CrossCountry probably just flat-out provides the worst experience across the UK for longer distance/regional travel. The number of lamentable experiences I've had on them, from price to on-board service to staff...
Can confirm. Went from Stansted to Leicester early July 2024. There were free drinks (snacks available, but they had to be paid for). The tea was lukewarm. I was by myself and then joined by a 60+ business lady at Cambridge plus two Irish 'travellers' - a man and woman. They had no tickets. They claimed they had no time. The lady told me she was waiting more than 20 mins on the same platform as them. So they had to buy a ticket from the conductor for Cambridge to Ely (when the conductor came round) and then booked online for Ely to Birmingham. The conductor told them they'd have to move. He left. 20 mins they were still there, so the business lady went to inform me. To his credit he came after 5 mins and gestured for them to leave and they did. The 1st class tickets on cross Country are generally much cheaper than Avanti / LNER - no surprise there, but it is the worst 1st class service I've bought. I am 60 so I get a 33% discount - there's no way I pay the full whack. Lukewarm tea without even a Mars bar is quite pathetic, though the trolley service didn't have much on offer. I wanted to avoid getting the Stansted Express to London, then changing to St Pancras for the service to Leicester - I had a medium suitcase and a small carry-on one and a small rucksack - who wants to negotiate changing from Liverpool St to St Pancras in mid-July. I was also surprised the Cross Country service only had four coaches.
I think Cross Country are the worst TOC out there. Their entire fleet looks shabby and tired. Surely theyre due some new trains or at least a refurbishment
So for the premium paid for First Class you got more legroom. Period. I assume that the entire train had filthy floors and smelled musty. This sounds like a train to avoid at all costs.
I had this yesterday. The carriages didn’t state where first class is on the outside so it was quite hard to find it. Secondly, the return back I was the only person there and no one gave food or a drink at all nor checked my ticket. There was a very bad smell a few times like a bad fart. Not worth it really as standard as a very similar experience.
It was agreed at international level by the UIC that First Class accommodation would be denoted by a gold stripe on the carriage side at cantrail level and catering accommodation would be denoted by a red stripe. The London and South-Western Railway, in defiance of this legally-binding obligation, uses a line of blue dots instead of a gold stripe! Conversely, New Southern Railway still keeps the faith .....
@@DavidR_192 it was the conductor. This was at the back of the train. There’s two locos, one at either end. The conductor is at the rear loco. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the smell of the countryside either as that quickly goes away and shouldn’t be in Birmingham.
Cross country are getting worse this last week nearly all Cardiff to Nottingham services cancelled due to staff shortages yet most north to west of England services running normally shows how much they care about the service to south Wales
Cross Country is the worst operator in the country. They have never invested in new trains,nor increased their rolling stock. Trains are always crammed full,frequently late or cancelled,staff are rubbish,no facilities,first class is a complete rip off.They have a monopoly here in the East midlands, there is no other company for journeys to Birmingham from Nottingham or Derby. My mother in law travels to Newcastle from Derby and has been dumped I York,Darlington,Doncaster and told to use other companies because cross country running late so terminate trains so return services can run.
What? No window curtains (or blinds) in First Class to shelter you from the blazing English Summer sun? During the late 'Seventies and the early 'Eighties, when I commuted to school and, later, college, with the Central Division of British Rail's Southern Region there were window curtains for both classes of accommodation - orange in Standard and Blue in First! Train travel really has gone downhill since the railways were privatised, the only concern being to pack as many fare-paying passengers into the smallest possible space!
Good video. The issue is that there is no standard of 1st across the rail network created by different companies and different rolling stock. Unless you either travel a route regularly, watch videos like yours or are something of a rail buff the 1st class product arriving at the platform is probably unknown. Train companies know when they are offering an inferior product. Why don’t they follow the airlines and use terms like Premium rather than First on the weaker product offerings?
