Avanti West Coast

My train was taken over by avanti when I was scheduled to have a journey with virgin, I was worried as they did not have seat selection and staff were not so clear with how seating policy worked.

However we found when boarding trains there was multiple unreserved seats to choose from in carriages much quieter then what we had booked. We ended up booking coach B which was super busy and literally full of suitcases. The issue with these trains is there is just not much space at all for suitcases so people start storing them by the chairs which makes it hard to walk through.

We walked down to the coach with the shop and it was literally empty and so much nicer so we sat there. The shop on board is really good and the prices are reasonable and if you are peckish it comes in handy.

The only issue here is the lack of suitcase space, howwever as for seats etc I find them just as good as virgin.Journey with them was London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street on the Pendolino train, fyi its a bumpy ride take travel sickness pills if needed.

I have used Avanti West Coast a number of times and I have had good experiences using them. My most recent journey was from Liverpool Lime Street to Milton Keynes on the first service of the day. Covid guidelines were strictly followed and tickets including a reserved seat could only be purchased in advance in order to reduce the amount of passengers accepted onboard. The onboard crew were all pleasant and welcoming and the only issue I had was trying to order food using the app which didn't work but apart from that it was a good journey and the train arrived into Milton Keynes on time.

PLEASE bring back Virgin trains!! Avanti customer service is the worst I have ever experienced. I recently travelled from Chester to London, changing at Crewe and staying one night in London but it four attempts to actually book a ticket, finally making a successful purchase after downloading the app to my phone. The online website needs looking at as it definitely wasn't working for me on both my laptop and desktop pc. The day before my outward travel I received an email confirming my train time . However the following evening when I arrived at Euston, fortunately early, I discovered after not seeing my train time appearing on the departure board that the train had been cancelled but had no notification . Luckily the ticket office was still open and was told that I now needed to get the Glasgow train which was going via Crewe but leaving half an hour earlier. If I had been travelling on a later train I might have been stuck in London for another night and having to find somewhere to stay at short notice. With Virgin I used to get a message about my return train informing me what platform the train was departing from. Contacting Avanti customer services I got the standard no reply email saying I would be contacted within 28 days and the previous time I contacted them regarding their ticketing it took 6 weeks to get a reply and trying contact by phone is impossible Not good enough Avanti. They no longer have direct trains between Chester and London and don't appear to have any advance tickets inspite of being told that they do. It once took one of my friends 4 hours to do the same journey as her train stopped at 6 stations before arriving at Crewe instead of one.The ticket pricing is ridiculous too ,seeing some one way tickets price at over £100 , you can get to Europe and back for less.

Awful recent experience. Train nearly an hour late leaving Preston though arrived roughly on time.

I had paid for First Class so I could get lunch/drinks etc and arrive refreshed for a meeting. Sadly, the catering staff literally ran through after about an hour and offered us semi thawed stale scones. No warm drinks or proper food. They then got off the train as they had to go home! Apparently , if there train is late they don’t feel obliged to offer the same standard of service. The guard seemed surprised that the customers who had paid for this service expected it to be delivered.

I contacted customer service and was less than happy with the response. I managed to get some money back for the delay - after multiple emails. However, apparently the service they offer in First Class is complimentary so they don’t offer compensation when it isn’t provided. Well, I certainly recall paying for this complimentary service.

The toilet was out of order in our carriage and I can confirm what other reviewers have said about the maintenance of the trains now being poor.

My advice? Drive to London or if you have to get the train don’t pay extra for their non-existent First Class service.

Tried to book tickets for myself and my partner. We wanted to sit together, unsurprisingly. The system defaulted to window seats, despite my stating ‘no preference’, and repeatedly gave us window seats on what appeared to be separate tables, to boot.

Tried to use the ‘change seats’ option, but only window seats were available n the seating plan. I tried emptying my basket and starting again, emptying and logging off and logging-on again, nothing helped. In the time it took to do all this the ticket price increased by about 15%.

When I eventually booked separate window seats for us both, and received confirmation, there wasn’t an option to ‘continue’ so I could book return tickets (I didn’t trust the system enough, by this time, to have tried booking a return trip in one go). I had to log back in to do this.

This all took ages, cost me more that it should have, wasted an hour of my time. If Avanti display this level of incompetence when they are trying to take my money off me, what will they be like now that they have it? Or do they not give a stuff, now that they have the franchise?

