Great Western Coffee Shop

RANT..... >:(

The facility to prebook Weekend First (with non advance tickets) is being withdrawn but you will be able to pre purchase your Volo supplements instead... oh woopie doo..

What the ^&^ are they playing at?????  >:(

Ensuring 1st class doesnt get overbooked? Buy onboard is still available

How can it be overbooked if seat reservations are provided ? Surely this was one of the benefits for groups of up to 6 wanting to sit together and avoid standard class "tombstone" barrier seats !  Seems FGW want to push more into Advance 1st class tickets instead (or stop no show seat booking, as one of the good things with Weekend First is they are valid on any train that day if your plans change)

First Class ticket holders fon't generally reserve their seat, knowing they can usually get a seat regardless. My suggestion is that too many are buying in advance & travelling on the popular services, leaving some occasions where 1st class ticket holders have found all seats taken on boarding.

Making Weekend First only availablr on-train, FGW can ensure their premium fare payers are guaranteed a 1st class seat on whichever service they wish to travel on, without forcing them to reserve in advance, thus retaining complete flexibilty.

I see nothing wrong with this policy. You can either buy advance or turn up in good time to claim an empty 1st class seat, which I reckon will still be available, except on a very few very popular services.

I heard they are doing away with the complimentaries for weekend first upgraders

I will ask the question....

I'd be surprised if FGW would do that. If they do, I would hope that they would reduce the price. Can't see that happening though unless FGW have seen a reduction in revenue since they introduced the zonal pricing system a couple of years back. Let's see what Chris can find out.

Very much doubt it, the revenue they must make on some of the West Country trains must be substaintially greater than when it was ^10 a head!

Just looked at NFM 09 (from 22nd May) and no mention of any changes to FGW weekend first upgrades ??

THere are no changes, except that you can't buy in advance. THe NFM doesn't cover that condition. And if the complimentary refreshments are being withdrawn, which somehow I doubt, those aren't covered in the NFM either.

btw - I won't get a definitive answer this week, as the two people that know for sure are both on leave.

I see little point in withdrawing the facility to pre-book Weekend First. I don't really understand the argument about lack of seats for full fare 1st Class passengers.

Who in their right mind buys a full fare 1st Class ticket for travel at the weekend?

Advance tickets?

I did once on Virgin by accident - I was drunk at Euston station trying to get home to brum

Forgot it was saturday morning and not still friday night

Which already have a seat reservation.

If when you enquire to book a WF in advance of travel with your Standard walk-up tickets and there are no bookable seats available in 1st Class then, fair enough, don't sell the upgrade and advise the passenger to check for space whilst on board.

If seats are available then who loses out if one of them is booked? Probably only the Train Manager......

..... aah. Perhaps TMs were complaining they were losing out on the commission. Now that would make sense.

Advance can be booked up to 6pm the day before.

Every Weekend First booked before that deadline (if a reserved seat) means one fewer 1st Advance able to be sold, doesn't it?

And what about those that are bought without reservation in advance? If they then sell out of 1st Advance on any train, and a Weekend First then turns up too.....! (small chance, but I bet it's happened)

To be fair I think advance booking week end first is a little piss taking.

If I know I'm going up to london on a weekend - like this weekend I'm up in london saturday night, home on sunday - I'll look to see what advances there are but if its the sake of a few quid, I'll get a standard walk on and just pay the upgrade

Quotas then? Especially when the combined revenue of Standard walk-up plus WF can far exceed a 1st Class Advance.

Allow booking of seats in Coach F as well on 2+8s.

perhaps this hightlights further silliest of the fair system or the greediness of the company. From my part of the world (Cornwall) the cheapest advance 1st are the best value but there comes a point if you miss the cheapest ones where you're better off buying a super off peak & a weekend 1st supplement rather than the dearer advance ones and this is going to force me to possibly pay more to guarantee my 1st class seat at a weekend .

Unless you force a reservation on a Weekend First bought in advance, how do quotas work then? And you'rte going to want to keep the flexibility of walk-on Weekend First, aren't you?

Can't -0 what happens with set changes?