First class is a real mixed bag in UK. You can have ok first class with Cross Country, if travelling on one of their High Speed Trains they have a couple of first class carriages at one end there is a small kitchen area that has microwaves and a small grill unit so you can get hot bacon rolls, porridge for breakfast and basic meal options, there is a microwave on the Voyagers to but not as good facilities as the HST. Then you have Avanti Pendalino trains where approx a third of the front carriage is an actual kitchen area purpose built, there is a microwave bud food there is usually freshly cooked using the frying and grilling cookers and has a decent menu, decent choice of booze too (regional ales, cider, gin) as well as lager, whiskey and wines. Unfortunately at the other end of the scale we have this class 170 Cross Country trip with no food or drink and clapped out seats, plugs etc… just like the London North Western trains I regularly catch on the Birmingham New Street to London Euston line. First class is clumsily fitted in the MIDDLE of two ends of standard class. You have reclining seats that never work just like this video, a tacky curtain that feels cheap and dirty and a plug. No food or drink. That’s not worth the cost of a first class ticket!
Transport for Wales uses the term "Business Class" for what is actually a very strong product offering on its luxurious locomotive-hauled dining trains which operate between Cardiff/Caerdydd and Holyhead/Caergybi.
When Virgin ran the Cross-Country franchise (1997-2007) they made a real effort to provide good-quality customer service in First Class, with complimentary snacks like Brie & Emmental rolls being served to your seat, as well as crisps and hot (non-alcoholic) drinks. Arriva won the franchise in 2007 on the basis of a better bid and, of course, the first thing to suffer as they tried to reduce costs was customer service. The same thing happened on the Midland Main Line between London (St. Pancras) and Nottingham/Sheffield, when the free tea and coffee for all passengers holding valid tickets stopped the second that East Midlands Trains took over!
while i agree they are not good, but southwestern and the commuter belt are worst in question of first class as they have no refreshments and it is the seat and space you pay for, simular with southern too
Loved the video. It's disgusting, that this operator should be allowed to charge you first class fares for 3rd class facilities. Hope you complained. Love from Australia
They have these trains in Mansfield now running to Nottingham and back and there's no 1st class on that route only thing that's different is they've took the light out and filled it in on table 😂
First time comment as just amazed they put that into service. Could have been in sidings for a while which could cause the musty smell. Great videos and wish had found your channel and subscribed sooner
Great video as always, I would certainly document all the failings you mentioned, and would be asking for a part refund from the company involved, copy in the CEO too, they should not get away with it. As a minimum the train should be clean, and all the facilities should work. I love to travel first class when everything is as it should be.
If you want to travel on a clean train where everything works as intended, you need to go from Waterloo to Weymouth or Portsmouth with the latest incarnation of the London & South-Western Railway!
@@KempSimon - You've got to be kidding. I use SWT every week from Waterloo to Petersfield. The Class 450 trains are awful with 3 abreast seating. Cram 'em in why don't you! The 444s are a little better as they only have 2 abreast seating. Service is poor and it's really over-priced and cancellations and lateness are endemic. In my experience, the only decent TOC in the UK at the moment is Hull Trains. They are exceptional. Brand new fleet, friendly staff without exception, never late or cancelled.
Lol I think I was in the same carriage last week, Birmingham to Leicester. Absolute rip off and not real first class . Not even a drink and I got the same broken table lamp 😂
We have these units on the Nottingham to Cardiff line via Burton on Trent. They are not the fif for purpose. Been on a GWR 4 carriage old school HST this summer from Temple Meads to Weston Super Mare, far better trains.
Hi, thank you for watching. I saw one of these units when I was last in Cardiff and yes you’re right they are not fit for purpose. I have a trip on a GRW HST coming up which I am looking forward to.
I hope you made your disappointment clear to the management. I would definitely ask for reimbursement or compensation of some sort. So totally unacceptable. I speak as a Swiss person used to 1st class meaning indeed 1st class. Those interlopers should have been told off. No staff monitoring?
Yeah we certainly need more connectivity! Kettering to Rugby in the car takes 30 mins but since there's no MML to WCML connection it takes over 2hrs by train!
That was a good video and i would never travel first class, happy with stanard. I feel first class is to over priced and not worth the money. I am new to the channel and the videos i have watched so far are very good.
