Reply to: DOOM: Trains

[BoredBloke]

I just booked for a trip to London - Standard Premium on Avanti.

First class without the food, much cheaper and you still keep away from the riff-raff.

First class used to mean fantastic service, not any more.

I think that fewer business people traveling is a factor as well.

Avanti actual first class seems way more expensive than the first class price when Virgin ran the service - The price of the Standard Premium is more around what I used to pay Virgin for first but with none of the service! Avanti have been a massive backwards step for the west coast mainline

[_V_]

High taxes cost jobs!

Sack all the employees and move to tax haven. Give one of the offshore magic circle companies a call:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_magic_circle

and before you know it your marginal tax rate will be under 5%.

[AtW]

What happened to your chauffeur and private jet?

High taxes cost jobs!

[AtW]

They need to create a class above, call it Premium Executive Luxury Class and make sure only those paying 45% tax are allowed in

Excellent mention - First Class was used to make extra profits that were used to keep prices for standard tickets lower.

However many years of jacking up all ticket prices AND reducing level of services offered for higher paying First class passengers resulted in collapse of that revenue stream - same tulip is happening with 45% band.

[Whorty]

Didn't know aTw was taking flying lessons?

He wasn't ... self taught

[vetran]

Didn't know aTw was taking flying lessons?

[WTFH]

What happened to your chauffeur and private jet?

[_V_]

They need to create a class above, call it Premium Executive Luxury Class and make sure only those paying 45% tax are allowed in

[ladymuck]

Yes because they tell you, you can upgrade for £10 or whatever if the carriages are empty and standard are rather full.

Not just that. People travelling off peak are often wanting a more relaxing journey and are willing to pay a little extra to make the journey more pleasant and if First is repackaged with a better offering then it could be a good thing.

When I used to commute, I paid for First Class on Southern Railway purely because it got me a seat on what would often be heavily oversubscribed peak time services. The seats, cabin and service were all exactly the same. It's only since doing a few train journeys outside of SE England, heading north, that I realised the other train companies had a proper demarcation in the level of service between the classes of travel.

[d000hg]

The 'better' transport gets the worse the actual experience is.

[SueEllen]

I expected November’s budget to announce lifetime free First Class travel for ex-45% taxpayers as a thankyou

What happened to your chauffeur and private jet?

[SueEllen]

I can see it happening for commuter services but being retained for non-peak travel

Yes because they tell you, you can upgrade for £10 or whatever if the carriages are empty and standard are rather full.

[AtW]

I expected November’s budget to announce lifetime free First Class travel for ex-45% taxpayers as a thankyou

[ladymuck]

I can see it happening for commuter services but being retained for non-peak travel

[al_cam]

I just booked for a trip to London - Standard Premium on Avanti.

First class without the food, much cheaper and you still keep away from the riff-raff.

First class used to mean fantastic service, not any more.

I think that fewer business people traveling is a factor as well.