Lumo journey experiences

[ashkeba]

UPDATE: trolley arrived ten mins later but no hot drinks as they'd run out of cups!

Typical FirstGroup

 

[Kite159]

Almost certainly related to Lumo, but not necessarily.

I saw an advance from Grantham to Horsforth a couple of months ago which was cheaper than the Grantham-Leeds advance on the same train.

Still I was surprised at how cheap LNER were compared to Lumo. Although that might have been down to the tickets only getting released that evening.

Advance tickets are weird and wonderful in how sometimes going further is cheaper.

 

[takno]

Almost certainly related to Lumo, but not necessarily.

I saw an advance from Grantham to Horsforth a couple of months ago which was cheaper than the Grantham-Leeds advance on the same train.

Burley Park/Headingley/Horsforth always used to have cheaper walk-up fares than Leeds. I think it mostly got sorted about 15 years ago, but might be hanging around in the system somewhere.

 

[Mainline421]

They are showing as such in the planners, so given that almost nobody will use an Any Permitted walk up on it they de-facto actually are.

You can also buy Lumo-only fares without a reservation, and I wouldn't say nobody would use an any permitted ticket as they are the fastest trains for some journeys.

 

[Blindtraveler]

If London Newcastle was my regular journey then I would almost certainly be using lumo despite my my personal issues with it and if not it would be first class on on LNER as I really cannot stand those horrible standard class seats for any length of time.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You can also buy Lumo-only fares without a reservation

Only at a booking office due to the compulsory reservation flag being set.

I wouldn't say nobody would use an any permitted ticket as they are the fastest trains for some journeys.

You'd be wasting money if you did.

 

[Class 33]

I travelled with LUMO on the 1436 London King's Cross-Edinburgh service last Wednesday. As mentioned, when I booked a window seat I later discovered I was allocated a seat that wasn't really a proper window seat as there was only about half a window next to the seat! I should have booked with Trainsplit to use the seat selector function and checking I was actually booking a proper window seat. Anyway, thanks to the tip-off about checking Trainsplit before the journey to check how many and which unreserved seats are available, I was able to easily find a proper window seat for my journey. I could see on there that a lot of Coach E had the most unreserved seats for this service, and from other sources I could see which window seats were proper window seats. I checked the Realtimetrains website too for which platform it would be, which was platform 5F. This was displayed on there way before it was displayed on the Network Rail website and the departure boards! There were only a handful of people at the platform waiting for that train when I got there about 20 minutes before departure. Maybe they all checked the info on Realtimetrains too. And I just waited there by Coach E ready for the doors to open and grab a decent unreserved window seat! Thank goodness, as I would have HATED to be stuck in a seat where I couldn't see out the window for the long journey!

A good enjoyable journey up to Edinburgh, including a superb non-stop run up to Newcastle. There was only ONE very short PA announcement about wearing face coverings and that was when it crossed the border into Scotland. Unlike LNER who are STILL frequently putting out tedious PA announcements rattling on that we should all still be wearing face coverings, even within England where face covering laws were scrapped SEVERAL weeks ago!(and Scotland now has only a couple of weeks left of mandatory face mask laws!) I don't want to be travelling on trains and hearing that nonsense. So LUMO is definitely a clear winner for me on that point.

 

[theblackwatch]

12.05 Newcastle to Edinburgh cancelled today. Ticket acceptance on following LNER, train was pretty full but everyone got a seat.

 

[flymo]

Had my first experience of Lumo yesterday, Mar 16, and it all went swimmingly. Booked on the 1436 from London as far as Newcastle for just shy of £40 and got allocated window seat D/46. Great views, nobody next to me although the seat was reserved to Morpeth. Great knowing nobody else will get on before Newcastle. Left on time, arrived on time, great first experience. Of course now I've had my first journey with them and nothing went wrong, might just have been beginners luck.

One thing that I recall was the trolley service and someone asking for a sandwich to be told that they need to be ordered a few of hours before the journey starts, which is fine I guess but sometimes impulse buys are a good money spinner so hopefully in the future they may have a few in a cool bag or something for sale, I'm pretty sure they would sell.

Overall I think its an OK service.

 

[dan4291]

One thing that I recall was the trolley service and someone asking for a sandwich to be told that they need to be ordered a few of hours before the journey starts, which is fine I guess but sometimes impulse buys are a good money spinner so hopefully in the future they may have a few in a cool bag or something for sale, I'm pretty sure they would sell.

That's the LumoEats service, lumoeats.co.uk. You can pre-order food even if you didn't buy your ticket from Lumo directly.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Yes the catering situation leaves a lot to be desired I think

 

[mlambeuk]

That's the LumoEats service, lumoeats.co.uk. You can pre-order food even if you didn't buy your ticket from Lumo directly.

