Poll: Traveling by Train - 1st class seat dilema!

What would you do ?

  • I sit in it until an inspector asked me to pay extra or move.

    Votes: 91 38.9%
  • I wont dare sit in it, I didnt pay for it.

    Votes: 122 52.1%
  • The 9:15 pancake has been delayed due to a signal failiure at Lysander Park.

    Votes: 21 9.0%

  • Total voters
    234
Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2003
Posts
10,916
Location
London
May not have paid to sit there, but did pay for a seat, of which there was none.

Depends. If you have a seat reservation then you've paid for a seat. If you just have a ticket then you haven't paid for a seat - only to be on the train!

Surely if you have a seat reservation then you have the right to kick someone else out of that particular seat, but not to sit in a different one in first class?
 
Caporegime
Joined
28 Jun 2005
Posts
48,104
Location
On the hoods
[TW]Fox;19038374 said:

Well, it does if thetrainline is to be believed. When I looked they had no trains that were remotely convenient or cheap.

And even allowing for check in time etc it still takes less time to fly and is cheaper on that journey.
 
Joined
10 May 2004
Posts
12,812
Location
Sunny Stafford
Have anyone had a situation where half of the carriages i.e. 4 out of 8 are first class? The cattle class half becomes packed like sardines while the other half only have about 6 people total. It's an attempt of the operator to get the mere mortals to fork out an extra £10/£15 so that they can breathe again! It doesn't happen often, but it's annoying when it does happen.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
Have anyone had a situation where half of the carriages i.e. 4 out of 8 are first class?

Such an occurance would be highly irregular.

It's an attempt of the operator to get the mere mortals to fork out an extra £10/£15 so that they can breathe again!

IF it happens, and I doubt it does, this wouldn't be the reason. There isnt that much flexibility in formations for a start!
 
Caporegime
Joined
12 Mar 2004
Posts
29,913
Location
England
Prices are so inconsistent on the UK networks it's unbelievable and first class can be extortionate. To get a return ticket to London it costs me £17.20, £48.30 for 1st class but it's £42.80 to Aberystwyth and £211 for 1st class, for what a £5 free meal? Arriva trains don't even have first class so I'd be paying for first class to Wolverhampton only yet it costs hundreds more than London!
 
Associate
Joined
19 Feb 2010
Posts
232
I do split ticketing quite regularly between Plymouth and Liverpool. Usually costs me about £22 for the whole journey. I don't really have a problem sitting in cattle class though, i'm a student!
 
Man of Honour
Man of Honour
Joined
9 Nov 2004
Posts
2,140
Well, he's not far wrong. If you look at fgw's website it states that for the new high speed trains, out if 8 carriages 1 is the buffet car and 2.5 is first class. So nearly 3 out of 7. Almost half. I'm sure they add more 1st class too!

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=1991

Nearly almost half isn't a particularly compelling point. Although I do agree generally. A better example would be the Pendolinos as on a 9 car set there are four first class and five standard with the shop in standard class.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
Well, he's not far wrong. If you look at fgw's website it states that for the new high speed trains, out if 8 carriages 1 is the buffet car and 2.5 is first class. So nearly 3 out of 7. Almost half. I'm sure they add more 1st class too!

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=1991

Thats not really correct at all, is it?

On a typical refurbished FGW HST you have 2 full First Class Opens, a Buffet First (So that Buffet car is infact the 0.5 First Class car as well) and the remainder of the coaches - thats 5 of them - are standard class.

So there is TWICE as much standard class accomodation in terms of coaches alone!

They certainly don't add more, either - FGW HST's are fixed formation, only in the event of something going wrong will you find them varying from the fixed formation.
 
Associate
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
1,566
Location
Swansea
I have been traveling from Swansea to Paddigton on a Monday morning and home on Friday afternoon using FGW for months and always travel in First Class, because I book in advanced its £98 on the way up and £38 on the way back, I think that's pretty good for First Class.

If I turn up at the station on the morning of travel it will cost me £114 single and £42 for my return in Standards Class, booking in advance not only gets me cheaper travel but I get to travel in First Class.

I have seen many people being caught out by being in First Class when they shouldn't have, foreign people on their holiday and not realizing to people blatantly trying it on, they all get treated the same, pay full price on the day First Class rates which is a few hundred quid or move into Standard Class, everyone moves, I have not seen anyone getting a cheap upgrade that has been mentioned.

Personally I wouldn't sit in First Class if I hadn't paid for it, I would not like the embarrassment of being asked to move.
 
Caporegime
Joined
25 Jul 2005
Posts
28,851
Location
Canada
May not have paid to sit there, but did pay for a seat, of which there was none.

I voted top one, do this regularly and even on the same route as the OP.

No, as has already been pointed out to you and others if you don't have a reservation you have not paid for a seat, you have paid for transport on a particular day (you can't get tickets for a specific train without a seat reservation!), between two stations.

So that means if you don't have a seat you have three perfectly fine options, get a standard class seat, stand up on that train OR wait for the next available train on that route. If you need to be on a specific train at a specific time, get a seat reservation...
 
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