Lumo - passenger experience criticised in Which? review

[peteb]

I might be in the minority but personally I'd rather they got rid of things like tables completely.

Much rather have an option with the maximum number of seats available with reduced fares as a result.

If you want a more premium option, it already exists - it's called LNER and the price of fares on there is recent years is a disgrace, if you ask me, with the new 'simpler fares'.

I'd ever go further and not allow any large luggage on Lumo trains, similar to planes, and charge it as an extra with that paying for a reduction for everyone else.

The problem with airline seats is that they're great for a couple, but for solo travellers you can get wedged in with someone else who, on a long journey (4hrs is quite long), may fall asleep, or tap irritatingly on a device the whole way. SNCF have gone one worse on their Ouigo TGV, having proper airline 3 in a row seats, now they really are the pits.

 

[Zomboid]

There's only one pair of tables per coach and they're in the middle where the seat direction reverses. Thus short of tightening legroom the layout is already as efficient as it can be.

They should go all Shinkansen style and have the whole carriage unidirectional, and flip the seats round at termini

 

[pokemonsuper9]

They should go all Shinkansen style and have the whole carriage unidirectional, and flip the seats round at termini

Or just have left side of the train faces forwards of travel, right faces backwards.
I don't think you'd be able to get many seats in if you scrapped the tables (do the tables have bins next to them as well?) maybe only 1 extra pair.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Or just have left side of the train faces forwards of travel, right faces backwards.
I don't think you'd be able to get many seats in if you scrapped the tables (do the tables have bins next to them as well?) maybe only 1 extra pair.

I don't think you'd get any more in at all, as you'd need more legroom at the end where a seat faced the wall, not less. At tables legs are usually interwoven a bit!

In other words, if this idea had legs (!) Lumo would probably have done it. Their layout is to maximise seating.

 

[pinkmarie80]

I’ve only done Lumo once and would never do it again. Ryanair on rails and it was horrendous.

 

[800001]

I’ve only done Lumo once and would never do it again. Ryanair on rails and it was horrendous.

What was so bad about it?

I’ve done it London to Edinburgh, apart from Blue, more comfortable seats than LNER, found it no better or worse than LNER.

 

[WildNorthlands]

Let me guess that the author is a Londoner who travels the world but doesn't get out around the UK much. 'I don’t think it's an overstatement to say that not being able to get a cup of tea on a British train journey feels like a betrayal of the national consciousness.' He should try long journeys on Northern.

AFAIK the only Northern service you can get a cup of tea on is the Settle to Carlisle, where the trolley is run by the Friends.

 

[AlterEgo]

I read the original article and was somewhat dismayed to read that:

"The hot drinks urn is on the Fritz as we near Newcastle."

I'd never heard this (derogatory) expression which apparently dates from 1902, however I guess it's a term referencing Germans, cockney rhyming slang, (Fritz Lang = bang?? Perhaps), or some reference to "The War", Fritz/blitz=destroyed, "kaput"??

80 years on I thought we'd all grown up a bit, no need for Top Gear style reporting in a supposedly serious consumer magazine.

With that sort of journalism Which? appears to have sunk since my parents read it in the 1970s, seeking out the best household appliances.

As it is I'll form my own (revised if necessary) opinion
when I next travel on that route.

“On the fritz” (no proper noun there) is an Americanism from the early 1900s and probably refers to the onomatopoeic sound of an electrical machine breaking down. It is not in the least bit derogatory.

It’s you who has attached some sort of wartime connotation to it despite having already ascertained it was from 1902.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What was so bad about it?

I’ve done it London to Edinburgh, apart from Blue, more comfortable seats than LNER, found it no better or worse than LNER.

Cramped and in a poor state of repair, e.g. mucky seat covers and broken armrests (I know they're fixing this now).

Over-familiar and relatively unprofessional staff attitude clearly aimed at "Gen Zee" but seriously grating with this Gen-Xer.

Stupid luggage policy (I get why, but it doesn't make it any more sensible; the 400 seat thing was so they ordered longer trains but they wilfully took the mick and ordered 5 car ones with insufficient luggage space).

 

[jkkne]

Over-familiar and relatively unprofessional staff attitude clearly aimed at "Gen Zee" but seriously grating with this Gen-Xer.

Yes I'd much rather travel with LNER and have that god awful Eleanor mascot paraded up and down the gangway (as has happened on my last 3 journeys) or listen to their incessant announcements.
Lumo staff are great - unprofessional suggests safety breaches etc - if its a case of you're just old fashioned and don't enjoy the more relaxed and genial local service then LNER 1st class is probably for you - but even that has the same style service these days (particualrly with Newcastle crews) - perhaps its a north-south divide (we know our southern bretheren are a bit miserable)

 

[duffield]

Yes I'd much rather travel with LNER and have that god awful Eleanor mascot paraded up and down the gangway (as has happened on my last 3 journeys) or listen to their incessant announcements.
Lumo staff are great - unprofessional suggests safety breaches etc - if its a case of you're just old fashioned and don't enjoy the more relaxed and genial local service then LNER 1st class is probably for you - but even that has the same style service these days (particualrly with Newcastle crews) - perhaps its a north-south divide (we know our southern bretheren are a bit miserable)

Had to look up the "Eleanor Mascot", so it's "that puppet thing", yuck.

I've been using LNER quite a lot recently between Grantham, Newark, Leeds, York and Newcastle and I've never seen it "in the flesh", I didn't know they did that. Maybe it's a standard class only thing?

 

[jkkne]

Had to look up the "Eleanor Mascot", so it's "that puppet thing", yuck.

I've been using LNER quite a lot recently between Grantham, Newark, Leeds, York and Newcastle and I've never seen it "in the flesh", I didn't know they did that. Maybe it's a standard class only thing?

I was in first…probably half term related I suspect

 

[Moderating team]

I think we have all had a chance to have our say on this article so lets bring things to a close now.

thanks everyone