Bobby Thomas you are right for the most part. If travelling on Avanti Pendalinos it’s quality (see my other post) and it’s not too bad on the Cross Country HST’s, Voyagers hit and miss but as for other trains I catch nope not worth it. London North Western no food or drink, recliners that don’t work and a tacky curtain!
If you have a national Railcard which discounts First Class travel and can book a few days (or even weeks) in advance, you can get some real bargains with First Class rail travel in Great Britain. The LNER between London and Edinburgh has a good First Class offer on some if its Azuma trains, depending on whether you get the "Dine" or the "Deli" menu!
This is a truly appalling service but then Cross Country don't really care, if they cared about providing a good train service they would not use 170s and use 4 or 5 car Voyagers on this and the Nottingham to Cardiff service and use some out of use HSTs on their other services
HSTs are being withdrawn country-wide. They don't have the option to use them as even the re-engined MTU versions no longer pass emmision requirements from Jan 2025. Such a shame as they are amazing machines and coach sets. Even the lovely Scotrail "Inter7cities" HSTs are going by the end of the year. Sad.
Okay, when I first read the title I thought, this person is just being picky it's not that bad, gosh could I have been more wrong! Pricing seems okay for distance, but for the first class part... shocking, appalling? Any other words? None of the first class features seemed to work at all, plus one thing I don't like is when standard class passengers use the first class area when they shouldn't, now I never use first class but still don't think it's right that people should not pay for it and get it, even if in this instance they basically got nothing different to standard class! Good insightful review I say!
Hi I have started to watched your videos and I think they are brilliant to watched I all so do video about trains and buses I am a RUclips as well I do my videos about the West Midlands where I from keep up the good work from bingo 2020 West Bromwich 👍
170s are great units. They're just badly neglected by CC and not built for these Cross-Country, long-distance regional routes. They weren't even built with 1st class in mind. Go up to Scotland and you'll see the cleanest, best maintained 170s in the UK. They're immaculate, regularly refurbished and work on more appropriate routes.
Genuinely think it should be illegal to have a first class on regional routes like this. Operators should be incentivised to make a good experience for all customers. Chiltern railways are a great example!
CrossCountry probably just flat-out provides the worst experience across the UK for longer distance/regional travel. The number of lamentable experiences I've had on them, from price to on-board service to staff...
Also, in terms of pence per mile, one of the most expensive!
Can confirm. Went from Stansted to Leicester early July 2024. There were free drinks (snacks available, but they had to be paid for). The tea was lukewarm. I was by myself and then joined by a 60+ business lady at Cambridge plus two Irish 'travellers' - a man and woman. They had no tickets. They claimed they had no time. The lady told me she was waiting more than 20 mins on the same platform as them. So they had to buy a ticket from the conductor for Cambridge to Ely (when the conductor came round) and then booked online for Ely to Birmingham. The conductor told them they'd have to move. He left. 20 mins they were still there, so the business lady went to inform me. To his credit he came after 5 mins and gestured for them to leave and they did. The 1st class tickets on cross Country are generally much cheaper than Avanti / LNER - no surprise there, but it is the worst 1st class service I've bought. I am 60 so I get a 33% discount - there's no way I pay the full whack. Lukewarm tea without even a Mars bar is quite pathetic, though the trolley service didn't have much on offer. I wanted to avoid getting the Stansted Express to London, then changing to St Pancras for the service to Leicester - I had a medium suitcase and a small carry-on one and a small rucksack - who wants to negotiate changing from Liverpool St to St Pancras in mid-July. I was also surprised the Cross Country service only had four coaches.
Thanks for watching mate - appreciated. They are just terrible.
I think Cross Country are the worst TOC out there. Their entire fleet looks shabby and tired. Surely theyre due some new trains or at least a refurbishment
Completely agree mate, they are by far the worst with both fleet and customer service.
Transport for Wales probably worse than cross country
Fairly sure their contract was meant to expire in 2016ish but somehow and inexplicably they have hung on.
