Weekend First & Volo

[whole diary]

[Mookiemoo]

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

[JayMac]

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.

[old original]

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 .

[ChrisB]

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.

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?

[Mookiemoo]

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.

Can't -0 what happens with set changes?

[Sleepy]

THere are no changes, except that you can't buy in advance. THe NFM^▸ (National Fares Manual) 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 And if the complimentary refreshments are being withdrawn, which somehow I doubt, those aren't covered in the NFM either.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.

The section on First Class upgrades from NFM 09 (valid until Sept. 2011) is shown below for info. guys (last ammended by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) in March)
Weekend First - First Great WesternHolders of all Standard Class tickets and passes (including Staff Travel facilities, UK^▸ (United Kingdom) 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^▸ (Train Operating Company).

 

[Ollie]

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

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

[Mookiemoo]

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

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^‡(resolve) are there for a return - its just double the cost of a single?

[Ollie]

Depends, most FGW^▸ (First Great Western) 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.

[thetrout]

Now this is why I like SWT^▸ (South West Trains), 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.........

[ChrisB]

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."

[IainH]

The problem with no advance booking on WF only really kicks in if you are making a journey covering two or more TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company). 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^▸ (First Great Western) in the revenue split in the change. Unless anyone knows differently of course....

[ChrisB]

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

Would explain FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) (and other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company)) 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...

[readytostart]

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

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

[ChrisB]

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