Aren't Most of the pre order products only available if starting from London or Edinburgh?. Not much use if starting at Morpeth or Newcastle.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I believe so

 

[pinkmarie80]

Here’s my experience of Lumo- I hated it. It felt like Ryanair on rails!
My trip was the 14:36 Kings Cross to Newcastle on March 10.
Admittedly, I had an enormous suitcase: I had been in London for three days and was heading up to mum’s in Newcastle for a further 3. I had done a fair bit of shopping in London as well. First rookie error- I didn’t realise Lumo have a problem with very big suitcases (no such issue on LNER)
It was the first really hot day of the year and having already traversed the depths of fiery hell (aka the Victoria Line from my hotel in Vauxhall, I was already fairly hot and flustered) the train was at the very furthest end of the platform and of course last minute platform announcement was the order of the day.
Coach B was completely reserved. The word ‘sardines’ sprung to mind. I didn’t realise it would be so packed and cramped- fortunately me and my mobility aid eschewed my booked seat and managed to grab the priority seats which I had to myself all the way to Newcastle.
Happily my seat was right next to the luggage locker so I deposited my suitcase there and it quickly filled up.
The toilet situation was a bit diabolical. There was a constant queue, quite often spilling out of the vestibule and into the carriage. I’m not sure if another loo was out of order but the queues were ridiculous and I’ve never seen that on LNER. Needless to say the state of the toilet was er- interesting by the time we got to Newcastle!
I took my own food (I’m diabetic and need to eat at odd intervals) so didn’t sample the food.
Lack of window was disorientating as well- I found myself on occasion fighting my way through the crowds for the loo just to find out where we actually were- I ended up hauling my case out of the overloaded luggage locker and standing from somewhere around Darlington simply as I couldn’t see where we were.
This isn’t a trip I do often (I live in Leicester and usually travel LNER from Peterborough to Newcastle) but next time I’m definitely going LNER! Lumo might be cheap but it’s not for me:

 

[jon0844]

I always imagined Lumo becoming the defacto standard way to travel to Scotland (and Newcastle) by students/backpackers/tourists if they can grab those supercheap deals. Seeing them pass by and looking well loaded seems to confirm my suspicion that it's proving very popular with young people and families.

Now this is a great thing by the way, and it's great to see competition with long distance coaches (and disprove the arguments that rail is so expensive), but I also suspect the trains will end up looking like the aftermath of Glastonbury very quickly a lot of the time!

 

[tornado]

Does anyone have any opinions on the overall experience with Lumo vs Avanti? i.e. quietness, ride quality, comfort, etc.

I am planning a London-Glasgow journey on a Sunday afternoon, and it happens because of engineering works that London-Edinburgh-Glasgow works out about the same time and cost. I expect services on both WCML and ECML will be fairly busy at that time of day.

 

[Huntergreed]

I travelled Lumo yesterday from NCL - EDB.

I managed to grab the “priority accessible seat” in coach A with a table.

I found the journey extremely comfortable and had no issue with it. Yes the lack of a buffet and no first class wouldn’t be nice for EDB - KGX I admit, but from Newcastle to the North I found this an excellent service.

 

[185143]

I travelled Lumo yesterday from NCL - EDB.

I managed to grab the “priority accessible seat” in coach A with a table.

I found the journey extremely comfortable and had no issue with it. Yes the lack of a buffet and no first class wouldn’t be nice for EDB - KGX I admit, but from Newcastle to the North I found this an excellent service.

I don't mean this personally, but if you want First class, pay for the service that has it!

The lack of a buffet, and therefore cold beer*, is a bit of a pain though. That said, in fairness, the one time I did purchase a beer on a Lumo train it was reasonably cool, though we were being held in the platform at Newcastle-I don't know if they ever load catering there?

I've done 4 trips, with very mixed results. Only one was on time, NCL-KGX. The above mentioned hold at Newcastle was on a trip to Morpeth, there'd been a fatality and to be fair the Ambassadors did the best they could though were clearly being told nothing, as one was making an announcement simply saying there was a "problem on the line ahead" (I can understand not saying fatality and not calling that) and she'd let us know when he had any information at regular intervals. Her last announcement was cut off by the driver saying that someone had been hit, it was resolved and we'd be getting clearance to depart imminently. We were released too early as it took over an hour to get to Morpeth, the train involved was very slow to get moving despite the line block being lifted.

Another trip was KGX-EDB. Arrived 25 late, too well *ahem* refreshed to remember why.

And the worst, and first, trip was EDB-NCL to get back to Manchester on a day the WCML was flooded. We sat onboard at EDB for an hour to be told we weren't going anywhere and to get off, to await more information. The Lumo staff then magically disappeared, and it was left to BTP(!) to redirect us all, they'd obviously seen a large crowd gathering and had wandered over to see what was going on. I, along with a few hundred others ended up stood on an Azuma as far as Newcastle, looking at the state of it leaving there'd have been plenty standing all the way to London. Not a good first impression!

 

[miklcct]

You'd be wasting money if you did.

What's the alternative to a super off-peak any permitted ticket if the intention is to walk-up both outward and return journeys using the fastest train without fixed schedule?

 

[mmh]

What's the alternative to a super off-peak any permitted ticket if the intention is to walk-up both outward and return journeys using the fastest train without fixed schedule?

If your intention is to use the fastest train, rather than the one most convenient, haven't you effectively fixed your schedule yourself?

