Ultimately it's still not comparable transport conditions to be downgraded from First Class with catering. The attitude of the Train Manager left a huge amount to be desired, with the notion that TPE passengers should be grateful they're allowed to travel at all. That is simply no way to behave in a customer facing job.
It used to be the case that during disruption passengers were entitled to avail of the full range of first class service regardless of whether they were being carried as a favour or not. I wonder if that has changed.
No. There are two separate issues here which can't be conflated. The first is that re-routing should be on the earliest available train, if the passenger so desires.
That has not changed.
Genuinely, I'd have accepted that as fair. My issue is more with Avanti unilaterally deciding that someone holding a valid 1st class ticket doesn't have to be conveyed in that class when it is available, despite the NRCoT clearly stating otherwise. There are two classes of travel and Avanti's branding doesn't change that, it is a standard class coach with a different seating layout. I'm not upset at missing out on the three limp sandwiches and microscopic scone, especially after the very nice "Full LNER" on the Highland Chieftain.
No because that's the first class product offered by LNR.
It is a coach that has been declassified. It is not accommodation for holders of first class tickets.
Regardless of that, the coach the OP was booked in was a first class coach, so there was no reason for them to be told to move to an area which was available for use by those NOT holding first class tickets.
I get that you have a determination to be right on this but the treatment of a customer in being told, effectively, that they are not good enough to sit in the seat the train operator has reserved for them is abysmal and I am certain you wouldn't be happy with it.
Indeed. If there were refreshments in Standard Premium but complimentary meals in First I could kind of see the argument, but in the circumstances, Standard Premium was a downgrade and so the closest comparable conditions were First. Even if that means an upgrade of sorts.
Not any more they aren't (post refurb). They are/were signed as such because Avanti, in their usual fashion, can't be bothered to do anything they don't have to. And if that lack of branding obscures the standard premium coach and results in fewer people upgrading because they are unaware it exists and is not in fact "first class", so be it.
Just to point out as per my previous post I was sat with Avanti TMs and drivers yesterday and the decision came from above.
They still are and and the SP coach still says First. The H door inside has lost First signage. G door sticker outside now says Standard so they haven’t forgotten!
This is your view though. This is your opinion.
Which the guard has the power to overrule.
When it comes to things like seating people on a train the guard has a very significant amount of discretion. My employer likes to call it "doing the right thing".
Nobody was forcing him to enforce it, were they? He could just as well have been "undertaking safety critical duties" for the whole journey.
From what I gathered yesterday they (the passengers) all failed the ‘attitude test’. Even the one on my train who wasn’t for moving.
I think it is wrong that a conversation is then being had about the passengers is hard in a derogatory way by the on-board staff let alone in an area where other members of the public can hear.
Strange that the social media team didn’t know about it then.