So for the premium paid for First Class you got more legroom. Period. I assume that the entire train had filthy floors and smelled musty. This sounds like a train to avoid at all costs.
You get 2+1 seating in First Class compared to cramped 2+2 seating in Standard!
I had this yesterday. The carriages didn’t state where first class is on the outside so it was quite hard to find it. Secondly, the return back I was the only person there and no one gave food or a drink at all nor checked my ticket. There was a very bad smell a few times like a bad fart. Not worth it really as standard as a very similar experience.
Hi mate, thanks for watching - appreciated. 100% agree, nothing complimentary and bad train.
It was agreed at international level by the UIC that First Class accommodation would be denoted by a gold stripe on the carriage side at cantrail level and catering accommodation would be denoted by a red stripe. The London and South-Western Railway, in defiance of this legally-binding obligation, uses a line of blue dots instead of a gold stripe! Conversely, New Southern Railway still keeps the faith .....
ngl i have no idea what you mean. all of that never happened. i have the same experience with them that i do with northern
If you were on your own in 1st class, and there was a bad smell, 'like a bad fart, a few times', I guess there's no-one else to blame?? 😄
@@DavidR_192 it was the conductor. This was at the back of the train. There’s two locos, one at either end. The conductor is at the rear loco. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the smell of the countryside either as that quickly goes away and shouldn’t be in Birmingham.
Cross country are getting worse this last week nearly all Cardiff to Nottingham services cancelled due to staff shortages yet most north to west of England services running normally shows how much they care about the service to south Wales
Cross Country is the worst operator in the country. They have never invested in new trains,nor increased their rolling stock. Trains are always crammed full,frequently late or cancelled,staff are rubbish,no facilities,first class is a complete rip off.They have a monopoly here in the East midlands, there is no other company for journeys to Birmingham from Nottingham or Derby. My mother in law travels to Newcastle from Derby and has been dumped I York,Darlington,Doncaster and told to use other companies because cross country running late so terminate trains so return services can run.
What? No window curtains (or blinds) in First Class to shelter you from the blazing English Summer sun? During the late 'Seventies and the early 'Eighties, when I commuted to school and, later, college, with the Central Division of British Rail's Southern Region there were window curtains for both classes of accommodation - orange in Standard and Blue in First! Train travel really has gone downhill since the railways were privatised, the only concern being to pack as many fare-paying passengers into the smallest possible space!
Thanks for watching - appreciated.
Good video. The issue is that there is no standard of 1st across the rail network created by different companies and different rolling stock. Unless you either travel a route regularly, watch videos like yours or are something of a rail buff the 1st class product arriving at the platform is probably unknown. Train companies know when they are offering an inferior product. Why don’t they follow the airlines and use terms like Premium rather than First on the weaker product offerings?
Hi mate, thanks for watching. Totally agree.
First class is a real mixed bag in UK. You can have ok first class with Cross Country, if travelling on one of their High Speed Trains they have a couple of first class carriages at one end there is a small kitchen area that has microwaves and a small grill unit so you can get hot bacon rolls, porridge for breakfast and basic meal options, there is a microwave on the Voyagers to but not as good facilities as the HST. Then you have Avanti Pendalino trains where approx a third of the front carriage is an actual kitchen area purpose built, there is a microwave bud food there is usually freshly cooked using the frying and grilling cookers and has a decent menu, decent choice of booze too (regional ales, cider, gin) as well as lager, whiskey and wines. Unfortunately at the other end of the scale we have this class 170 Cross Country trip with no food or drink and clapped out seats, plugs etc… just like the London North Western trains I regularly catch on the Birmingham New Street to London Euston line. First class is clumsily fitted in the MIDDLE of two ends of standard class. You have reclining seats that never work just like this video, a tacky curtain that feels cheap and dirty and a plug. No food or drink. That’s not worth the cost of a first class ticket!
Transport for Wales uses the term "Business Class" for what is actually a very strong product offering on its luxurious locomotive-hauled dining trains which operate between Cardiff/Caerdydd and Holyhead/Caergybi.
