Regular readers of my blog will know that I favour Chiltern for Birmingham to London travel as I find that the working environment is very pleasant. If I travel Virgin, I try to book in advance in First Class in an effort to replicate this Chiltern experience at not too great a cost.
Alas, however, there are days when both timing and cost win out and I have to travel Virgin Standard using walk-on fares. Yesterday was such a day.
I had hoped to catch the 10.10 Pendolino service from Birmingham New Street to London Euston, but, as I feared, was delayed by work and got away only in time for the 10.30. This didn't matter as I was using walk-on tickets, and, of course Virgin's VHF timetable and fast journey time gave me plenty of leeway.
The 10.30 was sitting in Platform 5 but was still downloading the reservation details when I turned up at 10.20. There followed a 5 minute wait until I could be sure of my table seat in Coach A - why can't Virgin download this information more quickly? Settled in my table and plugged my laptop in - power on! Tried to attach to the WiFi - not available... (see my post http://birmingham2london.blogspot.com/2011/09/virgin-trains-wifi-service.html). Quiet coach A quiet in terms of passengers too as was Coach B - amused to see the 'reservation' syndrome in Coach C however... you don't have to sit in the reserved seat if you're travelling on an Advance ticket!
Lots of announcements from both the automated voices and the train manager before and after the on-time departure - you certainly get information overload from Virgin - followed by a shop announcement. Went to the Shop for a cappuccino and flapjack - very nice and not too expensive... No water to wash hands in the Coach A toilet however.
Good journey and arrival in Euston on time. However, no ticket check at any point on my journey - don't Virgin care about revenue protection?
Coming back, I joined the fairly busy and slightly delayed 20.23. Coach A was relatively quiet and a table was free. Power BUT no WiFi again... Seemed to be fewer announcements but perhaps I was just inured to them... Train manager checked tickets after Milton Keynes but, of course, couldn't help with the non-working WiFi. No water to wash hands in the Coach A toilet again...
Arrival into New Street on time.
Overall, a typically efficient Virgin experience which could be better but which achieves in terms of timing what it promises. Compared to Chiltern and LondonMidland - see comparison chart for alternatives for yesterday's journeys - it is more expensive and lacks 'ambience' in Standard Class but sometimes speed will out! So, am I still a Virgin? Yes, when it suits me...
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