I took a return journey from Euston to Blackpool in January and I could not believe how poor the service was. I went second class in the quiet coach on the way out and there was a banana skin on the floor, food strewn everywhere and it was filthy dirty. I returned first class, the train was cancelled but the messaging was the train was not stopping at Blackpool which was strange as the service starts there. I then went to Preston and the first class carriage was again disgustingly dirty, the staff were rude, the coffee was served in a paper cup and the carriage was absolutely freezing and when I complained to the train manager I was told that I could sit somewhere else, as everybody still had their hats and coats on I do not see how this would have helped. I then complained to Avanti waited a month for a response which was one where they had no interest whatsoever. Bring back Virgin whose service was much better.

I have given this one star as it is not possible to have zero stars which is what this shambles of a company desreve.

I have used the west coast mainline for decades and the service improved greatly under the Virgin service. Sadly since the franchise was given to Avanti prices have increased and the service has declined significantly. I have now given up all hope of any improvement and will instead use my car for journeys to London.

The UK government should hang its head in shame for this appaling decision to switch service providers.

After having trouble activating my ticket to board a train, I tried showing a member of staff called Vandana my reservation within the Avanti app minutes before the train was scheduled to depart. She refused to let me board as she watched me struggle with the app. This prompted me to ask her if she would be the one to pay for my ticket if I missed my train. In a fit of arrogance she announced that she would be barring me from the train for my comment and proceeded to close the barriers to the train- quite an inflated ego for someone who scans tickets for a living in my opinion. Perhaps this arrogance is brought on by Avanti's policy which apparently gives their staff the authority to bar people from trains at will and record discussions without a customer's knowledge. After barring me, Vandana and her friend Petro then proceeded to try and physically intimidate me by pushing me away from the platform. As I continued my dispute with Vandana, Petro then decided to record me without my knowledge behind my back. After Vandana announced, that the footage captured would suffice, Petro appeared in front of me with the camera's recording light in my face-emotional provocation and a breach of privacy. All this for an extortionately priced ticket. It is about time that the UK public take back their railways from an industry that has gotten out of hand

Myself and five members travelled from london to Carlisle on Monday 29th November. We arrived at the station early so decided to catch an earlier train but did not have our seats so chanced the unreserved carriage. This was full with people standing so we decided to upgrade to standard premium as the Avanti guy on the station told us it was £25 per person. The guard in the train come for tickets and we asked if we could pay cash for our journey. The guard vinny was very rude and said I don’t think you’ll have enough cash which implied we couldn’t afford to travel this way. He also told us it was £30 per person and not £25 and that the guy in the station was wrong in telling us this. We told him that surely they all work for the same company and he should have received training and should not be giving incorrect information to travellers. He told us there was over 6000 people that worked for Avanti and that he didn’t know everyone then asked what he looked like! He told us he was having a bad day then said to my husband you seem angry. My husband said he wasn’t angry he just didn’t like his attitude and the fact that he implied we couldn’t afford to pay for the travel. My wife had just had a shoulder operation do we did not want to have to stand all the way to Carlisle! He was very rude with a number of passengers yet the lady opposite who was travelling with a colleague went out to the foyer with him and we seen that she did not pay any extra and was so embarrassed about this that she moved from sitting opposite us knowing that we’d paid £180! I don’t mind paying fir this but I think your staff need to have training in their use or manners and attitude to your customers! Virgin trains come back!

Just arrived at the first class lounge and can’t believe how grubby and tired this place is. I’ve paid hundreds of pounds for a first class ticket only to be greeted by an overcrowded room with tape on a couple of split seats, dirty empty glasses on tables with the only two staff members on view stood talking. The last of the broken biscuits are sat in a large glass jar with people scrapping bits out with dirty hands. Pretzels are the only other snack again in a large class jar and again help yourself with your dirty hands. No hot drinks available as they have had no hot water for 3 days and when complaining of the shocking lack of food/drink, grubbiness etc the staff member said that when the staff finish late afternoon you have to just have what’s left (I’m here at 19.50 so don’t class this as late). Why can’t the staff members on the later shift replenish the stock and actually serve you like in all other first class lounges so you don’t have dirty hands touching everything. The staff member very helpfully said that if we didn’t like it to write a complaint hence this note. Apparently it’s pointless us passing our grievance on via the staff member as she said head office don’t care or listen to them - nice