DaveP wrote:
But the whole point of first class is so that people pay not to have
to sit next to people like you (or me).

On long distances I can understand this, along with the seat service that's
what you pay for (although I imagine in most cases, that's what your
company pays for).

It's not a problem having first class on commuter trains if the rest of the
train has space to carrying everyone who wants to travel. All this crap the
train companies spout about people having flexible tickets and not knowing
when they might travel is ********. They've made a financial choice to put
short trains on and should just say so.

Regards, Dave

To my mind there's a difference between first class on a long-distance
service, which is primarily aimed at the business traveller who wants
to/is expected to work on the train and doesn't want any distractions,
and on a suburban service where it's largely a matter of those who can
afford to paying more for a comfy seat on the way to and from work.

As regards first being declassified where it isn't advertised in the
timetable, the interesting one for me is the 321/4 that Northern
currently have on hire for Leeds-Doncaster diagrams. A colleague who
commutes from Sandal & Agbrigg has often used the first class
compartment, however if I were a first class ticket holder who changed
at Doncaster I'd expect it to be treated as full first class (even
though it's essentially a bonus in the circumstances).