Virgin Trains messed up (set swap due to disruption)

[J-2739]

We didn't get any snacks or anything...

:roll:

I think he was joking about the 'free snacks' fiasco.

 

[Flying Snail]

Virgin Messed Up. An unfortunate change to the type of train, true, it happens. The train manager uses discretion to accommodate your family together in First at no extra cost to you. Virgin really messed up here.


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Yes, VT should be ashamed of themselves. Replacing a 10 car train with an 11 car one, what a terrible situation for all involved. I do hope they have provided grief counselling for all effected passengers.


OP I think you are a bunch of cheeky sods, and lucky ones too. A TM doing his job properly would be charging you an upgrade or turfing you out of 1st.

If people are sitting alone in bays of 4 then it isn't a particularly busy service, no excuse at all for anyone to be getting a free upgrade.

As a previous poster said I would be complaining if I had paid for 1st, If the TM had charged me an upgrade I would be doing it less than politely as well.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

How do you know that table seats are made for families? I normally travel by myself and always get a table when I can. Unless the table is booked/reserved, it is first come and first served.

We didn't get any snacks or anything but I could expect that as we weren't ticket holders meaning we couldn't go to the shop to use it. Also, there's no service in first class as train crew are stuck in the north because of the blockage at Oxenholme.

You can go to the shop regardless of what ticket type you hold

 

[Chrism20]

Ok, so I was supposed to be on a voyager (10 coach) to Preston. Instead, I've been put on an 11 coach pendolino so all seat reservations are screwed. So, as we booked a table seat, in standard, and because there aren't any, we are now sat (as a family) in first class. People are sitting by themselves on a table seat (made for families) and therefore we, as a family, think it's perfectly acceptable to be sat in a table seat, that we BOOKED 2 months in advance. Although, we got a pendolino, much better than a voyager!

Well no Virgin haven't messed up have they?

Your ten car voyager wasn't available due to the problems at Oxenholme and was replaced by an eleven car Pendolino.

They could have cancelled it altogether and put you on a bus or told you to get the next one, heaven knows how you would have coped then.

Also they do clearly state things may change and that your reservation may not be guaranteed. No doubt that will be in their booking terms and conditions as well.

Finally had I been on that train and they had let you sit there and I found out about it I'd have had the TM down to declassify every ticket in the carriage.

 

[DarloRich]

So I am assuming the OP is a kid so will go easy. So, Why didnt you:

a) ask the man to move (nicely)
b) take the three seats and one of you sit across the aisle or nearby?

 

[LeylandLen]

Why does the complainer say Virgin messed up ? The derailment was not there fault. Also those of us that use Virgin do not pay for seat reservations ; I believe some TOCs do ? I know Sunday travel on the WCML can be troublesome at times . Sorry if your journey was a disappointment ; its a bonus if you travel at no extra cost in First Class.

 

[bramling]

Why does the complainer say Virgin messed up ? The derailment was not there fault. Also those of us that use Virgin do not pay for seat reservations ; I believe some TOCs do ? I know Sunday travel on the WCML can be troublesome at times . Sorry if your journey was a disappointment ; its a bonus if you travel at no extra cost in First Class.

It's very noticeable that these sort of "issues" virtually always crop up at weekends.

Unfamiliar travellers thinking they have some kind of right to something that they don't actually have.

 

[DarloRich]

So it was terrible today. I had to travel on a Voyager as my 11 car Pendo was used on someone else's train. So frustrating.

 

[DaleCooper]

So it was terrible today. I had to travel on a Voyager as my 11 car Pendo was used on someone else's train. So frustrating.

I hope you didn't sit in the OP's reserved seat.

 

[bb21]

Right. I think we now have a bit more content.

I have decided to close the thread as frankly I think you have received enough abuse already, which some might say is justified for the attitude you showed in your earlier posts. Leaving it open I think you'll just get more abuse and not much else constructive on top of what was already said.

But really to sum it up:
(1) If reservations are not being enforced, it is a free-for-all. Table seats are not designated for family use so families do not have any priority over other passengers. If there is none in your chosen class of accommodation, tough.
(2) Families have no more right to sit together than couples or a single person's desire to sit anywhere he is permitted. If you can't sit together, split up. Sorry but the railway do not run around families. In fact the leisure travel market only form a minority revenue stream. A ticket is a contract to convey you (and your family) from the origin to the destination, and is for conveyance only. There is no entitlement to a seat whatsoever, in fact, so if there were no seats, use a different train (if the fare permits) or stand.
(3) Reservations not being honoured gives a customer no right to self-upgrade to First Class, without paying the relevant upgrade charges.

All that said, yes the train manager has the absolute power to consent to anyone sitting in First Class. If permission is given then of course sitting in First Class with a Standard Class ticket is permitted, and to anyone wondering, no, a few people from Standard Class being upgraded to First for free does not mean First Class is declassified, or that First Class ticket holders will get a refund, or that such a complaint would be upheld.

Not what you wanted to hear I'm sure but those are the cold hard truths. Sorry.