Avanti West Coast Reviews 

I rarely took any trains until recently when I started a work project in Scotland which meant regular trips from Wolverhampton to Glasgow. I return on a Thursday on the 18:40 which is always 2 trains and always Avanti West.
I must have done this journey at least 10 times and the service gets worse and worse. The return train (usually the connection) is always delayed- if you’re lucky only half an hour but recently over an hour. Last Thursday we waited at Crewe for a replacement driver for 65 minutes - the current driver was just as frustrated as we were and had no idea what was happening. I can claim compensation but if I’m honest £15 or even £30 does not compensate for the fact that I’m arriving at home after midnight. The reasons for the delays seem poor excuses and the delays typically start around Lancashire through to the midlands at Crewe. If you’ve arranged someone to pick you up you may as well tell them to go home.
The reviews on here clearly highlight some major problems with Avanti West. Unless there are drastic improvements I really cannot see them being around beyond their contract.

Micheal at stoke on Trent went above and beyond for my friend who had left her bag on the train! He is a credit to the company and was so lovely and helpful!

On 27 May 2026 I was travelling on the Glasgow Central line from London Euston due to arrive at Glasgow at 1801. At 3.58 we disembarked at Preston where we were told there had been an incident on the line, and no further trains going North were expected until it had been cleared. Passengers were delayed for almost 4 hours and I finally reached my destination at 22:00 hours. What made it worse was it was a hot day and no refreshments were offered, not even a bottle of water.
I am told that I will be compensated £24.30 but this doesn’t even come close to the stress and inconvenience caused, not to mention the extra expense of buying additional refreshments. Making a claim, was not a straightforward process and I think Avanti could do much to improve the service. This is the third time I’ve made this trip and 2 out of 3 journeys were very problematic. In earlier years, I have made frequent trips from London to the north east using a different line and issues were virtually non existent. Very disappointed with this service.

The Avanti West Coast train was very comfortable in first class.
The train was on time and there was no delays.
The staff were professional on the train and they were polite, friendly, kind and courteous.

Train delayed due to issue with a bridge near Rugby, fair enough! But, train was absolutely rammed, it was mega hot (no staff ever came down the train so couldn't ask them to do something about it, would have lost my seat if I had gone to find them) and they did away with the seat reservations (booked a seat but it wasn't reserved). Total delay was 1 hour 25 mins & got £8 delay repay - seriously? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

The last 3 times I have travelled with Avanti West Coast it has been a catastrophe. First, when buying tickets it defaults to e-tickets rather than offering a genuine choice- not great when you're visually impaired - and then only half of the ticket came through. Second there have been cancelled trains with very little warning causing significant delays each time. Thirdly, the customer support and service was useless. I was not impressed and will not be choosing them again. While I would rather not go by car due to the environmental impact this will be my only choice unless I factor in extra time for possible (likely!) delays and inconvenience.

I am sat on the 10.13am Manchester ( Picadilly) to London Euston Train, Thursday 11th June 2026. There is persistant overhead water leaks . This haa fallen on me ( seat C33). Although reported to the carriage conductor - they have not appeared in person to verify what is happening. The train manager has been requested and has not appeared and can't be located. The Avanti complaints portal possesses suboptimal functionality and so I have wasted time by having to submit photographic evidence of the complajnt, some 10 minutes ago. I've requested a refund of the return ticket cost and a sundry goodwill payment. I will await a reply!. My impression of Avanti is that of indifference and poor customer service . Being provided with 6 small tissues by theconductor has not been sufficient!

Terrible experience. I unfortunately left my bag on the train as I had many things to carry, so I have all the confirmation on my phone which luckily was not in my bag, to prove I'd paid for the train tickets, which were lost as they were in my bag! But they don't reprint tickets. They make you buy new ones. Absolutely ridiculous. Then the extra insurance that I took out to cover the tickets, does not cover the tickets for this reason, although every member of staff told me it did.

After starting a journey in Ireland at 3pm and then taking a flight to Manchester and a return train to Piccadilly at around 8pm, I found out that there were no onwsrd Northern train connectios to Stoke because of limited Sunday service. Station staff suggested Avanti might consider my predicament and allow me to travel the couple of stops to Stoke on the 8.55pm train. I asked about this with the conductor and it was a blunt no, you should have got an Avanti ticket shouldn't you. And that was it, looked at me like I was a POS. Thanks for leaving me stranded in Manchester guys. Much appreciated.

