using a TOC website, the guy still said he would use thetrainline

But you're not necessarily even paying more. If I buy a £5 first class supplement at King's Cross to go with my £29.35 railcard first class advance to Durham, then I'm still paying significantly less than the cheapest walk on fare, and less than some of the poorer value standard class advances.

 

[Flamingo]

Could you not buy a first class ticket for less than £10 and get in?

There aren't any

 

[142094]

But you're not necessarily even paying more. If I buy a £5 first class supplement at King's Cross to go with my £29.35 railcard first class advance to Durham, then I'm still paying significantly less than the cheapest walk on fare, and less than some of the poorer value standard class advances.

But you're still paying an extra £5 on top just to go into the lounge, and you'll still be able to get the complimentary tea/coffee/biscuits on the train. At most stations on the EC route the first class lounges are comparable to the pubs and cafes.

I guess it depends on how long you are waiting - normally I would try and get to the station in enough time but not hours beforehand. Wonder how many people turn up a few hours before and try and get their way through a few coffees and other stuff (if they're not there for work/conferencing pruposes of course).

 

[Clip]

It is a bit cheeky to charge for it. EC shouldve just stuck with how they had it before. Less bad press about them 'money grabbing' then.

 

[talltim]

There aren't any

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=593532&postcount=13
although don't quote me on the accuracy
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The bit I don't understand is, for example at Sheffield the (new) 1st lounge is on platforms 3/5 So you're sitting there in the height of luxury, grinding some poor people beneath your heel and you find out your train is on platform 6 7 or 8. That not very convenient is it? Also, I'm rarely at a station long enough to use the proletariate waiting room, so why would you get to the station any earlier just because you travel 1st?

 

[Failed Unit]

It is a bit cheeky to charge for it. EC shouldve just stuck with how they had it before. Less bad press about them 'money grabbing' then.

It was overcrowding at kings cross that cause the AP ban. Originally only at Kx and then all stations. The east coast charge was to get the APs back in. As I said earlier whats another £5 when you AP is already > £160

 

[gnolife]

if i was travelling from say, Newcastle to Chester-le-Street, traveling with TPX using a first Anytime single costing £5.80, would that be allowed into the first class lounge, or would i be turned away because it isnt an EC ticket?

 

[Failed Unit]

if i was travelling from say, Newcastle to Chester-le-Street, traveling with TPX using a first Anytime single costing £5.80, would that be allowed into the first class lounge, or would i be turned away because it isnt an EC ticket?

Yes, as it isn't an east coast flow. Durham would be ok. Same story at others such as London - finsbury park cant be used at Kx and Edinburgh - Haymarket at Waverley. An XC or TPE only ticket would not be valid at Newcastle.

 

[clagmonster]

Is it defined as tickets valid on East Coast services, tickets priced by East Coast or something else. If the former, then surely Waverly-Haymarket would get you in because it would be valid on Inverness/Aberdeen/Glasgow services.

 

[Failed Unit]

Is it defined as tickets valid on East Coast services, tickets priced by East Coast or something else. If the former, then surely Waverly-Haymarket would get you in because it would be valid on Inverness/Aberdeen/Glasgow services.

I think it is tickets priced by east coast but not sure I do recall valid on the east coast route which will make the Haymarket one ok. As you say you would hope an Aberdeen ticket wouldn't be directed towards Scotrail at Edinburgh.

 

[Flamingo]

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=593532&postcount=13
although don't quote me on the accuracy

I stand corrected

 

[DaveNewcastle]

It dependd on who your with and how heavy your bags are. With my mates at Newcastle I'd probably rather spend £5 in the Head of Steam, . . . . . Similarly at Kings Cross if I were to have heavy bags I might plump for it, but if not then I'd rather spend nothing and go to the British Library for an hour! The point is that this service is clearly useful in some circumstances, not in others.

Exactly!

We really should compile a useful guide to 'comfortable places to wait' near all major interchanges and with variations for heavy luggage, meetings, grannys etc.

@CucciR
You've made some excellent choices there! Some of us met in London today and considered the British Library but instead went to a pub. Some visiting Newcastle might go to Head of Steam pub but not know of the Lit and Phil Library (both alongside the station). There are good places to wait and to meet if you know about them - if you don't, a First Class Lounge isn't a bad option.

 

[The Decapod]

I think that waiting facilities is one area which could be improved a lot - in particular for people waiting between trains. I think that waiting rooms should be at least as comfortable as trains - with upholstered seats rather than hard ones, for a start. After all it's part of the journey and fares aren't cheap.