Avanti West Coast Reviews 

3,169
TrustScore 2 out of 5

1.8

While we don't verify specific claims because reviewers' opinions are their own, we may label reviews as "Verified" when we can confirm a business interaction took place. Read more

To protect platform integrity, every review on our platform—verified or not—is screened by our 24/7 automated software. This technology is designed to identify and remove content that breaches our guidelines, including reviews that are not based on a genuine experience. We recognise we may not catch everything, and you can flag anything you think we may have missed. Read more

Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Evaluating 423 reviews, most reviewers were unhappy with their experience overall. Passengers frequently complained about severe travel delays, unexpected train cancellations, and broken air conditioning systems during hot weather conditions. Consumers also mentioned that ticket prices are extremely expensive while the overall quality of service remains consistently poor and frustrating. Travelers experienced significant difficulties when trying to get assistance from unhelpful station personnel regarding seating or route changes. Some reviewers were happy with the service, noting that staff members were exceptionally polite, helpful, and attentive during their train trips. A few other people also felt that their individual journeys ran smoothly, arriving precisely on time without any noticeable issues.

What people talk about most

Service

Clients share negative opinions on service, frequently describing it as an unreliable and expensive ordeal.... See more

Staff

Customers consistently note ambiguous experiences with staff, reflecting a high level of disagreement... See more

Location

Reviewers highlight ambiguous aspects of location during various journeys across the rail network. Consumers... See more

Price

Customers had negative experiences with price, consistently describing ticket costs as excessively high for... See more

Customer service

Users describe negative interactions with customer service, reporting a total lack of support and a... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

I have a number of continual issue with this company and these are that they don’t issue a receipt when you book online. They come out with some garbage that you can use a screenshot of the itine... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The train was delayed so I missed my connection. However the delay/repay app is deliberately designed to make you give up. I have spent an hour uploading my claim. They then requested the same informa... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Absolutely shocking. Late leaving Euston and it took 45 minutes to get from Coventry to New Street! I travelled 1000k on European trains yesterday and this was the most painful part of the journey.... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Another ticket booked another delay, staff incredibly rude,arrogant, incompetent, out of their depth. Don't follow their own rules.. If your train is delayed they said you can grab the one earlier, y... See more


Company details

  1. Railway Company

Written by the company

Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup and Trenitalia. Buy train tickets and find train times with no booking fees and rewards when you travel. Travel in style across the UK.


Contact info

1.8

Poor

TrustScore 2 out of 5

3k reviews

5-star
4-star
3-star
2-star
1-star

No recent history of asking for reviews

This company hasn't invited customers recently, so reviews may not be representative

Hasn’t replied to negative reviews

How this company uses Trustpilot

See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.

1.8

All reviews

(3,169)

408 reviews in the last 12 months

Write a review
Companies on Trustpilot aren't allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews. Reviews are the opinions of individual users and not of Trustpilot. Read more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This is a terrible service

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.

10 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Train falling apart

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

9 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Professional and charming end to a nightmare trip

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

8 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

They operate with impunity. Avoid if you possibly can.

Just been through the Rail Ombudsman regarding the fiasco on 8th May from Euston. The RO isn't really fit for purpose, but they kind of ruled in my favour. The issue was that Avanti did not give a damn about leaving passengers stranded with no guidance, alternative routes, or help on that day. They are the worst train company I have ever had the misfortune of traveling with. They have the monopoly on rail travel from the North to London and seem to operate a shoddy, unreliable, expensive service with impunity. The best thing that could happen to them is losing the franchise and it being brought back into public ownership. Seriously, if you have any alternative means of travel, take it. At least you know you will get to your destination and won't be stranded there when it's time to make the return journey.

8 May 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

A very enjoyable train journey with excellent stall

We caught the 1202 from Euston to Chester. We got a table seat for tge four of us and then had the pleasure of meeting Patrick the train manager and Tim the assistant train manager. What lovely people they are and a credit to the company. One thing to note was the temperature of the carriage we were in Even though it was incredibly not outside the temperature inside was perfect

8 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Passenger assist-what an excellent service

Myself and friend booked passenger assistance for our holiday from Northampton to the Isleof Man from 1st July to 6th July. The service was excellent and the staff were fantastic and waiting for us at every change. Special thanks to Katie on the Lancaster to Birmingham leg who gave us personal service after we had got into the wrong coach. All the others including Malcolm, Jordan and Mark were great. Thank you. We will be using the service again. Ann and Pam

6 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

People if u want avoid stress

People if u want avoid stress
Book different transports
I was travelling to Scotland from Burnley
First way the train was over loaded
People use to stand everywhere
And I have to argue for my pre bookings seats with the nasty drunk people
And train was late by one hour that was on
03/06/2026
Now I’m still in train going back
And is exactly same story!!!
That was my first and last experience with AVANTi west coast!
Can’t wait go off from that shiet still 25 min

6 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Train cancelled on way from Liverpool…

Train cancelled on way from Liverpool to London . No staff available to ask for advice re seats , verbally abused by people who said we were sitting in their seats. Return journey from London to Liverpool - no cancellations , great , got to platform and we could not find carriage F - it had been taken off ! Got on to ask a member of staff what to do was told find a seat or get off the train but the delightful Nathan . No customer services and just laughed when I asked where his customer service was . We felt that we were just left to fend for ourselves . Not good .

