VT Weekend First Class

[John @ home]

I am not sure that the rules are "simplified" across all TOCs though and Virgin may have their own rules!

I am sure that the rules are not the same for all TOCs. These used to appear in the printed National Fares Manual and the last info I have is:

Weekend First
East Midlands Trains
First Great Western
First ScotRail
First Transpennine Express
National Express East Anglia
National Express East Coast
South West Trains
Holders of most Standard tickets can travel in extra comfort on certain Operators’ services listed below, on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays in First Class accommodation labelled ″Weekend First″.
When issued in advance, Weekend First must include a free reserved seat. If the customer misses the reserved train(s) however, the supplement may be transferred to other services for the same journey on the same date at no extra charge, subject to accommodation being available.
Passengers may also purchase a supplement on the train (for that train only) subject to availability of accommodation.
Weekend First supplements are:
East Midlands Trains (EMT) Between Any two stations £6·00
First Great Western (GWR) Between Any two stations within the area bounded by Paddington-Banbury-Oxford-Bicester Town-Didcot Parkway-Bedwyn-Basingstoke-Gatwick Airport, including Henley, Marlow, Windsor Central, Greenford branch lines £5·00 ^
Any other journey £10.00. ^
First ScotRail (FSR) Between Edinburgh and Glasgow £3.00 +
Between Any other 2 stations £5·00 +
First Transpennine Express (TPE) Between Any two stations on the First Transpennine route network £6·00
National Express East Anglia (LER) Between any two stations served by a National Express East Anglia reservable mainline service £7·00
National Express East Coast (XEC) Between London/Stevenage–York and north thereof £25.00 #
Between London/Stevenage–West Yorkshire and all stations south of York (excl) £20.00 #
all non-London NXEC journeys i.e. starting and ending at Peterborough or north thereof £20.00 #
South West Trains (SWT) Between Any 2 stations £5·00


Notes
# Can only be issued on-board NXEC trains, not at stations.
Now applies to all Standard class tickets, including advance purchase.
^ The £5·00 upgrade (where available) must be purchased in advance of travel (unless travelling from unstaffed stations).
The £10·00 upgrade may be purchased in advance (compulsory reservations) by customers holding walk-up tickets, or may be bought on train by walk-up and Advance Purchase ticket holders, subject to availability.
+ Weekend First on First ScotRail services may be purchased on train, subject to availability.

SWTWeekend First is subject to availability and seat reservations are not available. Those travelling on SWT services only must purchase the supplement on-train. Only those travelling onto another Train Operator’s network, where Weekend First is available, may purchase at stations (see below for booking horizon). Not available to holders of Advance or those travelling on special promotions. The supplement will not be discounted for children or Railcard holders. The supplement may sometimes not be available during times when engineering works affect services. SWT do not label Weekend First accommodation.
Through booking is possible when travelling on services of more than one of these Operators (excluding NXEC), provided the booking generally is made by 1800 on the day before travel. Note: Reservations may be open until later. Where the different Operators charge different amounts, the higher supplement should always be charged.
Through booking for Weekend First should under no circumstances be made for services run by any Operator other than those shown above.

Virgin Weekend Upgrade VWC All journeys £15·00 single
Virgin Weekend Upgrade is available on all Virgin Trains services. VirginWeekend Upgrade is available for purchase in advance for those customers buying walk-up ticket types (SVR, SVS, WER, SSR, SSS, CDR, CDS, SDR, SDS, 7DS, NAR). Customers purchasing these ticket types in advance should be directed towards Advance range of fares. Please see the Fares Finder on FRPP [ https://frpp.tso.co.uk ] for further info. Customers holding SOR/SOS/BVR tickets may use Virgin Weekend Upgrade accommodation without payment of any supplement. This does not apply to Railcard discounted tickets.

