Avanti west coast

NBLondon

Does it depend on time of day? Breakfast vs Afternoon Tea vs Supper? Were you hoping for three courses with a sorbet in between?

yorkie2

There is no seat selector on the Avanti website, which was a major own-goal as many people used the popular seat selector on Virgin Trains' website.


It is still possible to use a seat selector for Avanti services, by using a third party website, but not if you book through Avanti's own website.

gapster13

For me the change has been awful. With Virgin I was getting a student discount via unidays which avanti haven't taken on.



Any ideas on how I can cut down my fare? I'm studying with the open

university but this doesn't allow me to get a railcard.


Any train workarounds, travelling from london euston to manchester piccadilly?

yorkie2

gapster13 wrote: »

For me the change has been awful. With Virgin I was getting a student discount via unidays which avanti haven't taken on.



Any ideas on how I can cut down my fare? I'm studying with the open

university but this doesn't allow me to get a railcard.


Any train workarounds, travelling from london euston to manchester piccadilly?

Yes; try Trainsplit.com, especially if travelling at "peak" times.


In "Fast" mode you will just get Avanti trains (but the prices may be cheaper than Avanti charge for a through fare); in "Cheap" mode you will sometimes find cheaper options using other train companies.


Tip: when the journey is in your basket, click "Choose My Seat" to access their seat selector

bap98189

gapster13 wrote: »

Any ideas on how I can cut down my fare? I'm studying with the open university but this doesn't allow me to get a railcard.

Any train workarounds, travelling from london euston to manchester piccadilly?

Look at travelling via Crewe. If you travel via Crewe you can catch the London Northwestern trains from Euston to Crewe. They are slower, and you will have to change trains at Crewe, but you can usually get the Euston - Crewe leg for a fraction of the price of the Virgin train. Look at prices for the Euston - Crewe leg and you'll see what I mean.

For the Crewe - Piccadilly leg, you can sometimes get Northern advance fairs for £1.

jbuchanangb

@gapster13 For example. London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly £13.80.

LNR Advance Euston to Crewe £9.00
Northern Advance Crewe to Manchester £4.80

Available for next Monday departing Euston at 08.46, arriving Manchester 12.17 and at hourly intervals thereafter. Change at Crewe and Alderley Edge.

If you book with trainsplit they will ask you for a small fee as a percentage of the whopping saving. The walkup single fare would have been £180.

Tallaght

Have many people now used Avanti west coast since its launch date ?
Did it go well ?

tealady

Tallaght wrote: »

Have many people now used Avanti west coast since its launch date ?
Did it go well ?

Used it several times. No better, no worse than Virgin.

Pennywise

tealady wrote: »

Used it several times. No better, no worse than Virgin.

Which is hardly surprising - same trains, same staff. Not sure why people are expecting any changes so soon. At best, there'll just be minor changes/tweaks in the short term, such as trivialities like slightly different meals etc maybe. New trains are on order but won't be seen for 2/3 years and the Pendolinos will be with us for many years to come anyway.

marmite1979

Do they use Trainline to sell tickets? I bought some direct from their website and see ''The Trainline'' as the issuing office.