National Express East Coast Reviews

Ive been a regular user of the east coast mainline for over 2 years. Used to be able to go on line on thurs am and get a range of options for newly released advanced tickets. Now I find it much more difficult. They seem to be drip feeding the tickets onto the web or restricting the numbers of good deals available.

Its so frustrating to book a ticket which is not ideal to find a few hours later the ideal ticket becomes available.

I'm not a happy customer. Having spent around £10k over the last 2 years I'm now looking for alternatives.

Does anyone know whats going on or is it just another case of making tarriffs complex in order to get more money out of customers.

I'm glad they have lost the franchise.....good riddance!!

Paul

We used the National Express train service to get down to London a few weeks ago. It was the start of our Honeymoon so for the first time ever, we paid the extra money to go in first class. Our first class tickets were £38 each (single), compared to around £25 for standard class. So what does the extra money get you? Well, the seats ...  Read the complete review

I use NXEC every week - no choice, I work in London, but live in the North East (my choice). Unlike MPs I can't claim the cost of travel back, so I have to grab the tickets as soon as they're released - and if you were quick (very, very quick), you could grab cheap tickets.... until about 4 weeks ago. National Express have *almost tripled* ...  Read the complete review

Many people may not be aware that nationalexpresseastcoast.com sell train tickets for any journey in the UK, not just for National Express East Coast services. The advantage of nationalexpresseastcost.com is that there is no booking fee, or credit card fee. Both charges are levied by many other online train ticket sites. At ...  Read the complete review

From my experience there are two distinct sides to the National Express trains that operate on the East Coast (the same line that GNER used to run on). To briefly sum up these sides mostly everything is very positive except for the cost of tickets. Starting with the positives, the trains are always pretty clean and I never find that ...  Read the complete review

I have used the East Coast Mainline for several years, mainly for trips down to London, so have experienced Intercity, GNER and National Express, and I have to say that the line has never run more smoothly (from my experience) than it has under National Express. Prices: The prices on the line vary massively depending on how far in ...  Read the complete review

I use National express when I am travelling to London, Peterburgh, Norwich and other places and if I had a choice I wouldn't. Their prices are rising and the service is terrible, the staff look miserable and unpleasant so I try my very best to stay out the way of them. However, on the occassion I do have to ask them for something, they ...  Read the complete review

I used to travel frequently from london to Leeds on the old GNER service. This all stopped after an 8 hour delay back in 2001 on a crowded train where i took the vow to never use public transport again. Of course after a while I mellowed slightly and, er, bought a car but recently this year I have begun using this line again which is now National ...  Read the complete review

I regularly use this train on the London - Leeds catching it at Peterborough and getting off at Stevenage, quite a short duration considering the National Express East Coast (NXEC) service runs all the way from Scotland to London. I've found the train to be fast and usually on time, but if delayed it's been by no later than 5 minutes. ...  Read the complete review

Wanted to write about the extremely poor level of service I received on a recent return journey between London Kings Cross and Newcastle. Being several months pregnant, I booked myself some First Class tickets so that I could enjoy not only a better quality of train journey but also could relax before travelling in the First Class ...  Read the complete review

I bought return tickets to Leeds from London to attend for a conference, and chose to book first class tickets for my return, so that I could sit in the lounge and work while waiting for my train. But with National Express, any Advance First Class tickets are not actually "real" first class tickets - those who don't fork out ...  Read the complete review

Today I am travelling from Newcastle to Manchester for work and part of my journey involves a National Express train service. I booked my ticket through the National Express website because it does not charge a booking fee (see separate review). My return fare cost £59.40 as I bought it in advance, which has increased quite a bit over ...  Read the complete review

I only decided I was going on holiday three days before I left, which meant there were very few train tickets available when I went to book it at Aberdeen station via National Express. I was astonished when I was charged £30 for my ticket, but when I found out I'd be travelling First Class, I cheered up slightly - I'd never travelled in style ...  Read the complete review

The east coast mainline is one of the major rail links in the UK, linking London with major cities in Yorkshire, Northumberland and Scotland. Previously operated by GNER, the franchise passed on to National Express in 2007 after GNER's parent company filed for bankruptcy protection. It was felt that National Express had paid way over ...  Read the complete review

I used to book a lot of tickets with GNER who owned this east coast line before National Express took it over. The National Express East Coast journey is one from Huddersfield/Wakefield/Leeds to Stevenage. I take this route several times a month so know what's a good price etc. The trains are reliable and in the 3 and a half ...  Read the complete review

I have just used this company to book tickets from London to Aviemore and have found the company to provide good value tickets to a respectable range of stations. I used the website to book my tickets, and the site was highly accessible and I had no problem. The company allowed me to choose what kind of seating I wanted (which some ...  Read the complete review

I have been travelling upto Leeds from London about 10 times a year for the past 3 years or so. Because of this I feel that I am able to give a fair account of how National Express East Coast have faired since they bought out GNER. The first thing you will notice when you get on the train is its colour. National Express East Coast have ...  Read the complete review

I have just returned from my 5 day trip to Scotland (vising the parents). I booked my ticket via First Scotrail and the train was a National Express East Coast service. I have travelled with this company before and have had no real complaints. I purchased my ticket online 2 months before travelling. I have a "Young persons rail ...  Read the complete review

National Express East Coast (NXEC) is the new rail operator that has succeeded GNER on the east coast mainline between London and Scotland. It's also the first National Express company that will apply the National Express name to a train franchise, so don't be surprised if you start to see a name you associate more with buses on trains around the ...  Read the complete review