CrossCountry Weekend Upgrade AXC £10/£15/£20 dependent on journey
Weekend Upgrade is available on all CrossCountry routes where First Class accommodation is available. Weekend Upgrade is available for purchase in advance for customers purchasing walk-up ticket types (SVR, SVS, WER, SSR, SSS, CDR, CDS, SDR, SDS, 7DS, NAR, SOR, SOS, BVR, BVS, WKR). Customers holding SOS/SOR/BVR tickets from 18 May 2008 will be required to purchase the relevant upgrade for their journey and no longer can upgrade free of charge. Please note that holders of Standard Class Advance tickets may not upgrade at any time and should be directed towards the purchase of a First Class Advance ticket for their journey.

This is obviously out of date and, as far as I know, no longer in the public domain. It would be helpful if anyone knowing better could post the current information.

John

 

[glynn80]

The information is still located in the FRPP, but there is way too much information for me to post about every Weekend First scheme.

Related to the Virgin issue at hand, the FRPP states the following:

Reservations

When issued in advance, seat reservations must be made. However, if a customer misses the reserved train, s/he may complete the same journey on another Virgin Trains service without further charge; note that seats cannot be guaranteed without a reservation.

So yorkie was correct in his assumption.

 

[metrocammel]

Ah well, the Gods were smiling on the enthusiasts as Virgin Trains have been forced to temporarily use the loco hauled service between Euston and Birmingham, despite the fact that it always runs late due to not being able to keep to the Pendolino's timings

I'd get your facts right if I were you! Evertime I've done it, it's run early (3 early into Euston the other day, despite leaving Brum 1 down), and that's, afaik, due to the diagram it's allocated to being a 110mph path.

Same with the Preston FO diagram 'WB65' used to work, though I believe a milk-float would beat that service.

Anyway, back to the question in hand, someone has said food is available at weekends on VT, while others have just said it's tea & buscuits.... which is it? I know pre-VHF days, at w/ends, you just received tea & buscuits, however I haven't yet done a VT FC on a weekend since December.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Hi Metrocammel,

VT weekend offer atm consists of tea/coffee, as you correctly said, along with fruit, biscuits and crisps.

 

[Geezertronic]

I'd get your facts right if I were you! Evertime I've done it, it's run early (3 early into Euston the other day, despite leaving Brum 1 down), and that's, afaik, due to the diagram it's allocated to being a 110mph path.

My facts are right, it has never reached Birmingham International on time every time I have seen it..... for example the 12:53pm arrival from Euston always arrives after 1pm thus delaying the subsequent services

 

[bengolding]

My facts are right, it has never reached Birmingham International on time every time I have seen it..... for example the 12:53pm arrival from Euston always arrives after 1pm thus delaying the subsequent services

I must agree with you on this. I've used this train twice recently, on the 09:30 from New St to Euston and 15:43 Euston to New St. There wree no problems on the line on both occasions, but I was delayed by 10 minutes on each journey as the train couldn't keep to the timings, esp New St to Coventry going down and Euston to Coventry in 59 mins going up. For that reason, I avoid the schedule for this train and opt for a more reliable Pendolino instead.

That said, it was great to have an entire First Class carriage to myself as only First Anytime tickets can be used on these trains. I was also pampered with breakfast on the way down due to there being only a handful of FC customers.

Another point about VT Weekend First is that their First Class Lounges are now open on Saturdays and Sundays. The Euston lounge also has extended opening hours on Saturdays.

 

[glynn80]

Well just going by today's services,

0743: Left EUS 1 down up to a maximum of 7 down at BHI, arriving into BHM 3 down
0930: Left BHM 2 down up to a maximum of 16 down at HRW, arriving into EUS 12 down
1143: Left EUS on time, no reports past WFJ until arrival into BHM 1 down.
1330: Left BHM on time up to a maximum of 11 down at WFJ, arriving into EUS 7 down
1543: Left EUS 1 down up to a maximum of 8 down at COV, currently at BHI 6 down.

