GWR Weekend First

[Mark J]

Just have a couple of questions.

I've taken advantage of the GWR January Sale for standard class tickets. Four journeys in total on Saturdays.

Am I eligible to upgrade to first class on one leg of the journey (Outward) with advance tickets?

Also the GWR website does not specifically state how much 1st class upgrades cost anymore. Nor is the 'zone' map is not on there anymore. All the GWR website states 'start from as little as £10'.

Can someone please provide info as to the costs nowadays.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm fairly sure it's only XC that doesn't allow Advance ticket holders to do Weekend First.

 

[hexagon789]

Just have a couple of questions.

I've taken advantage of the GWR January Sale for standard class tickets. Four journeys in total on Saturdays.

Am I eligible to upgrade to first class on one leg of the journey (Outward) with advance tickets?

Also the GWR website does not specifically state how much 1st class upgrades cost anymore. Nor is the 'zone' map is not on there anymore. All the GWR website states 'start from as little as £10'.

Can someone please provide info as to the costs nowadays.

You don't say what journeys you are making, but London to Penzance is £25 according to BRfares.

​

​ First Class​ SINGLE​	​ GWR WEEKEND UPGRADE FWF​
Fares Period​	From 3 Dec 23​
From​	LONDON TERMINALS​
To​	PENZANCE​
Route​	GWR FIRSTUPGRADE​

​

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www.brfares.com

You should find all the upgrade charges on that site if you put in origin and destination.

AFAIAA, GWR permit all Std Class tickets to be upgraded, including PRIV and Advances.

 

[Mark J]

You don't say what journeys you are making, but London to Penzance is £25 according to BRfares.



You should find all the upgrade charges on that site if you put in origin and destination.

AFAIAA, GWR permit all Std Class tickets to be upgraded, including PRIV and Advances.

I'm doing:

Reading > Worcester
Reading > Hereford
Reading > Bristol TM
Reading > Cardiff Central

Also doing Reading > Swindon. However, not too bothered with 1st on this journey.

I'll check out the info on BR Fares.

I did check 1st on a couple of the journeys, was considerably more expensive with 1st - even in the sale.

I am generally usually only interested in 1st one way, the journey out, when it is usually busier.

 

[Benjwri]

You can also bid for an upgrade on SeatFrog, obviously the upgrade on road is subject to availability, whereas a SeatFrog upgrade is guaranteed if you win the bid. Personally I would advise bidding with a maximum of the onboard upgrade price for your trip, then trying to upgrade onboard if you don’t win the bid.

 

[Mark J]

You can also bid for an upgrade on SeatFrog, obviously the upgrade on road is subject to availability, whereas a SeatFrog upgrade is guaranteed if you win the bid. Personally I would advise bidding with a maximum of the onboard upgrade price for your trip, then trying to upgrade onboard if you don’t win the bid.

Sounds a good plan.

I've just downloaded that app.

When I checked the sale prices for first. The prices were around 2.5x the standard prices - on average.

Thanks for the info.

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I've just checked SeatFrog for one of the Journeys.

The 1st Upgrade price is £20, with SeatFrog's opening bid being £14.

I can't believe that people would overbid for something they can Upgrade on the day, for a few £ more.

 

[Benjwri]

I've just checked SeatFrog for one of the Journeys.

The 1st Upgrade price is £20, with SeatFrog's opening bid being £14.

I can't believe that people would overbid for something they can Upgrade on the day, for a few £ more.

Yeah I would just bid on SeatFrog with a maximum of £20, and see what happens. If people do bid it’s probably because they don’t realise weekend upgrade is a thing, however obviously on a weekday you cannot upgrade, which is why there isn’t a maximum on SeatFrog.

 

[Mark J]

Yeah I would just bid on SeatFrog with a maximum of £20, and see what happens. If people do bid it’s probably because they don’t realise weekend upgrade is a thing, however obviously on a weekday you cannot upgrade, which is why there isn’t a maximum on SeatFrog.

Even then SeatFrog has the option to 'Purchase Now*' at £30, when the onboard price is £20, for example. Why would I want to pay £10 over the odds for something I can possibly get on the day.

*Transaction fees may apply.

If opening bids start at £14 (for what would be a £20 onboard) Weekend First upgrade, possibly being outbid causing the price you want to pay increasing, plus their 'transaction fees'. Is there really much of a saving purchasing a GWR Weekend First from SeatFrog?

As far as I can see, the answer is no.


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What I've also increasingly found on GWR is there is little benefit to upgrading to First on a late night weekend service.

Coming back from Worcester to Reading, a few weeks ago on the last train of the evening, at 21:20.

The train was near empty when it departed Worcester and remained pretty much under ¼ full until Oxford.

No catering available in either Second, or First classes.

Coming back from Cheltenham last weekend, the situation was the same.

I'm expecting the same when coming back from Hereford this coming weekend.

Whilst the outbound service early in the day may be worthy of a First Upgrade, I don't feel the return element is, especially when returning late in the evening.

 

[Benjwri]

Even then SeatFrog has the option to 'Purchase Now*' at £30, when the onboard price is £20, for example. Why would I want to pay £10 over the odds for something I can possibly get on the day.

*Transaction fees may apply.

If opening bids start at £14 (for what would be a £20 onboard) Weekend First upgrade, possibly being outbid causing the price you want to pay increasing, plus their 'transaction fees'. Is there really much of a saving purchasing a GWR Weekend First from SeatFrog?

You can easily set a maximum below 20 and the benefit of it is it is guaranteed, whereas an onboard upgrade is subject to availability. It will still be vastly cheaper than a first class ticket.