I’ve found cross country to be alright to be fair to them when going out of Reading a few times
When Virgin ran the Cross-Country franchise (1997-2007) they made a real effort to provide good-quality customer service in First Class, with complimentary snacks like Brie & Emmental rolls being served to your seat, as well as crisps and hot (non-alcoholic) drinks. Arriva won the franchise in 2007 on the basis of a better bid and, of course, the first thing to suffer as they tried to reduce costs was customer service. The same thing happened on the Midland Main Line between London (St. Pancras) and Nottingham/Sheffield, when the free tea and coffee for all passengers holding valid tickets stopped the second that East Midlands Trains took over!
Another great review... on your instagram post advertising this video i explained my hatred for XC. Videos getting better by the week!
Thanks mate - appreciated as always. Yeah I saw read the comment. They are not nice.
while i agree they are not good, but southwestern and the commuter belt are worst in question of first class as they have no refreshments and it is the seat and space you pay for, simular with southern too
Loved the video. It's disgusting, that this operator should be allowed to charge you first class fares for 3rd class facilities. Hope you complained. Love from Australia
Hi mate, thanks for watching and appreciate the comment. Australia is somewhere I’d love to get to a some point.
they need a gd refurb used it from Cambridge to birmingham
They have these trains in Mansfield now running to Nottingham and back and there's no 1st class on that route only thing that's different is they've took the light out and filled it in on table 😂
First time comment as just amazed they put that into service. Could have been in sidings for a while which could cause the musty smell. Great videos and wish had found your channel and subscribed sooner
Hi mate - thanks for watching and subscribing, very much appreciated and welcome to the channel.
Great video as always, I would certainly document all the failings you mentioned, and would be asking for a part refund from the company involved, copy in the CEO too, they should not get away with it. As a minimum the train should be clean, and all the facilities should work. I love to travel first class when everything is as it should be.
Hi mate, thanks fir watching - appreciated.
If you want to travel on a clean train where everything works as intended, you need to go from Waterloo to Weymouth or Portsmouth with the latest incarnation of the London & South-Western Railway!
@@KempSimon - You've got to be kidding. I use SWT every week from Waterloo to Petersfield. The Class 450 trains are awful with 3 abreast seating. Cram 'em in why don't you! The 444s are a little better as they only have 2 abreast seating. Service is poor and it's really over-priced and cancellations and lateness are endemic. In my experience, the only decent TOC in the UK at the moment is Hull Trains. They are exceptional. Brand new fleet, friendly staff without exception, never late or cancelled.
STN-NCL? I’d go via London. Just book separate singles. That route is notoriously bad via Pboro
Lol I think I was in the same carriage last week, Birmingham to Leicester. Absolute rip off and not real first class . Not even a drink and I got the same broken table lamp 😂
Hi mate, thanks for watching appreciated.
We have these units on the Nottingham to Cardiff line via Burton on Trent. They are not the fif for purpose. Been on a GWR 4 carriage old school HST this summer from Temple Meads to Weston Super Mare, far better trains.
Hi, thank you for watching. I saw one of these units when I was last in Cardiff and yes you’re right they are not fit for purpose. I have a trip on a GRW HST coming up which I am looking forward to.
Ebbw vale to new street over £300 first class !!!!!
If CrossCountry deep cleaned the unit you were on and fixed the lamp, recline and smell it would be plesant.
Hi, thanks for watching - agreed, the only good thing was the peacefulness of almost having the place to myself.
I hope you made your disappointment clear to the management. I would definitely ask for reimbursement or compensation of some sort. So totally unacceptable. I speak as a Swiss person used to 1st class meaning indeed 1st class. Those interlopers should have been told off. No staff monitoring?
Hi thanks for watching, it was very unacceptable and I will be passing comments on although I doubt it’ll do any good.
@@TheGeordieTravels Mate...never hurts to ask.
Most Swiss trains I've been on travel at 25kph, so they have plenty time to look after you! 😄
Nice work.
cheers mate, thanks for watching
1h30 mins from Stanstead to Peterborough??? You could do it in the car in 40 mins!
