First Class Rail

In May, I rode first class on a LNER train to and from York and Edinburgh. Loved it!!! Lots of room and not crowded. Free food, snacks and drinks. Very nice staff.

Can’t help with rail cards. I bought my tickets in advance and got a little cheaper rate. The ticket includes a seat reservation.

Give yourself some extra time at Edinburgh train station as the layout is a little confusing.

EDIT: I should add that I was traveling solo and prefer the row of single seats that first class has.

Firstly you will be travelling from London Euston- transfer there on the Victoria Line underground from Victoria.

That is a very subjective question as to whether first class is worth it.

You get bigger seats in 2+1 format rather than 2+2 in coach, an at seat service of food and drink (including alcohol), and use of 1st class lounges at either end. A less crowded car and hopefully quieter,
The food is essentially airline style food, not chef cooked on board as in days of yore.

Whether you think that is worth it only you can decide. If you want to splurge go for it.

One other option is to travel in the Standard Premium Car- it is I think a £25 supplement on coach fare. You get a declassified first class car but no food/drink or lounge access.

You say 'we' so you want to buy a Two Together Railcard for £30 which saves 34% off all fares (including 1st class) after 0930 Mon-Fri, all day Sat and Sun. On the LON-GLA journey alone it will almost certainly pay for itself.
Note that this cannot be mailed to overseas addresses, so you either buy it as digital or at your first UK station.

Standard Premium is only on Avanti from Euston, not on LNER back from EDI to LON.

One random example- 27 July on the 1030 train to Glasgow- the railcard reduces your 2 first class fares from £392 to £258.70, or 2 standard/coach class fares from £162 to £106.90

Looking a bit further out, randomly, on 22 August on the 1330 you can get the 2 x 1st class fares for £166.30 with your railcard- £83 each for a 402 mile journey with food and booze. Sounds a bit better. Would have been £252 without the railcard.

Personally I think it is utterly not worth it unless it is bought very far out and is only a little more - once the price gap increases, that worth diminishes.

You will need to Underground from Victoria to Euston to meet your train.

You should invest in a rail card - Two Together is £30 and will give a third off your fares. It will make its money back with one run to Glasgow most likely

For First class at a bargain rate you need to look at getting Advance tickets early. Even with a Railcard discount the non-Advance first class tickets can be very pricey, often 3 times that of Standard.

I like first class because I can get a seat on my own. No need to share.

When thinking about the entire cost of a trip, a little more for first class is worth it to me.

Thanks everyone, very helpful information. Looks like I need to get the rail cards. Anyone know website for that? And website to purchase advance tickets?
Thanks, Fred

Fred, take a look at this website: https://www.britrail.com/britrail-passes/. We have used this one in the past. There is a lot information to digest.

Fred - by all means consider the Brit Rail pass as well, but the web site for the TwoTogether railcard is this -https://www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk. You can buy online and hold the pass on a mobile phone or complete a paper form and bring it with you to the UK with two photos and buy it at your first train station.
The place to start looking for tickets is - nationalrail.co.uk. This is the UK portal for all train companies. If you choose a time and price from there you will de directed to the relevant train company. But you can buy any ticket from any train company - some US buyers report difficulties with buying from some sites.
Also note that you can buy tickets online saying that have a rail card even if you haven't bought it. You just need to make sure you have the card before you take your first train journey.

Great information, thank you so very much

Just to be clear when you turn up at the ticket office unless you ask for a 1st class ticket 99.9% of the time the counter clerk will default to offering standard class, so if you want 1st class ask for it. BtW if you ask for coach you will be directed to the nearest bus station, in your case Victoria Coach Station, coaches are long distance buses.

As mentioned already the difference between 1st and Standard has been increasingly marginalised but the cost difference going off the Richter scale at times. First class is not like it was in the days of yore, or even in the early 2000s when trains had dining and kitchen cars, GNER's bangers, mash and onion gravy was to die for. On peak/busy services it is far from unusual from 1st class to be declassified between certain stations en route and it becomes a free for all - despite the best effort of the guard after the desclassification ends it remains that way until termination. I speak from bitter experience as a regular peak time commuter from Kings X - Leeds.

Note that I would encourage you to buy your railcard as a digital product- not to wait until you are in the UK.

There is a consultation out currently to close many ticket offices in England (not Wales and Scotland). Although the time frames are unclear currently, if it happens, this will include offices at London Victoria and London Euston (your first two stations).
However, if approved, it is expected to happen fast.
Ticket purchasing will then be from machines, on line, or through staff walking round the stations.
Exactly how the replacement 'roving staff' on these stations will work is also unclear (and whether they will be able to issue railcards), so it is best to be prepared.

" However, if approved, it is expected to happen fast."

There is significant kick back, it won't happen fast. Don't be alarmed.

" However, if approved, it is expected to happen fast."

I was considering advising RS office for a guidebook update, but the form only appears to apply to actual RS travellers, not to others. So if I saw a hotel, restaurant or attraction that had closed in the Lake District it appears that I can't submit an update. That was what I actually came back to say.

When I see that, yet again, I am having "corrections" to what was meant to be a helpful posting, within 5 minutes of making it- well I just get annoyed.

I wouldn't like anyone to get caught out. The process actually seems to have started in some places from a video I saw the other night from someone physically on the ground in Manchester. Maybe it will not end up as draconian as proposed, like every Avanti ticket office in England north of Crewe closing.

Thanks everyone, we have our rail card and purchased most of our tickets. Took a little while to figure out how to get from Mallaig to Inverness (train and bus) but process no problem.