Travel questions

How can I book a first-class train just before Christmas?

Simon Calder answers your questions on festive travel, French strikes and cancelled flights

Friday 21 October 2022 21:30 BST

The festive season can be a frustrating time to travel (Getty)

Q I am planning to travel from Preston to London for the pre-Christmas weekend, 17 and 18 December. I want to travel in first class for a bit of extra comfort at what I imagine will be a very busy time. I made a note to check out fares from Preston to London in late September, 12 weeks prior to departure, so I could hopefully get some cheaper tickets. But none were available, and there is still no sign. Is this because of future strikes?

Sharon C

A You and hundreds of thousands of other people who are hoping to travel around Christmas and new year are understandably exasperated by the inability currently to book tickets for express trains to and from London on the West Coast Main Line. Avanti West Coast is the train operator linking northwest England (as well as the West Midlands, North Wales and southern Scotland) with London Euston. The firm would love to be able to sell you a confirmed first-class ticket. But right now it doesn’t know exactly what its timetable will be. However, I am confident that the usual hourly fast train to London Euston will be running – subject to strikes.

At present you can book up to 7 December for weekday journeys, but only a week or two in advance for weekends. An Avanti West Coast spokesperson told me: “We know making tickets available as early as possible is a key priority for our customers and we’re working hard to do this. Our weekday tickets are available into December but weekends are made more difficult by engineering work, which is taking place almost every weekend until Christmas. We are making progress though, and by early November we’ll be selling weekend tickets four weeks in advance. We’ll continue to push this booking window further out as quickly as we can.“

A strange feature of the ticketing system is that anyone can book an off-peak return for those dates of travel. But that is an expensive undertaking: £104.50 in standard, and a remarkable £337.60 in first. For a lower fare, sign up to the “Advance Train Ticket Alerts” (easy to find on the website or the app) and get booking as soon as your days come up.

Motorists queue for fuel in Paris (Bloomberg/Getty)

Q We’re driving to Compiegne in northern France next week in a diesel car. What is the fuel situation likely to be?

Richard S

A For the past couple of weeks, some workers at French oil refineries have been on strike – part of the widespread industrial strife across France as workers seek inflation-matching pay increases. As we have seen previously in the UK, public fears of a fuel shortage can prove self-fulfilling. Motorists taking rational individual decisions to keep tanks topped up as much as possible can cause an insatiable surge in demand.

According to John Lichfield, former Paris correspondent for The Independent, only 90 out of 5,000 refinery staff have actually walked out – “but they are the ones who turn the wheels and press the buttons that make the petrol and diesel flow”. As a result, he says, one filling station in four is closed through lack of supplies.

At the AA, spokesperson Luke Bosdet told me: “At present, it is very precarious. As we have seen in the UK, the popular forecourts often produce the biggest queues. It can therefore be very hit-and-miss where fuel might be found.”

But he offers a possible solution – depending on the car you have, and more particularly the size of your tank. It could be that you might make it from Calais to Compiegne on a single tankful that you fill up in Kent. “A full tank could typically give 350 miles of travel,” he says. “That would give leeway to make the journey and keep an eye out for supplied fuel stations along the way.”

According to the AA route planner, the distance from Calais to Compiegne is 135 miles via the A26 and the A1 motorways. A simple round-trip would be 270 miles. Obviously, you would be limited in the amount of motoring you could do during your stay there unless you can top up along the way.

Luke adds: “So-called eco-driving, such as moderating speed, leaving more room between you and the vehicle in front to reduce braking and accelerating, etc, will stretch the number of miles you get out of a tank significantly.”

Airlines must have arrangements to pay for alternative flights for passengers hit with cancellations (AFP/Getty)

Q Our airline cancelled a booking due to industrial action. After several hours their customer service advised to either curtail the trip and return early or try another airline as they had no available flights. Don’t they have some duty of care to get me home?

IW1966

A Absolutely they do. According to a letter from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) sent to UK airlines on 21 July, airlines that cancel a flight must “have in place reasonably appropriate organisation and support staff to source replacement flights and complete the booking if consumers wish to take up this offer”. In other words, you should not be left to get on with it.

The letter has stipulations for airlines that cancel flights, for whatever reason. The authorities make clear that airlines must have arrangements to find, and pay for, alternative flights for passengers.

The CAA and CMA say: “We note that some airlines ask passengers to make their own arrangements if rerouting is on another carrier. However, we have concerns that in some cases, this is likely to breach professional diligence standards for those consumers who are not in a position to do so. For example, those who may be unable to: investigate or book alternative routes; self-fund the purchase of flight tickets and accommodation; or to afford to wait for reimbursement, would not be able to benefit from their statutory rights in the event of flight cancellation. We urge airlines operating this practice to quickly put in place mechanisms for these consumers to ensure re-routing is a viable option for them.”

But the obligations that were set out so clearly at the start of the summer peak season have been widely flouted. I have asked the current transport secretary why airlines have not been brought into line. I am still waiting for a response.

If two departures in quick succession on the same airline are lightly loaded, it makes environmental as well as commercial sense to combine them (Getty)

Q My wife and I have been moved onto a later flight for our return trip from Florida in May next year. It departs just over an hour later. But as they appear to have removed our original flight from the schedule and put everyone on the existing later flight, we are no longer sitting together and the flight is full.

We are nervous flyers and sitting next to strangers will not be fun for us or them. I called the airline, but they told me that as the flight change is less than three hours they are not obliged to do anything, and that we can’t make any alterations without incurring a charge. Are they correct?

PeaJay18

A How infuriating for you. The short answer is that because your flight has been cancelled, I believe you should be entitled to a full refund for the whole thing if you so choose. I sense, though, that you are rather more interested in getting to sit together than in cancelling the whole itinerary.

The context: “consolidating” flights happens frequently, especially as airlines seek to limit their losses. If two departures in quick succession on the same airline are lightly loaded, it makes environmental as well as commercial sense to combine them.

But I am genuinely baffled by the idea that every seat on the plane is showing as allocated at a point over six months from departure. Normally airlines like to hold a number of seats unassigned until shortly before departure to allow (for example) family groups booking late to be given seats together.

Anyway, I recommend you make your concern and wish to sit together known at check-in on the day, and again at the gate, and (if necessary) on boarding the plane. I am sure there will be some suitable shuffling – typically with a solo passenger moving to accommodate you. I agree, though, that this is a far from ideal situation, and your airline should have treated you with more consideration.