The section on First Class upgrades from NFM 09 (valid until Sept. 2011) is shown below for info. guys (last ammended by FGW in March)
Weekend First - First Great WesternHolders of all Standard Class tickets and passes (including Staff Travel facilities, UK and foreign) may travel in extra comfort on many First Great Western services on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays in First Class accommodation. Services which carry First Class accommodation include all High Speed services from London Paddington to the Cotswolds / Hereford, Cheltenham Spa, South Wales, the West Country and the South West of England; most local and semi-fast services from London Paddington to the area bounded by Banbury, Bicester Town, Didcot Parkway, Bedwyn, Basingstoke; Reading ^ Gatwick Airport services; most services on the Thames Branches (Henley on Thames, Marlow, Windsor & Eton Central, Greenford).

On FGW High Speed services, a range of complimentary refreshments is available on production of the travel ticket and Weekend First supplement ticket at the buffet counter (or trolley), when open.

When issued in advance, Weekend First must include a free reserved seat. However, if the customer misses their reserved train, the supplement may be transferred to other services for the same journey on the same date at no extra charge, subject to accommodation being available.

Passengers may also purchase Weekend First on board, subject to availability of accommodation.
Prices
Weekend First supplements on First Great Western are priced by journey. Prices are ^5, ^10, ^15 or ^20, depending on the journey being made. Please consult your ticket issuing system for specific prices (ticket type FWF).

Availability
When selling tickets for a journey which involves a change of train, one supplement is payable for the entire journey, rather than per leg, provided that the entire journey is made on First Great Western trains ^ for example, a journey from Exeter St Davids to Maidenhead (two FGW services) can be upgraded with one Weekend First supplement.

Please note that FGW Weekend First is not valid on trains operated by any other TOC.

 

How about someone who has travelled during the week but is returning at the weekend?

Cheaper to get a first single for the week and then a weekend first?

There aren't any advantages on FC are there for a return - its just double the cost of a single?

Depends, most FGW flows if not all, have a First Off Peak Return which is about ^30-40 (give or take a few quid) more than the single.

Now this is why I like SWT, and as much as I don't like to say it after being delayed for over an hour at the weekend, Virgin.

You can book First Advance up until 23:59 the day before travel.

But sometimes with SWT if you have a railcard it's cheaper to buy a Super Off Peak Single and then WF for a fiver than book their First Advance Tickets (Even with Railcard discount). You can't though book WF online with them, it's just turn up and take a seat, which are generally speaking, always available!

But I will say that during a week day, I'm yet to receive this complimentary hot drink they offer in the morning peak trains to London......... :( :'(

I've had confirmation that Weekend First product is not changing at all - just the retail arrangements.

"The product will remain available on train and 'The Manual' will be updated shortly to reflect the change in retail arrangements."

The problem with no advance booking on WF only really kicks in if you are making a journey covering two or more TOCs. If you buy the supplement in advance (and all the tocs concerned have not withdrawn from prebooking, as East Coast already have) then the supplement covers you for the entire journey. You just pay the highest applicable WF supplement. With on train only it will only cover you for the part of the journey on that TOC, so you could end up paying a two or more supplements. And I guess that there's something in FGW in the revenue split in the change. Unless anyone knows differently of course....

I didn't know that about WE purchases in advance.....

Would explain FGWs (and other TOCs) pulling out though....I wonder what WE is worth in a month to FGW?

EDit: Confirmation received that 1st class has been getting oversubscribed on busy Sundays...

Don't forget that walk-up fares are shared wheras advance fare revenue (assuming the ticket was retailed themselves) will all go to FGW.

The Weekend First add-on wouldn't be shared....it's not a fare

I now avoid weekend travel as far as posible.
Part of the point of paying the first class fare is the hope or expectation that first class will be relatively free of drunks, dogs, screaming children, rucksacks and baby carriages. On weekday trains this is normally the case.

Weekend first however removes much of the attraction since first class now resembles steerage, but with larger seats.
On a recent weekend journy from Taunton to London, I already had a first class ticket. First class was very crowded, with every seat taken either by weekend first ticket holders, or by their infants, luggage, and belongings.
I only got a seat by removing luggage, against the protests of the owners, whose children screamed for much of the journey.
Not an experience that I would choose to repeat ! But also no grounds for formal complaint or compensation. After all, it would be argued that I got the seat that I paid for, and that FGW cant be liable for the behaviour of other passengers.

Weekdays only for me now, except in emergencies.