Yeah we certainly need more connectivity! Kettering to Rugby in the car takes 30 mins but since there's no MML to WCML connection it takes over 2hrs by train!
Great video
Cheers mate - appreciated.
Excellent report mate, but what an absolutely gash service!
Hi mate - cheers for the comment, appreciated as always. The worst service ever!?
That was a good video and i would never travel first class, happy with stanard. I feel first class is to over priced and not worth the money. I am new to the channel and the videos i have watched so far are very good.
Hi mate, thank you for watching - appreciated and I think with some of the experiences I’ve had I’d agree with you. Some of them have been terrible. .
Bobby Thomas you are right for the most part. If travelling on Avanti Pendalinos it’s quality (see my other post) and it’s not too bad on the Cross Country HST’s, Voyagers hit and miss but as for other trains I catch nope not worth it. London North Western no food or drink, recliners that don’t work and a tacky curtain!
If you have a national Railcard which discounts First Class travel and can book a few days (or even weeks) in advance, you can get some real bargains with First Class rail travel in Great Britain. The LNER between London and Edinburgh has a good First Class offer on some if its Azuma trains, depending on whether you get the "Dine" or the "Deli" menu!
Did the wifi work?
Yeah the wifi did work which was extremely surprising- I forgot to mention it.
@@TheGeordieTravels Thank you.
This is a truly appalling service but then Cross Country don't really care, if they cared about providing a good train service they would not use 170s and use 4 or 5 car Voyagers on this and the Nottingham to Cardiff service and use some out of use HSTs on their other services
HSTs are being withdrawn country-wide. They don't have the option to use them as even the re-engined MTU versions no longer pass emmision requirements from Jan 2025. Such a shame as they are amazing machines and coach sets. Even the lovely Scotrail "Inter7cities" HSTs are going by the end of the year. Sad.
Okay, when I first read the title I thought, this person is just being picky it's not that bad, gosh could I have been more wrong! Pricing seems okay for distance, but for the first class part... shocking, appalling? Any other words? None of the first class features seemed to work at all, plus one thing I don't like is when standard class passengers use the first class area when they shouldn't, now I never use first class but still don't think it's right that people should not pay for it and get it, even if in this instance they basically got nothing different to standard class! Good insightful review I say!
Hi mate, thanks for watching appreciated.
Worst first class?
Thameslink 700 has entered the chat
Hi mate, thanks for watching - appreciated. I haven't tried Thamslink yet, I shall try it in the future sometime.
@@TheGeordieTravels Cheers pal! I don't mind when you review it lol
I think you mean Virgin Trains East Coast
I’ve only been to Stansted Airport once and I have heard that it’s the worst airport.
This was the first time I’ve used Stansted in about 15 years, still has t really improved although departing maybe different.
I ride them from Birmingham to Cardiff frequently and yeah they are awful units sadly
scrap them mr
Hi I have started to watched your videos and I think they are brilliant to watched I all so do video about trains and buses I am a RUclips as well I do my videos about the West Midlands where I from keep up the good work from bingo 2020 West Bromwich 👍
Hi mate, thanks for watching appreciated.
No buffet service.
No buffet service, trolly or anything - not even a bottle of water.
@@TheGeordieTravels can't see the benefits of paying for 1st class then, apart from you are away from screaming kids or someone stinking of weed!
i dont think youve seen great northerns first class :(
Thanks for watching mate - appreciated.
get rid of the 170s
170s are great units. They're just badly neglected by CC and not built for these Cross-Country, long-distance regional routes. They weren't even built with 1st class in mind. Go up to Scotland and you'll see the cleanest, best maintained 170s in the UK. They're immaculate, regularly refurbished and work on more appropriate routes.
Genuinely think it should be illegal to have a first class on regional routes like this. Operators should be incentivised to make a good experience for all customers. Chiltern railways are a great example!
Hi mate, thanks for watching. Totally agree. I've been meaning to try Chiltern for a while - in the new year.
Lner best 1st class
Hi mate, thanks for watching - agree LNER and AWC
Dirty overcrowded expensive smells of diesel & sewage prime example of German own service