One and only time I'd book 1st with Avanti. Seat slightly more comfortable than standard but apart from that not worth the money! Choice of food rubbish! Toilet smell coming through carriage was horrible 🤢 roasting aswell, never felt a breath of air the whole journey! 40 mins late so get half my money back 👍

This company is a failure and an embarrassment, I routinely get full compensation for my tickets because trains are constant delayed. 3days ago I got full compensation and here I am again delayed. Oh and the prices are up again for standard premium £37.50. This service should be shut down immediately.

Terrible company! Have taken their trains 4 times in last 2 weeks and massive delays on every single one!!
Embarrassed how bad the service is with foreign European friends where the train service works and costs a fraction of this!
Staff couldn’t give a monkeys and attitude is ‘oh well; we are gonna be nationalised’ so no need to give a….
Companies like this ruin the UK’s reputation and ruin people’s holidays/trips and cause unnecessary stress!

If you could rate the worst train operation in the UK right now Avanti would be right up there.
Run by the dire First Group who have already turned GWR into an utter pile of poo, they have managed to turn another franchise into a complete and utter turd.
Daily fiasco, daily delayed or cancelled trains, much of their own making due to the dire service they run, they then cap it all with utterly patronising on board announcements trains to grind your teeth or grind you to death.
Don't get a train to Liverpool, Manchester or Glasgow, fly, you won't have to listen to crap every five minutes on a pedolino. Hell.

Update. After easyjet, then how else can you travel in this country. Drive. To a draconian speed limit.

Really aggressive customer services person at Euston. Was speaking to a female member of staff when a male colleague butted in aggressively basically saying it’s not our problem. Just what I needed when cancelled trains meant I was going to miss a medical appointment. Some people just aren’t very good at their jobs.

Came on the train when it was packed at Preston to Nuneaton we’re going to Leicester last train was delayed by 2 mins so had to run lots of people ran to this train from the train I was previously on everyone running before it leaves but I’m absolutely amazed by the service mum felt dizzy and were early now too nice lady worker seen her dizzy and took us down to a anti forst class for free look very well dressed workers do aww thank you so much to the lady booking process was normal but the lady was really nice no matter how much it cost I recommend upgrading to premium thanks to the worker made us so happy on the 17:43 to London Euston VT1A55 train number sun 31 may 2026 kindness doesn’t cost anything proud of the service I got today and for free upgrade whoever was working the lady really needs a reward although for other bad service really busy on time surprisingly

On 27th May 2026 I had paid for and booked a seat on the 10.10 express from Coventry to Euston. After I'd paid for a taxi and travelled to the station I found that ALL Avanti services to London were cancelled.

Two nights after I'd returned and tried to claim for the journey. A crazy and complex system resulted in the rubric at 02:38, May 30 'It has been confirmed that your refund request does not meet the special refund requirements.'

No hint as to why or what the 'special' requirements are and already more than an hour of my time wasted. The 'chat' feature just goes around and around and it seems that the way to actually talk to a human is well hidden - if it even exists.

Literally every time I have relied on Evanti West Coast I end up waiting well over an hour for a delayed train that never arrives

Avoid as much as possible

I have used Avanti on a number of occasions, both travelling to London and Edinburgh. The latter being Edinburgh. I found the whole experience from the very helpful staff in the station in Edinburgh who were really very helpful and advised on platforms to the team on the train who were friendly and attentive. Helping older people with their luggage to polite conversation throughout. Information was continually communicated about stops on the way and connecting ongoing train and platforms. The guy on the bar couldn’t do enough to assist with drinks and snacks and very polite with it. There was a slight delay due to a problem on the line but this was just minutes. If every train was like this maybe people wouldn’t complain so much. Well done guys. We travelled Edinburgh to Preston 23rd May

I cannot thank the staff enough for their assistance for myself and my sisters recent trip to Glasgow. They sorted out adjoining seats both going and coming back. Our original tickets we were not sat together. On our journey back they also arrange tickets for an earlier train. Every member of staff that we spoke to was very helpful. Thank you

Not great. Train from Manchester to London arrived an hour late. WiFi is unusable as are the plug sockets that don’t charge!

Fortunately I was sitting in a carriage that had air con that actually worked, however several other carriages didn’t so everyone was crammed into the cooler carriages.

Overall not a great experience.