3 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Disregarding customers to save costs on overpaid train staff

#Avanti terminated the Euston to Glasgow service at Preston and passengers were forced to wait for the next train. They were clearly running algorithms that showed that the disgorged passengers could, just, be accommodated, albeit standing room only on this stuffy, unventilated service. Avanti clearly did this to save money and their attitude is that their customers have no choice so tough on them.

3 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

After 3 cancelled trains I finally got…

After 3 cancelled trains I finally got to Crewe only for them to cancel the train I needed after we had stepped on to it, completely unacceptable, the panic caused by this caused me to lose a bag that they seemingly have no interest in helping me find, main customer service gave me the station number but there's no answer there and the main customer service line says they can't help.

3 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful.

You would imagine in a first world country like the uk we would have a rail line linking our 2 major cities (London and Manchester) which works. It is impossible to rely on these trains, to the extent if I have an engagement I have to travel the day before. It can often take 4-8 hours to do a 2 hour journey. Just shocking. An embarrassment to the country

3 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

So it gets even better 9.36 Coventry to…

So it gets even better 9.36 Coventry to Edinburgh cancelled at Birmingham international - everyone off - struggled with bags upstairs to Avanti info - told go get train on platform 2 - boarded the train - rammed / when quiet walked the length of the train to my carriage - and it’s the same train I was chucked off because it’s going no further than Birmingham - low and behold it did we are now getting to Preston on the same rain - sh£t show!!! 3.5 hours late to Glasgow 2 weeks ago and looking to be the same for Edinburgh today.

Now stopping at Preston then I have to travel to Glasgow then Edinburgh - if it was a one off fair enough things happen but this is every single time I get the train they are cancelled - I feel sorry for the staff on the train who are great - whose however organising this sh£t show - do better the timetable should just have destinations and a series of question marks - times are pointless - I am struggling to convey my anger and disappointment

3 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Absolutely fed up with the continuous…

Absolutely fed up with the continuous poor service Avanti!! Every single time I have travelled in the past year there have been delays. Missed connections and worst staff I have ever experienced.
No updates whatsoever and absolutely appalling customer service from station staff. They seem so stressed they take it out on customers. This is not acceptable.
I am a customer service experience manager and have been for many years! I have never experienced such poor attitude from so many members of staff😡. they actually argue with you are very defensive and have no answers whatsoever. Instead of apologising and admitting they know nothing they should not take it out on already stressed customers.
I will definitely never use this service again as this is the final time I can take this stress and poor service. Get your act together and get a team in that can train these so called customer service reps 😡

30 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Two trains from Euston to chester…

Two trains from Euston to chester cancelled at peak time (between 5pm and 6pm) due to lack of train staff. Final got a train at 7pm and was due in at 9:07pm, however now sat at Crewe station for over 20mins because they need to swap carriages around from back to the front???? No idea on how long this will take. All we get from the train manage is sorry for inconvenience.

29 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

No air-con, no power for chargers or usb slots.

No air-con, no power for chargers or usb slots. Incredibly poor service for what we pay for, it costs as much a plane ticket but inside the carriage it was 35 Celsius degree and they claim it is due to hot weather but outside is 29 Celsius degree, no power on the sockets and again they said because of hot weather, wth? And this is not enough, on the train from Glasgow to London we were asked to change to another train at Preston, first they announced you need to go to platform 3, and while everyone was trying to get there, they said platform 6, people piled up on the bridge caused a stampede, it was an absolut joke. I don't want to say too much but if this is extreme weather I must say I am from a country where this weather is a normal summer and lasts months, yet we do have fast trains and air-con, power slots always work. Only explanation is this situation happening because of incompetence.

28 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent experience …

I had to go from Abergele to Wrexham for a hospital appointment. There were no direct trains but there were from Rhyl. I booked an open return online and was impressed with the price. My trains arrived on time both ways and the seats comfortable. Previous passengers had left a bag of rubbish on the seat and it was good to see a collector with a bag calling for a rubbish. Would definitely use this service again. Thank ypu

24 June 2026
Unprompted review

The Trustpilot Experience

Anyone can write a Trustpilot review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they’ll be displayed as long as an account is active.

We use dedicated people and clever technology to safeguard our platform. Find out how we combat fake reviews.

Learn about Trustpilot’s review process.

Here are 8 tips for writing great reviews.

Verification can help ensure real people are writing the reviews you read on Trustpilot.

Offering incentives for reviews or asking for them selectively can bias the TrustScore, which goes against our guidelines.

Take a closer look