Avanti West Coast Reviews 

I booked a train to Manchester Piccadilly and by mistake had the wrong week booked. A lady called Aniva at the barier was so unhelpful and said I needed to go to the ticket office (knowing full well the ticket office wouldn’t be open at 5:50 in the morning) after going to the TO being totally ignored by staff because it wasn’t actually open, I went back and spoke to the two gents that we working with the lady and explained I’d miss the meeting I had and I’m not even in the country when the tickets were actually booked for. They got the ticket officer from the train and she allowed me to pay the difference. I was so grateful for their help after the previous lady went out of her way to be unhelpful and to be honest, point blank rude.

Thank you should be passed on to the two gents, otherwise I’d be leaving 1 star!

Paid for a first class ticket to Edinburgh & back as a Anniversary & birthday treat for my wife - wish I hadn't bothered as such a dreadful experience - seats & toilet were filthy, service extremely poor - journey back there was no food at all, had to pester & pester, finally got a bag of crisps & biscuit - they are a dishonest company & shouldn't be allowed to get away with it - put a complaint in but total waste of time, never again. Only given 1 star because you have to give something, not worth 1 star

I had a lovely gent who was managing the train from crewe to Edinburgh for the first leg of the journey around 7:15pm - he very kindly offered my dog water and cups without any prompting snd was exceptionally polite and friendly. He was bald and lightish hair but didn’t catch his name. Then the second manager Lynne delivered the most professional and warm announcement on the tannoy I have ever heard - she sounded distinctly more enthusiastic, controlled and warm than any announcer I have ever heard on any train - and I’ve been on many. A truly awesome pair !

I am going to put this here as a place holder until I can take this up with the ombudsman!

On the 9th July my family traveled from Lancaster to London Euston. The train was supposed to leave at 12:39, it eventually left at 13:22. It was supposed to arrive at 15:09 it arrived at 16:35! I had paid for Premium Standard for my family. When we got to our booked seats others were sat there. We were told that the booking was cancelled as the earlier train was cancelled. To add insult to injury there was no aircon for the entire journey. My daughter could not charge her iPhone because of the heat, the iPhones safety had mode had kicked in at 35 degrees to prevent it from over heating. I have a heart condition, my pulse was raised to 125bpm, with chest pains for the majority of the journey. This is why we booked premium Standard thinking we would get a more relaxing journey down.

We were due to return on the 12th July, I arrived at Euston early to see if we could get an earlier train as I wanted to get home as I was not feeling my best. The earlier train 07:42 wasn’t full, it was practically empty. When I asked if we could jump on the earlier one the guy checking people on abruptly said no.

We waited for our train which was the 08:39, low and behold it was delayed getting in again.

I placed 2 delay refunds in for both journeys:

ACW-3394-480-054 (for £141.65)
ACE-3496-754-355 (for £52.46)

They have only agreed to refund the lesser amount.

This is not the first time Avanti West Coast have ruined a family weekend for us.

As I said I have to wait for 30 days to lodge a complaint with the ombudsman… I am counting the days!

Tonight has been a nightmare as a disabled traveller,
I was put on a coach with 50 other people from Chester to Warrington bank quay knowing no trains could run through to Manchester due to.points and track issues
Stress impacts my condition
Chester said you will have a train waiting
All lies
Thankfully a wonderful team leader Mat came to my rescue
I had called rail enquiries twice who told me I was entitled to carriage home
Ie ,taxi
And all the other entitlemts a disabled person should be offeted if stranded
Mat booked me a taxi to.home
The taxi service
Star taxis were fabulous
So thank you
Mat, he was under awful pressure

genuinely the worst train ever every 4 hour train ride becomes a 6 and a half hour with multiple delays, the toilets dont flush, the seats are incredibly painful, for such an expensive train this is ABYSMAL. the wifi doesnt work at all, i dread this train everytime i go on it

Worst train company ever! Wrong information on board at Euston...suddenly Glasgow train changed to Preston no announcement you were just supposed to know.. what they do is if not busy enough they turn back the train at Preston. Hideous panic at Euston...I'm 73 and can't get to platform in 3 mins with suitcases. Inhuman in their treatment of passengers Broken loo on train. Dreadful experience .never again !

Travelled on the Avanti West Coast service from Glasgow to London. Over an hour late on each leg of the journey. Enjoyed a leaky carriage, lack of hot drinks and failure to allocate reserved seats. Avoid

If I could give a negative score, I would. Our journey from Glasgow to London on a Friday took nearly 10 hours. During that journey the train broke down then the next train was affected by signal failure. On the second train the buffet car closed early, despite being restocked 100 mile plus short of London. Some of the cars had no air con and the temperature was touching 30°C. Some of the bathrooms were out of action and they ran out of toilet paper in some that were open.

Our return journey was also affected by a failure at Watford Junction. It left 45 mins late. There was mayhem with seat availability and again coach F had no air con. Little or no information about seat availability and plenty of upset travellers not able to take their booked seats.

