Trains to London

[Onacuctustree]

I live on a mainline to London.
I want to book a train for the week after next.
There is nothing.
Apps I have tried,the Trainline, Avanti..
What is going on?
Is it because of strikes,so trains might be there if I just show up?
Or are they full?
Shouldn't it be quite easy to get a train to the capital city with 2 weeks advance notice?

*cancelled

What's your point?

Avanti Westcoast is a shambles. Be aware that once you’ve bought you ticket and reserved your seats those seats may have been booked two or three times over by people who booked months a go before this epic cock up was revealed.

It’s unlikely to be a pleasant journey down even when your ticket is booked.

OP - If you are trying to book a train during the half term (23rdish onwards) then there is engineering work all week on the Avanti West Coast Line.

There is absolutely no service between, I think, Rugby and Stafford or similar, so a bus replacement service which will take an hour and 20ish. As such, any trains on the West Coast are not yet fully planned as they need to work out what and where they can run. They have said that they will try to get the revised timetable for that week online by early next week, but even then, I would assume there will be massive issues travelling anywhere on that line, especially going to London from north of the engineering works.

@Anxiernie yes, I’ve always chosen my seats. I book through Avanti but it was an option on virgin too. You get booked on any old seats and you can move them around just before you pay.
if you let Avanti book for you it’s not unusual to find children booked away from their parents.

Avanti are dreadful, so annoying as it used to be so easy and cheap to pop to London. If at all possible for you it might be better to drive east or west and catch a different line, either to King's Cross or Marylebone.

This particular poster seems to have a few hissy fits.

@Keyansier - London is quite pleased when you don't visit, FYI.

It has dirty, toxic air you can hardly breathe in

Tell us what earthly paradise you live in, do. Oddly enough millions of people don't seem to have this problem, sure it's not you?

I can't stand London. I resent every few months I have to go there for work. It has dirty, toxic air you can hardly breathe in and too many rude people shoving past you all the time

Well that escalated quickly?

3rd post as well - is that some kind of record?

I suspect that that particular poster is the type to arrive in rush hour, stands at the top of the escalator checking her phone then wonders why people are pushing past her.

Slight derail (ha), but is anyone getting a good, reliable service with trains at the moment?

I commute into London and Thameslink seem to treat their timetable as inspiration rather than something they actually base their service on.

Wondered if this is just post covid nonsense for everyone?

South Western trains have always treated their timetable as a wishlist rather than anything else, and it's both heartening and depressing at the same time to see that there's a service that is actually worse than theirs.

The problem is with Avanti, they are not selling Advance tickets due to their staffing issues.

Try the slow London North Midlands route instead. The trains go from Crewe but if you have to go from Stoke you need to change at Stafford.

Avanti West Coast are in a total mess and not releasing many advance tickets - thus shooting themselves in the foot, because previous customers will just stop bothering with them and income will drop. Government have given them 6 months to sort it out, or lose the franchise.
Come back Virgin Trains, all is forgiven!

our trains are owned by every other country but ours. Wasn’t Brexit supposed to fix this?

crazy how train tickets are so expensive yet avanti have so many staff issues due to them being underpaid. Where is the money actually going?

I find that I can't use the Trainline using Firefox if I am on my laptop just checking for trains. I have to use Microsoft Edge.

I keep getting ads on my Facebook feed from train companies (in my case it is Northern Rail and East Midlands Rail Company). The comments are hilarious - basically "you're 'aving a larf", or rude. I think public confidence in travelling by train must be at its lowest right now. They should never have been deregulated.

Oh Dear

HOW can I get from London Euston to Carlisle ( then another couple of hours onward travel) without using Avanti? Coach is out due to travel sicknesses and not having 24 hours to spend travelling. Car is out as we don’t drive.

would anyone who’s trying to get TO London FROM the depths of Cumbria ( yes politicians it’s an actual place) like to swap lives? You stay put and go and check on my elderly parents, cook a few meals to freeze and do some cleaning. I’ll stay in London and go to the theatre for you. Deal?

@MaffsMover

There's a direct train from Newcastle to Carlisle, so you could do Kings X to Newcastle on LNER and then Newcastle to Carlisle.

You'd probably need to buy the tickets separately (use LNER.co.uk for the London to Newcastle leg) and it would take around 4.5 hours but it seems like a good alternative to me if the west coast option isn't working at the moment.

@trailrunner85 at the time I posted OP had failed to give any information about where they were travelling from and what line they wanted to use, so it wasn’t a case of “that’s lovely for you” and I certainly wasn’t trying to belittle anybody. Had they said in the OP what line they were asking about and exactly when they wanted to travel I could have tailored my advice accordingly, so wind your neck in please!

If you don’t mind a slower journey, try London North Western?

Wasn’t Brexit supposed to fix this?

No.

No, because at the time I posted OP had not said what line they actually wanted to use, so I just did. a general search in case it threw up that there was going to be a strike.

@flingingmelon I use Thameslink too and to be honest they’ve been ok the last few weeks? Probably helps though that I generally travel off-peak as much as possible. Though I’m still mighty pissed off that they got rid of peak-time carnet tickets and introduced the so-called ‘flexible ticket’ which is anything but