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Weekend First Pricing - a couple of questions

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Scooby

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In the near future I'm having a 'grand circular' trip of England & Central Scotland with my 5 year old daughter and I'm fancying a bit of a splurge.

From the East Coast website, a Weekend First upgrade for London to Edinburgh will be be £25, however, it doesn't mention how much the upgrade is for a child -- does anyone know if it is the same, discounted or a freebie ?

We are picking up the Virgin train from Lancaster and travelling to London and the First Class upgrade is £15 for an adult and £5 for a child. Later on, we are travelling from Glasgow to Lancaster and the upgrade remains at £15 for the adult and £5 for the child.
The upgrade price is £15 for the adult and £5 for the child, irrespective of distance travelled with Virgin one way and we are after all, travelling one way. Is it possible to buy a single adult & child upgrade ticket that would cover the journey ? or is it down the the discretion / good will of the TM on the day ?
 
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RailUK Forums

All Line Rover

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East Coast do not offer discounts on the weekend upgrade, so that's £25 each, unless the guard is feeling generous.

You'll also have to buy two lots of Virgin upgrades, as it is not possible to issue a single upgrade for Lancaster - London and Glasgow - Lancaster. If it was Glasgow - Lancaster then Lancaster - London a single upgrade might work (the guard could sell a through Glasgow - London upgrade and you could "break your journey" at Lancaster), but clearly that wouldn't work in this instance.
 

Scooby

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Thank you for that. I'll turn on the charm with the EC guard (or better still, get may daughter to ask) and see where it gets me.

Ref Virgin Trains, it would have been so easy if I could buy a 'blank' weekend first upgrade ticket ! (I'm racking my brains to remember if it refers to any station names, or whether it is just a seperate ticket). I'm having a trip to Chilly Jockland this weekend. If the TM isn't busy, I'll ask him if there is a workaround.
 

All Line Rover

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Ref Virgin Trains, it would have been so easy if I could buy a 'blank' weekend first upgrade ticket ! (I'm racking my brains to remember if it refers to any station names, or whether it is just a seperate ticket). I'm having a trip to Chilly Jockland this weekend. If the TM isn't busy, I'll ask him if there is a workaround.

The Virgin upgrade has the origin and destination stations printed on the ticket. It is not a "carte blanche" for free First Class upgrades all day long.

Like I say, if you were travelling from Glasgow to Lancaster then Lancaster to London, the TM could sell a through Glasgow to London upgrade. Whilst there is no requirement for the TM to sell a through upgrade, most are willing to do so and there isn't a Break of Journey prohibition, so this is perfectly valid.

However, with your journey, if the guard sold you a through Glasgow to London upgrade, this would be worthless as soon as you reach London on the first of your two Virgin Trains journeys, as you will have reached the destination station printed on the upgrade. It is not possible to use a single Glasgow to London upgrade from Lancaster to London, then Glasgow to Lancaster.
 

Simon11

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Is it just me or do I think your rather brave wanting to fit this in a weekend with your 5 year old daughter!

Easily 12 hours spent on a train.
 

34D

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Is it just me or do I think your rather brave wanting to fit this in a weekend with your 5 year old daughter!

Easily 12 hours spent on a train.

I did also think that, but as the chap refers to weekend I assume there will be an overnight stay included.
 

Scooby

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Is it just me or do I think your rather brave wanting to fit this in a weekend with your 5 year old daughter!

Easily 12 hours spent on a train.

I did also think that, but as the chap refers to weekend I assume there will be an overnight stay included.

Hello folks
My daughter (and me :)) both enjoy taking long trips on rail journeys and this will be about the 15th such journey that we've done. We're leaving at 05.00 and we'll be back home about 20.45. They are long days, but they are very enjoyable (my daughter takes a wheelie containing games, colouring books, cards, draughts etc, etc that we play throughout the day).

Usually we aim for somewhere with a childrens playground at the destination (e.g Dover or Inverness), but this time we've arranged an hours or so in London, an hour or so in Edinburgh and time to visit 'her chip shop' in Glasgow for tea on the way home.

Oddly enough, she's not very particular where we go go -- before now she's looked at a UK Rail Map and asked if we can go 'there', pointing to somewhere obscure on the South Coast. Or if Michael Portillos Great Train Journeys has been on, using one of his trips as a guide.
 

Scooby

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We're back and we had a cracking trip.
The Weekend First ticket on Virgin that I was asking about never happened (as per ALR's post above), but the Guard/TM did manage to do something for us that made our day out even more special.
My daughter had a snooze from Alnmouth to Edinburgh, but other than that, never stopped chatting/playing games all day.
 
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