Yes the carriage doors were locked open & water passed out, but this did nothing to alleviate the heat. Some people chose to stand in air conditioned coaches than sit in our coach. Also there was no hot water for those wanting a hot drink!

A total shambles of a company and service. Despite the inconvenience for us to travel down the east coast, we will take that option in the future and NEVER repeat NEVER use Avanti West Coast trains again.

Avanti West Coast staff members Michael D and Gabrielle and Huseyin the Taxi Driver rescued us! We had a very bad experience recently when our Northern train from Morecambe was cancelled leaving us stranded. The station at Morecambe was unstaffed and the call centre advisors for the Northern Railway phone numbers we found did nothing to help. We managed to get as far as the Lancaster station and the Northern train conductors pointed us to the Avanti West Coast staff office. Thankfully we found two extremely helpful members of Avanti staff: Michael D and Gabrielle! They quickly helped us by offering to book a taxi to get us back home. The cost of this was completely covered and Michael D ran back and forth keeping us updated us the arrival time of the taxi. Both Michael D and Gabrielle took the time to chat with us while we waited for the taxi, keeping us calm as it was now very late at night. The taxi arrived and we were greeted by a fantastic driver called Huseyin! What a brilliant driver with a really high standard of customer service - chatting with us both on the return taxi journey so the time flew by! Michael D, Gabrielle and Huseyin rapidly turned around a nightmare situation into a really pleasant experience - so our day out to the seaside was not spoilt by becoming stranded! Many thanks to you all for rescuing us! :)

More than half the trains I catch are delayed or cancelled between Manchester and London,
The delay repay system is complicated to use if you book on another platform like Trainline, to save on the extortionate costs of peak train time travel, a necessary factor when commuting for work.

Another horrible experience on the incompetent Avanti West Coast London to Glasgow service. Air conditioning not working and had to endure four hours in 38° Celsius. The train broke down at Wigan and had to be ‘reset’ eventually arriving at my Penrith destination 53 minutes late. Can’t wait for the franchise of this dysfunctional service to be brought back into public ownership

Scummy, unacceptable poor service. On the 9th left around 10:30 is from Euston to Wigan North Western. Arrived at 2pm after 2 delays, fire near Rugby, then supposed tresspasers on the tracks. Fine. Happens. Filed a claim which of course they have downgraded from 1.5h delay to under 1h delay just to pay out less. Not only that but they send you a link to say you can appeal. You follow it to find out you cannot. Despite it being your right to do so. Clink on link why can't I appeal? Of course - doesn't work. Now the kicker. On the way back on the 10th. Again leaving similar time, got on the overcrowded, overbooked train, driver apologised, we were supposed to have 11 carriges but ended up with 9. Enjoy standing or sitting on the floor in 30+ degree heat. I think I'll try my luck trvelling by donkey next time - It would have been a more plesant journey. Oh. And their card reader didnt work on a way back so couldn't even buy a water. Stellar performance by this rail company. Do not recommend.

I travelled Avanti West Coast yesterday on the 1830 off Euston for Glasgow. There were delays because of a line side fire in Cheshire which couldn't be helped.

The on-board crew handled the issue really well. Communication throughout the journey was excellent and staff kept up a good nature whilst all around them was going a bit haywire including the guard and driver making a very important and correct safety decision at Stafford. Train was comfy and.cool too.

The chance of an older person navigating their useless refund process is close to zero.

I’m only giving 1 star because there isn’t an option for no stars. This company’s a total disgrace. Unfortunately I have to travel the west coast mainline regularly and it is never a pleasure. Constant delays, poor service, terrible toilets. How are they even allowed to operate. Currently six hours into a three and a half hour journey. Absolutely packed train, people sitting on the floor. No concern for passengers at all. A COMPLETE SHAMBLES.

If minus stars where available -5 would be too many for this diabolically run excuse for a rail company . I would recommend ANY other form of transport to Avanti West Coast .Late , delayed , cancelled , broken , discourteous , ill informed , ill equipped , rude , contemptuous AVOID AVOID AVOID

This is a terrible service. Booked First Class, told I needed to move two carriages from my booked seat because they couldn’t be bothered delivering catering to three carriages. Jammed into a half carriage with no room and no apologies. They are also constantly late. I would say this company needs to be regulated and thrown out of business. Flying is a better option.

Broken seat (in 1st class). Fridges broken so no cold drinks. Train massively overcrowded. All this cost £180. What a joke. Avoid at all costs

I booked a super off peak return ticket between Ashford International and Birmingham New Street on 8 July 26. My return trip became a nightmare as a combination of train delays and cancellations most heat related. I eventually arrived at Euston at 00:40 well after departure of the last train out of St Pancras. I presented myself to Avanti customer service. Without hesitation iI was escorted by a friendly, smiling Kevin to a taxi rank. An incident-free drive took me to my front door in Ashford, arriving ot 02:20.
Sincere thanks for the professional and charminng end to my nightmare train trip. Greatly appreciated