London To Edinburgh's Hogmanay Private Party Train, London Train To Hogmanay!

Terrible work of the operator at the ticket office. The young man was nice in service, but as it turned out, completely unprofessional. We bought tickets to Edinburgh 2 months before the trip to sit in the direction of the train and by the window, which we told the operator. He assured us that he chose seats for us according to our preferences. In fact, we got seats 41 and 42, against the direction of the train and practically without a view out the window. Very disappointing. (PS: on the train itself, there is a convenient identification of seat reservations - a green light next to the seat number means it is not bought and you can move to a free seat. We took advantage of this opportunity, but if all the seats had been bought, we would have spent the entire trip looking at the wall.)

LNER Railways. Ah, where do I even begin? Let's start with the basics: the trains themselves are fine, as long as they actually run on time. But, of course, they don’t always do that. In fact, they love to cancel trains for any reason, or no reason at all. You never know if your trip will actually happen until the last minute. And even when the trains do run, don’t expect any helpful announcements at Kings Cross. They’ll only tell you the platform about 10 minutes before departure, which is just enough time for every person in the station to scramble through the gates like a herd of cattle, all while you're wondering if this is what the apocalypse would feel like. But here’s where the real fun begins: our train from Edinburgh to London was canceled mid-way near York — and that’s when we were truly introduced to the chaos that is LNER. Picture this: we’re packed into York station like sardines, with absolutely no communication from staff. There was no free water, no seating for pregnant women or the elderly, and forget about any sympathy for families with children. We waited for five hours without so much as a single update, while the staff wandered around, probably wondering where their next coffee was coming from. Finally, they decide to put us on another train. Of course, no one bothered to mention that there was zero room for luggage, and we were crammed onto the train like a human game of Tetris. There were people yelling, pushing, and fighting for seats—because, naturally, every seat was taken, and those that weren’t were covered in crumbs, filth, and questionable stains. We spent four to five hours on that train, standing or sitting on the dirty floor, while LNER’s "customer service" left us to rot in discomfort. To sum it up: LNER is a complete disaster. The staff is rude, the management is a joke, and the system runs about as smoothly as a toddler on a sugar rush. If your train gets canceled, you’re pretty much on your own. So if you enjoy spending hours in a station with no information, no customer support, and no dignity left, then LNER is definitely the train company for you. If not, avoid them like the plague.