And on 2 weeday trains, we still have a restaurant.

Certainly aim for the 12:00 or 12:55 restaurant services if I can!  I thought weekend first was confined to one coach so regular first class passengers could opt to avoid the problems you encountered?

That restriction on which carriage/s Weekend First applied to was removed quite sometime ago. It used to be coaches F and G with H reserved for full fare ticket holders. In fact you pretty much have to go back to the days of Intercity or the early days of the Great Western franchise where this restriction on using coach H applied.

The withdrawal of the facility to buy Weekend First in advance and book a seat is a topic that has popped up on RailUK Forums in the past couple of days. With similar confusion about the new retail procedures.

It appears that 'The Manual' retail staff refer to has yet to be updated, so rail staff who are RailUK contributors have been innocently giving out duff advice.

I smiled to myself at that. It's nice to see rail staff don't always get up to date information either. Of course FGW's website says you can still book WF in advance of travel.  ::)

On my last trip to Darlington, I didn't fancy returning on the Bank Holiday Friday, so I nipped up to Scotland for a few days instead.

I'd arranged most of my trip at Barnstaple Station (Off-Peak Return Barnstaple-Darlington, 1st Advance Darlington-Glasgow, Open Return Glasgow-Taynuilt, and Std Advance Glasgow-Warrington - Warrington being the most northernly station on the West Coast where I could use the return part of the Barnstaple-Darlington ticket).

One thing I forgot to get was a seat reservation from Warrington to Birmingham so, with a bit of time at Darlington, I tried to book it there.

At first they tried to claim that my BNP-DAR ticket wasn't valid via Warrington (although they had no problem with me using bits of multiple tickets for the journey). I tend to come prepared for situations like this, so pulled out the bits of the Routeing Guide including the three maps that applied to the journey I was taking (TP+CM+CE, if anyone cares).

After a bit of ferreting around in the back office, the supervisor brought out a fairly tatty ring binder, and said that my ticket was only valid via Derby and Birmingham.

I then pointed out that the date on my copy was March 2011, whilst his was August 1996!

Do the three maps include the date, or did you have to copy the cover sheet as well?

I've seen the memo / notice to Retail Staff on this change....so theyu've failed to read it.

The date was on the Routeing pages, not the maps.

Wouldn't have mattered, since at least two of the three maps didn't exist in the 1996 version!

Or failed to receive it. The staff offering advice over at RailUK may not have been FGW. A paper memo may not have been distributed to every UK ticket office.

'The Manual' is there to help all retail staff  fulfil their TSA obligations to offer correct and impartial information. Being an electronic document it shouldn't take 6 weeks and counting to update. FGW are responsible for the entry regarding their WF tickets. ATOC are responsible for updating.

Haven't checked recently then? :-)

Oh, and the home page has had a lick of paint too!

One piece of feedback I've already provided - The Live Updates (one thing everyone goes looking at) are no longer on the front page, you have to click through to another page.....better back on home page, methinks.

Nope. Website won't render properly on a 4:3 monitor. And some links are dead. I'll forgive FGW the teething troubles, although they could've used a beta site to iron out problems.

Indeed, I've just found the same problem. Have fed it back.

It would appear that they are working on the new layout while the site is 'live'. Not the best way to update/refresh a website.

Indeed, about 30 minutes longer, I understand.

'tis an odd way of doing this.

I see on Twitter that the FGW site is having a total overhaul in the Autumn.

Looks like a half way 'bodge job' between old and new site.

FGW Website now updated with regards to Weekend First

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3973 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3973)

Am also informed that the online manual has been updated but yet to confirm this.

If the website looks half old and half new, press Ctrl+F5 to refresh your cache.  The whole new website then loads (it did for me).

Only the front page has changed.....

As usual, style is deemed to be more important than substance. One should have thought that getting some of the factual information correct on the site would be some sort of a priority.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=1706#q200

"RingGo is a new, innovative service by which you can pay for your parking via your mobile phone. Please visit the Car Park section of this website for more information"

Apparently the Manual is not yet updated. (Last updated in March)

Have spoken to Web updater and this now has been changed to advertise the Apcoa Connect service and not Ringo, I assume this is what was incorrect?

I emailed this morning, so were already in the process....

Nice work, insider - much appreciated. It's good to know this forum can make a real difference from time to time :)