 

[Mojo]

Well just going by today's services,

0743: Left EUS 1 down up to a maximum of 7 down at BHI, arriving into BHM 3 down
0930: Left BHM 2 down up to a maximum of 16 down at HRW, arriving into EUS 12 down
1143: Left EUS on time, no reports past WFJ until arrival into BHM 1 down.
1330: Left BHM on time up to a maximum of 11 down at WFJ, arriving into EUS 7 down
1543: Left EUS 1 down up to a maximum of 8 down at COV, currently at BHI 6 down.

I don't know if it affected anyone else, but TRUST reporting went down for us today so that might explain those "no reports."

 

[Pumbaa]

and that's, afaik, due to the diagram it's allocated to being a 110mph path.

As much as Virgin would like that to be true! It's still running in the 125 path, and Virgin are still picking up the delay minutes.

 

[Krispo]

What will I get complimentary in FC on the 0547 from Lime Street tomorrow, I know there wont be a cooked meal, obviously. But things like sandwiches from the shop, are they complimentary?

 

[voyagerdude220]

Hi Krispo, please see my earlier post :

VT weekend offer atm consists of tea/coffee, along with fruit, biscuits and crisps.

 

[tony_mac]

Customers holding SOR/SOS/BVR tickets may use Virgin Weekend Upgrade accommodation without payment of any supplement. This does not apply to Railcard discounted tickets.

Does anyone know if this is actually still the case? It certainly doesn't mention on their website that Railcard discounted tickets can't get a free upgrade.

Do you just get the seat and no refreshements? the Virgin website isn't entirely clear on this. They are going to be trialling a complimentary breakfast service at weekends soon as well, that would be nice!

 

[clagmonster]

On this page on the Virgin website: http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/buy_tickets/first_class_upgrade/default.aspx it says,
"On weekends and Bank Holidays, you can upgrade to First Class free of charge if you hold a Anytime ticket by informing the Train Manager. Subject to availability."
As Tony says, this does not mention railcard discounted tickets, so this implies that railcard discounted tickets also get the free upgrade.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Railcard holders should definately be able to upgrade their SOS/SOR free of charge to FC, on weekends and Bank Holidays (subject to availability).

All FC holders- including those with weekend first upgrades and SOS/SOR's are offered the full weekend first class service, just like a passenger would with a FOR etc.

 

[First class]

Does this apply also to Standard class PRIV tickets?

E.g. if I buy a SOR Liverpool-London tomorrow, does that entitle me to use 1st class?

 

[glynn80]

Does anyone know if this is actually still the case? It certainly doesn't mention on their website that Railcard discounted tickets can't get a free upgrade.

The FRPP states the following on the issue

Standard Class Anytime Return/Single

Customers travelling using this product on a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday can upgrade to First/Club Class on Virgin Trains services FREE OF CHARGE.

Again as clagmonster said it does not restrict discounted tickets from gaining the free upgrade, the only necessary condition is that the traveller has a Standard Anytime Single/Return.

 

[bengolding]

The FRPP states the following on the issue



Again as clagmonster said it does not restrict discounted tickets from gaining the free upgrade, the only necessary condition is that the traveller has a Standard Anytime Single/Return.

Can it be an any Standard Anytime ticket, i.e. I recently travelled on one with Virgin where the fare was set by London Midland. Does the Anytime ticket have to be priced by VT in order to allow a complimentary upgrade?

 

[glynn80]

Can it be an any Standard Anytime ticket, i.e. I recently travelled on one with Virgin where the fare was set by London Midland. Does the Anytime ticket have to be priced by VT in order to allow a complimentary upgrade?

Yes as long as the Standard Anytime ticket purchased is valid for travel on Virgin Trains, i.e. if the fare that is set by a company other than VT, then that ticket will need to be interavailable to be eligible for the upgrade.

 

[wouldntulike2kno]

i think VT Weekend 1st is slightly overpriced, but its worth it going on a pendolino!