Avanti West Coast trials “premium economy”

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Viewing 13 posts - 16 through 28 (of 28 total)

  • rferguson
    Participant

    I use Avanti fairly regularly. Around three weeks ago I received an invite to a ‘confidential’ survey which was about Standard Premium, mostly focusing on price points. Along the lines of ‘if there was to be a premium economy product and it was priced at £aaa and Standard was priced at £bbb and First at £ccc which class would you choose?

    It’s a good move but I will stick with my current practice for now. Buy Standard class tickets and use the ‘seatfrog’ upgrade tool app to upgrade to First for a reasonable price. Although maybe the upgrade bids will be for Standard Premium going forward. Will have to keep an eye.


    alistairNicoll
    Participant

    According to The Times 96% said they would use the new premium standard you must be the one who said they would not!


    rferguson
    Participant

    [quote quote=1100443]According to The Times 96% said they would use the new premium standard you must be the one who said they would not![/quote]

    Haha yes, naturally I have to go against the grain.

    I mean there were parts of the survey where I said I WOULD choose Standard Premium. I doubt in the example they gave where Standard was £65, Standard Premium was £185 and First £209 96% of responsents said they would choose Premium. I certainly different. In the scenario where the fare split was Standard £65, STandard Premium £85 and First £169 I said I would choose Standard Premium. It’s all about finding the price point where the individual feels they are getting value.

    As it stands, my typical journey involves the Standard ticket for £65 plus anything from £12 to £24 for the upgrade to First using Seatfrog. This will likely change as some First seating capacity will be lost to Standard Premium and eventually post COVID the trains will become busier and more people will be bidding for upgrades but for the time being I definitely wouldn’t pay a significant premium for Standard Premium.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    alistairNicoll
    Participant

    Either the research or the report in The Times is garbage and although I have seen some appalling research on the railway I find it hard to believe that any research however bad could reach this conclusion

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Indeed after today’s news we can expect fares reform of a sort although will not happen overnight.

    As for first class with Avanti I expect you saw the comments made by this TOC’s MD in which he said that first class would be upgraded and it “will lead the [UK rail] industry.”

    I suspect the improved first class will see fewer seats (as is the case with the top products offered by Eurostar/TGV Lyria/Thalys etc) so one wonders about the Seatfrog upgrade in the future.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    canucklad
    Participant

    Strip down the offering and you end up with a proposition that in reality should be £20-£25 cheaper than first . My rationale being the difference between having inclusive catering and not.

    If first is significantly higher you’d need to ask yourself just how much drink and food can you consume , considering how often (and poor) the table service is on our railways .
    The 2nd consideration is how much you value having a table , and i suspect this is where “standard class” passengers on Avanti will see a degradation of quality. I’d assume that Avanti will remove tables and cram in extra seats to compensate for the space loss created by the guarantee of tables for everyone in PE.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    PeterCoultas
    Participant

    Like with the airlines, the offering of “premium” economy is a relatively huge increase in price for hardly any improvement. First on rail and business on airlines does make a significant difference but of course it should. In these days of low passenger load I for one would try to stretch out over three economy seats rather than go for a tiny bit of extra sitting up space in so-called premium economy – much more comfortable if you can get it…


    rferguson
    Participant

    [quote quote=1100610]Strip down the offering and you end up with a proposition that in reality should be £20-£25 cheaper than first . My rationale being the difference between having inclusive catering and not.[/quote]

    In the Avanti research survey they listed each of the feautures per class and First did have a few more over Premium Standard. There was some additional ticket flexibility, lounge access, access to taxi versus a bus/coach in the event of disruption. A few bits and bobs i’d never thought of.

    I generally enjoy travelling with Avanti. However, before they start launching new products I wish they’d focus a little more on their technology. Namely their website and ticketing IT. The website is dire and buying a simple ticket can be a task. I would guess around 60% of attempts at booking a ticket online at avantiwestcoast.co.uk has to be attempted twice. The ticketing sofware is dreadful. You can not change anything online in terms of dates or times. Staff at ticket offices in stations do not have access to reservations booked online or via the contact centre with Avanti. And vice versa. It is really really basic stuff they need to sort out.


    alistairNicoll
    Participant

    [postquote quote=1100652]

    In fairness to Avanti I see no problem in this as it is not a case of either/or. They have inherited the IT (I assume) and I would imagine that sorting out the website/ticketing is not a quick fix


    alistairNicoll
    Participant

    [postquote quote=1100624]

    Back when EVA introduced Premium economy it was a great product and well worth paying the extra (20-25%) and I was a regular. However I can not speak for the current airline offering as now treat myself to business class

    3 users thanked author for this post.

    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    [quote quote=1100705]Back when EVA introduced Premium economy it was a great product and well worth paying the extra (20-25%) and I was a regular.[/quote]

    Indeed it was.

    For me its main advantage was on the B747 where Eva Air placed premium economy in the nose of the B747. In other words it was in zone A where others would usually place first class.

    At that time I sampled the product to Bangkok. In the early 1990s Eva Air routed LGW-VIE-BKK then on to TPE. (Eva Air has no fifth-freedom rights LGW-VIE-LGW)

    However it was regular economy seating back then. Its advantage was to be in Zone A which is, besides the upper deck, the quietest place to be.


    alistairNicoll
    Participant

    I can not remember the exact timing but when I first used the flight was still out of LGW with the stop in VIE with PE before it got slot at heathrow

    Wider seat, more legroom (can not remember exactly but +6 inches over economy) better food (apart from snacks), small cabin in the front as you describe, good service and use of the lounge (although I am not sure if that was status based) and easily achieved upgrade awards and if I remember correctly check in was either separate or the business class one but memory fading.

    If I was still living in London I imagine I would be a loyal traveler with them still albeit in Business. I remember checking in at Bangkok once and the supervisor was called over and to my surprise she handed me a brown envelope with cash (£s) which was compensation for the fact that BA had done millions of £s damage to the plane during turn round in London and I had had to fly out with Thai in economy as they had no PE. No need to claim and argue and long before EU regs came in just good old fashioned customer service. Those were the days!


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    EVA Air would have a late morning departure from LGW. The inbound flight would arrive into VIE very early, depart and arrive into LGW during the morning.

    It was a a good choice for its London-Bangkok fifth-freedom service and would price keenly. Between BKK and TPE is would be popular with Taiwanese tourists.

Viewing 13 posts - 16 through 28 (of 28 total)
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