Train travel - advantages of first class travel?

[olivo]

I don't live in England but need to visit and will need to make a train journey of around 4 hours. What are the benefits of first class train travel over standard? Is it worth it? I have two teens and a family railcard.

TIA

Fewer people, nicer seats, refreshments.

It depends on the route, some are worth it, some aren't. GWR commuter trains first class into London are lovely.

It depends on the train line.

Anglia rail you used to get a table lamp and some shortbread with your hot drink.

Southern you get nothing special.

Virgin when I did that a few years ago…well let’s just say I made the most of the g&t

It's trans penine, is that a company in its own right?

Would you do it if you could ?

@Shuffleuplove

Fewer people, nicer seats, refreshments.

This, basically.

Although some lines are not offering much in the way of refreshments at the moment 'because of covid'. Had this recently with both Avanti and East Coast.

Thanks. I am basically thinking we would be a bit more spread out. I don't mind about food and things.

I don’t think you get a family railcard discount on 1st class

It depends on the price difference

Ok, so no discount, that's helpful to know, thanks. That makes sense actually ,looking at the price differences.

I always use my railcard with 1st class.

Free food. Free alcohol.

However, look online first to see what the 1st class is like as some are crap

You can also use the 1st class lounge at the station, food and drinks are free and it’s normally less crowded with comfy chairs and a nice bathroom

First is worth it if you can get a good price. Sometimes it even works out cheaper than standard. Work out the difference and then divide that by the numbers of hours you're travelling, gives a feel of whether it's worth it or not.

www.tpexpress.co.uk/travelling-with-us/first-class

@blinkthreetimes You can't use the family railcard for first travel. You can use other cards, the disabled card, senior etc.

Thank you, these link is really helpful as I couldn't find that info!

I think we might go for it, WiFi to keep teens entertained has got to be worth it in itself and hopefully a reasonable loo!

Is there WiFi usually on trains ( sorry, I know nothing! ) or do you pay extra for it?

There really might not be a specific loo for first class.

Apparently there's an app called seatfrog which you can use to bid to upgrade your standard class seats to first. I've never used it but a ticket inspector mentioned it to me.

One problem is that a lot of the train operators have used COVID as an excuse to cut a lot of their catering - looking at you GWR who can serve sandwiches in the lounge but not on the train "cos covid" although snack boxes containing nothing you'd want to eat are still OK on board.

Space mainly, sometimes who you are not travelling with.

Transpennine pre Covid used to be an absolute bun fight. Even if you had reserved seats, half the time they didn’t apply them and you’d end up standing like sardines. I’d always opt for first on transpennine to stand a chance of actually getting to sit down, especially between Leeds and Manchester. It might be better now Covid has reduced train use, but I haven’t been since.

@PointeShoesandTutus

Transpennine pre Covid used to be an absolute bun fight. Even if you had reserved seats, half the time they didn’t apply them and you’d end up standing like sardines. I’d always opt for first on transpennine to stand a chance of actually getting to sit down, especially between Leeds and Manchester. It might be better now Covid has reduced train use, but I haven’t been since.

I can concur with this. If I could afford to buy a first class ticket on TPE I would. The journey between Sheffield and Manchester, and Leeds and Manchester are particularly crowded.

The main advantages of first class for me are:

• first class lounge at big stations. These have refreshments, nicer toilets, reasonable seats, places to charge your phone and sockets for laptops etc
• You will always get a seat. Even with reserved seats in standard class I have often ended up having to stand because either reserved seating is not being run (I have no idea why) or there was someone in my reserved seat that refused to move (very occasionally someone with a greater need of a seat but usually not).
• You are far less likely to be sharing a carriage with people on the way to/from a drunken night out etc who feel the need to scream/sing etc for the whole journey then throw up on your feet (voice of experience)
• refreshments. whether these are worthwhile depends on the time of day as well as the route. On some of the main routes the food at peak times is pretty decent but outside peak time just a few curly sandwiches and tiny packets of crisps.

No riff raff either

Also check if the trains actually have first class accomodation all the way. If you have to change trains part of the journey might be on a train with standard class only.

@olivo

Is there WiFi usually on trains ( sorry, I know nothing! ) or do you pay extra for it?

It's usually standard to have access to free Wi Fi.

If it's a weekday you get much better extras. Weekday first class service: food and drinks brought to your table. Weekends: no food, here's a voucher for a free cup of tea, go and get it yourself from the buffet car. This was mainly Virgin Trains, pre CovId, but I can't imagine it's changed for the better.