First Class Carriages on Trains...GRRRR!

I never sit in them, mind. I just like that they exist. Sometimes I get huffy when I see people go and sit in them, like I always want the trainticketbastards to catch them out. But hey, maybe they bought first class tickets.

Someone at work today said "Yes, but in the morning you get a newspaper!"

BIG. CHUFFIN'. DEAL.

And you still get a seat. And first and business class on planes are at least in use, while first class compartments on trains seem to be always empty.

And train ticket prices have almost doubled while the quality has gone down.

MarkH I am not even going down that road.

Because they bring down all their other costs too. Ryanair don't use computers to check you in, fly into cheap airports where they have cheap deals for takeoff and landing, don't give you back your travel taxes if you don't get on the plane, don't feed you, don't bother printing magazines, don't have cleaners clean a plane between flights, and so on and so on. They also sell a whole bunch of other ancillary stuff.

The other thing to remember about Ryanair and EasyJet is that they only appear cheap when you build your travel around their cheap flights. Try booking a flight to go to London on the weekend of a big football match. €300 or so.

??? You mean that there's no first class tickets on this commuter service??

1) Free coffee/newspaper
2) Instead of letting three fully packed trains go, I'd get the first one and get a seat, which meant I'd get in to work on time and extra cost of ticket would be made up by the extra hour claimable.

During the summer, I'd go normal class as the crush wasn't so bad.

Traditionally, if the Standard Class section of a train was full but the First Class wasn't, you were given a free upgrade if you asked - but you weren't allowed to go and sit in First Class without asking. I'm not sure if that's still in the Conditions Of Carriage (or any of the other ATOC manuals, ie, the rules that apply to all trains regardless of company).

You only got free first-class staff travel if you were in senior management (or your partner was - railway staff discounts always applied to your partner too). If you were in *really* senior management, your kids got a staff discount too.

Only for advance tickets though. I went to Reading on Saturday to play some music and got a lift there which cost me £5 petrol money donation, but I got the train back yesterday which cost £12.90 single, with a day return costing £13. A Network AwayBreak (5 days to make the return journey) costs £19.90 so I saved £2 by getting a lift.

I did first class a couple of times a few years ago, Manc-London on a Virgin HST which was great on the way down (Friday afternoon), ok food, loads of room, seemingly endless booze, not so great travelling back on a Sunday - not so much room, I had to share a table with some people, no booze, not even a paper. Pah.
Virgin XC has rubbish 'Club Class' where you get a packet of bombay mix and some virgin cola.
Pendolini have too many first class seats, not that much less uncomfortable than in standard.

??? You mean that there's no first class tickets on this commuter service??

I noticed that some faster trains on my line DO have a different 1st class that you're not allowed to sit in, but I take the "slow" train (i.e. it stops at every station between me - Barnes - and Waterloo) and that's always standard class as far as I can tell. However, only the latest trains (the blue ones) have first class carriages in any case.

Also they only use one type of aircraft therefore negating the need to train dudes up on maintenance of more than one type, also costs of parts = cheaper.