Return of Third Class Rail

[d000hg]

Travelling with XC last week, their "first class" struck me very much as "premium economy":

• Nicer seats
• WiFi and power sockets
• Free hot drinks in paper cups
• Free food was a choice between one type of sandwich and one type of microwaved meal in a plastic pot, with disposable cutlery
• No free booze

Other operators are FAR better - real crockery and cutlery, waiter service, etc. I was pretty disappointed. Especially since I had 2 9-hour trips the same week, with the exact same food options (although to be fair the chilli was actually quite nice).

It's such a shame because rail travel can be wonderful. We did a train across the USA with proper little sleeping cabins, and a proper buffet car where they actually cooked food from scratch - better than the average UK restaurant even!

[teclo]

I thought Third class was the unreserved coach on Virgin Trains Sometimes booking a ticket from Glasgow to MK it won't let me reserve a seat. That is incredibly annoying.

[AtW]

It’s not actually 3rd class travel, rather a 3rd option (premium standard) very much like the airlines do already.

Premium standard would be getting a reserved seat in standard class?

[d000hg]

3rd class is the vestibule surely; they are normally full of people.

[Sysman]

Cant they just get rid of the seats and pack us all in like cattle ? Ohh, also charge double what they charge now for the privilege. Should be easy, just bribe a few MP's and job is done.

They already did that on the slow commuter trains.