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LNER First Class cheaper than standard, surely an error?

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Tomp94

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My Friend has just purchased a first class ticket from Newcastle to Huntington for £30.00. This was cheaper than a standard class ticket for the same journey on the same train.

The price has now changed, so the first class ticket is just a couple of pounds more expensive than in first class.

Surely this was an error on LNER's part?


I will be making the same journey in standard class but continuing to Kings Cross (Friend gets off at Peterborough) but if I wanted first class, it'd cost me nearly £70, more than double what I paid for the standard class advance fare. Or I can upgrade on the day for £45

If I buy a first class ticket, is the first class only valid on the LNER train, or will it include first class on the Southern connection from London Victoria to Worthing?
 
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The_Train

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My only experience of 1st class rail travel came because whilst split ticketing it was shown that a journey between Peterborough and Stafford (change at Birmingham) was cheaper in 1st class than in standard on Cross Country. I still have no clue as to why that was but it worked well as the 170 out of Peterborough was rammed except in 1st class :)
 

hexagon789

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My Friend has just purchased a first class ticket from Newcastle to Huntington for £30.00. This was cheaper than a standard class ticket for the same journey on the same train.

The price has now changed, so the first class ticket is just a couple of pounds more expensive than in first class.

Surely this was an error on LNER's part?


I will be making the same journey in standard class but continuing to Kings Cross (Friend gets off at Peterborough) but if I wanted first class, it'd cost me nearly £70, more than double what I paid for the standard class advance fare. Or I can upgrade on the day for £45

If I buy a first class ticket, is the first class only valid on the LNER train, or will it include first class on the Southern connection from London Victoria to Worthing?

If it's an advance it's perfectly possible that first could be cheaper than standard. The cheapest tier of standard class tickets may have sold out and the next cheapest could be dearer than the cheapest first class ones for example.
 

SteveM70

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I had a similar thing on GWR between Penzance and Newton Abbot last autumn. First class was from memory £13 advance, standard was £23. No idea of the logic that causes that to happen
 

Tomp94

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If it's an advance it's perfectly possible that first could be cheaper than standard. The cheapest tier of standard class tickets may have sold out and the next cheapest could be dearer than the cheapest first class ones for example.
But by default I thought first class was meant to be MUCH more expensive than standard
 

Belperpete

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But by default I thought first class was meant to be MUCH more expensive than standard
Not with Advance fares, and particularly at weekends, when first Advances may be priced based on the standard Advance fare plus the weekend first upgrade.

Advance fares are sold in batches, as each batch is sold out, so the next, more expensive batch becomes available. As more and more tickets are sold, so the Advance tickets get more and more expensive, similar to airplane tickets. So an Advance ticket may be on sale for a certain price now, but may well cost more in an hour or twos time. Note: this only applies to Advance fares - the "walk-up" fares (anytime, off-peak and super-offpeak fares) don't change, and with these fares first-class is usually significantly more expensive.

There are separate batches for standard and first class, so if the current standard class batch sells out, then the next batch may well be more expensive than the current first-class batch. This frequently happens, so when buying Advance tickets it pays to keep an eye on the first-class fares as you can often get a real bargain.

And if you have a first-class ticket, it is valid in first-class for the whole journey - assuming that first-class is available on the connecting legs. A lot of the perks of first-class are not available at weekends.
 

yorkie

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My Friend has just purchased a first class ticket from Newcastle to Huntington for £30.00. This was cheaper than a standard class ticket for the same journey on the same train.

The price has now changed, so the first class ticket is just a couple of pounds more expensive than in first class.

Surely this was an error on LNER's part?
It is not an error; if customers purchase the cheaper standard class tickets at a faster rate than the 1st class fares are sold, then this will happen.

I will be making the same journey in standard class but continuing to Kings Cross (Friend gets off at Peterborough) but if I wanted first class, it'd cost me nearly £70, more than double what I paid for the standard class advance fare. Or I can upgrade on the day for £45

If I buy a first class ticket, is the first class only valid on the LNER train, or will it include first class on the Southern connection from London Victoria to Worthing?
A first class ticket to Worthing would be valid in 1st class all the way to Worthing.
 

DelW

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I wouldn't get too excited about travelling in first class on Southern - on many of their trains, the first class seats are exactly the same as standard (except for an antimacassar on the headrest). The only advantage of first is that it should be less crowded on peak services.
 

plugwash

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But by default I thought first class was meant to be MUCH more expensive than standard
As a rule of thumb for otherwise equivalent tickets first class is usually somewhere around twice the price of standard. Furthermore on many routes there are no first class off-peak tickets, so if you are travelling off-peak on a walk-up basis then first class can be a heck of a lot more expensive than standard.

However the difference between the cheapest and most expensive tranches of advance tickets of the same class can easilly be more than a factor of 2 and first and standard class advance tickets have seperate quotas. According to brfares, standard class advance tickets on that route range from £17.60 to £75 , while the first class advance fares range from £46 to £187.

Does your friend have a railcard? If they do and the cheapest block of first class advance tickets had not sold out then that would explain their ~£30 first class fare.
 

47271

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Happens all the time with Advances. Or First is just a pound or two more. Don't overthink it, enjoy it when it presents itself.

The 2007 Euston-Liverpool used to be cheaper in First more times than not a few years ago. Work patterns mean that I don't use it so much now so I'm sure if this is still the case.
 

stut

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Happens all the time. I used to be an expert at seeking out services where 1st was cheaper, in order to satisfy the only criterion that would let me travel 1st for work...

(Used to work on Premium Economy for flights, too...)
 

SickyNicky

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We always offer the first class ticket if it's the same price or cheaper, by default. The customer can still choose to travel in standard if they wish! Surely other websites do as well?
 
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