 

[Mag_seven]

Can we confine discussion in this thread to Lumo Journey Experiences please.

Thanks

 

[james60059]

I am taking my first ever trip with Lumo on Wednesday (10:45 departure ex-London Kings Cross), and will report back.

Just out of interest, is this train likely to be busy?.

 

[Turbo004]

When I caught the 10.45 off Kings Cross was packed out probably due to the cheap fares.

 

[williamn]

Anyone know how busy the 05.45 ex Kings Cross usually is?

 

[james60059]

I am taking my first ever trip with Lumo on Wednesday (10:45 departure ex-London Kings Cross), and will report back.

Just out of interest, is this train likely to be busy?.

As promised,

803002 was the unit for departure on 13th April at 10:45, as mentioned elsewhere it was a very busy train but everyone was in good spirits, we departed on time and in some instances were running early, even went round the avoiding line at York which I believe is common practice for Northbound runs. The ambassadors were really friendly when they were checking on people and bringing the trolley round later in the journey. Booked it 5 weeks ago and the ticket cost £27.70 which I think was great value. Even suggested to her indoors about going to Edinburgh for a weekend via London and Lumo but at the moment, the jury is still out . I certainly wish Lumo well and will use them again though.

 

[route101]

Considering using Lumo soon. Are services generally packed out due to being 5 car and reserved seats? Is there any unreserved seating?

 

[centro-323]

Anyone know how busy the 05.45 ex Kings Cross usually is?

Generally about half full from London in my experience.

Considering using Lumo soon. Are services generally packed out due to being 5 car and reserved seats? Is there any unreserved seating?

Services at more popular/convenient times of day can be very full, although the days of 'full and standing' are gone unless there's disruption. It's highly recommended to reserve a seat, as on full trains the only unreserved seats are generally the ones at the end of the coaches with no window.

 

[nitten_travell]

A comparison with LNER...

This week I travelled from Edinburgh to Southampton via London.

Outbound, LUMO:

I was booked on the 0930 LNER Edinburgh - Kings Cross but spotted the 0911 LUMO and it was not particularly busy. I asked one of the LUMO staff if I could use my Super Off-Peak Return on the service and he nicely explained that this was not possible as Super Off Peak "is only valid after 10". I walked away puzzled as I had a seat booking on the 0930 so went to the ticket office to check. "You can use the LUMO service as your restriction is 1K, only restricts when you can arrive in London and the LUMO service is later than the cutoff". Back I went to the LUMO and explained this to the same guy who accepted it with good humour.

I found a seat in Coach A which was not more than 1/3 full, I'd estimate. I picked one of the seats with a small table (designed also for a wheelchair on the other side).
The seats seem similar to those on the new TransPennine trains I like them, they are quite comfortable. The table height correlates with a wheelchair so it's a little high for anyone wanting to do a lot of work but for watching a film on your laptop etc, perfectly fine and tables on LUMO are rare.

Across from me the other wheelchair space had been adopted as a large luggage area by passengers. I notice LUMO's site now mentions only using medium size luggage but LUMO will really need to work out a solution moving forward as summer arrives and more people travel with large cases.

What I really, really liked about the journey was the fact it didn't stop after Newcastle. No faffing about with people coming and going, looking for seats, trying to stow luggage. Morpeth is a quiet station so I wasn't expecting much movement there anyway. It was fun to "bypass" the train shed at Darlington entirely. The journey seemed to pass really quickly. I find it odd, but charming, that the actual driver talks to us


Return, LNER:

I was booked on the 1330 Kings Cross - Edinburgh, and I write as we've just departed Durham. The previous service was cancelled so this service was very busy. Much messing around with seats (I am not in my booked seat; few people are) and a stop at Retford added for those who should have been on the cancelled service. I recalled immediately why I hate these LNER "stoppers" as they are used often by people going to Peterborough etc, so are always really busy. At every stop there's hassle of luggage, of people in wrong seats, it's just generally unpleasant.

Azuma seats are just not nice for a long journey, I find them quite hard and need to stand up every once in a while.

There's more luggage space but also a lot more luggage in general as the train is very full but everyone has a seat as far as I can tell.

The staff are all unfailingly polite on what they must have known would be a trying service, they're doing well to keep things in as much control as they can.


Summary:

Two journeys does not a statistically significant sample size make. Pre-COVID-19 I generally tried to travel first class to London where it wasn't too expensive as i felt the extra cost was justified by the better seats, space and food/drink. Now, with LUMO, I am not so sure. The lack of intermediate stops gives the LUMO service a real "express" feel that you can't get with LNER.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The seats seem similar to those on the new TransPennine trains I like them, they are quite comfortable.

...

Azuma seats are just not nice for a long journey, I find them quite hard and need to stand up every once in a while.

The seats on TPE's new stock and the Azumas are one and the same - the Fainsa Sophia - so it's odd that you like one and not the other!

The Lumo seats are a different type. The only other UK application of these is the Pendolino refurbishment.

 

[nitten_travell]

Either Azuma have thinner padding or maybe the longer journey makes a difference? Or perhaps it's just psychological and I prefer the TPE colour scheme!