Like most students i have managed to accumulate a few novel ways of making the money last that little bit longer. Unfortunately i have to travel to London from Manchester frequently because the girlfriend goes to UCL and it always seems to cost me a fortune. Usually with a railcard and booking it in advance i can get there and back for £20 but its not always possible. This time though i found a code for the trainline (LTTL5D if your interested) that gives you £5 off every ticket. Combined with my railcard and the fact that i have left it too late for the advance standard tickets i have got 1st class ones cheaper than the price of a normal one. £15.15 compared to £16.50 Was just wondering if anyone knows what the actual difference is going to be between Virgin first and standard class when the usual price difference is so huge and also if anyone is hoarding secrets for cheap rail travel.
first class... on first great western at least gives you: a meal.. at seat service and on the Paddington route...The paper of your choice. Use it all the time to go to and from home
I don't reckon that'd work because last time i fell asleep the conductor prodded me till i woke up. I was not happy. Awesome so i get a free meal as well as a train ticket. Since i usually buy something from greggs before that saves me another couple of quid.
This is true, just looking out the window's a good one too, especially on a service with multiple stops where you get on later in the route where there's people on already... I of course purchase tickets for all journeys anyway... well usually, but if I've got one it gives me another time I can use the ticket, unless it's for a day return, in which case it's a bit pants..
i think with virgin first class you get drinks and a news paper, but the main benefit is meant to be comfy chairs with more leg room and waitress service. i never find sleeping or pretending to sleep works, you just get woken up plus i find its very difficult to get a seat on a virgin train and have to spend most of the trip standing
Gah, how do you get such cheap tickets! Its costing me over £60 with virgin to go from edinburgh to stratford-upon-avon My flatmate seems to be able to wangle cheap 1st class tickets too, its annoying :<
My group of mates got a free upgrade to first class on the way back from london on sunday because we complained to the conductor that we were not told about the engineering works and coach replacement. I will be writing to one-trains too and hopefully getting my return journey refunded too Always complain at anything possible, theres always an upgrade or refund available. Even if the train is 10minutes late you'll get something!
Train has to be 30 minutes late before compenstaion is offered. and then it has to be the fault of the rail company and not track/person on line/act of god/ death of passenger/ vandalism related. It's gotten a lot harder to complain about rail travel even though the number of times you need to complain has gone up
hmm might have to look into some of these cheaper options, costs me £50 odd to go to Sheffield on an open return from Havant damn expensive and a lovely 5-6hours on the train.
I just keep a keen eye out for the names of the stations i'm going through and just pay from the last one I went through As long as you choose the middle of the train to sit somewhere you've got a good number of stops to go before someone gets to you.
Slightly off topic but... Was anyone at Reading Station sunday afternoon? Apparently someone hit a train between twyford and maidenhead. All services from Reading to London were delayed some ungodly amount. They weren't exactly giving out refunds (sir you can use that ticket on the next train (in 4 hours time) ( i only wanted the next stop!))..... And teh bus queues were rediculous.
I heard about this too. Some maintenance bloke killed or something, but curiously nothing on bbc's regional news...
Damn, I didn't know that! I've been on a first class carriage once on a Virgin train, and they kept offering me food and drinks, but I kept declining as I thought I had to pay for it, to which I didn't have any money. Should have just asked
Last time I went to Reading (from the haven they call Didcot Parkway) we got newspapers in the quiet section of the train. This was a First Late Western train though.
Anyone been in first class with GNER? ive got the oppertunity of going First class with them to Aberdeen on the 10th (joy ) for a job interview but at this rate ill just request to be flown up from newcastle if there isnt any benifits.
