LNER reports 'strong demand' for main line Scots service
London North Eastern Railway has confirmed "strong demand" for its services as customers return to rail, with bumper bank holiday bookings and 200,000 bargain tickets selling in a special summer seat sale.
Latest figures show the number of customers travelling for leisure with LNER is now exceeding levels seen before Covid, the company said today.
"Business travel is continuing to grow, nearing 50 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and still rising, with LNER investing and innovating to encourage even more passengers back to rail."
Bookings saw 370,000 reservations made over the August bank holiday, from August 26-30 inclusive. Services between England and Scotland proved most popular, with trains to and from London King’s Cross and Yorkshire also seeing high levels of demand.
"The seat sale in August saw 200,000 bargain tickets snapped up by customers looking for great value fares across the East Coast route. The sale offered journeys from as little as £5 for travel between September and October 15."
David Horne, managing director at LNER explained: “There has been a great deal of pent up demand as people want to make trips to see friends, or loved ones or to enjoy a break or day trip. Since April this year, more than five million journeys have been enjoyed with LNER and we are delighted to be welcoming more and more customers back.
“Our seat sale proved extremely successful and is just one of the ways we’ve responded to demand. We’ve made tickets available as far ahead as Christmas and the New Year travel period so customers can make plans.
"We have extended the routes offered on our great value and increasingly popular family tickets. In addition, we’re continually investing so we can offer our customers the best possible experience.”
LNER was working to transform rail travel, he said, from its award-winning app and digital innovation making journeys simpler and smarter, to investing in improvements and upgrades to stations and services.
LNER was the first in the industry to offer a digital ‘at seat’ food and drinks service in Standard. Customers can order a selection of hot and cold refreshments from their smartphone and have items delivered directly to their seat.
To enable passengers to book in confidence knowing they’ll have the comfort of a seat for the duration of their journey, LNER introduced "seat sure": customers are recommended to reserve their seats, which can be done up to five minutes before travel either online or at a travel centre.
"They can be reassured that record levels of enhanced cleaning continues to be carried out around the clock both onboard LNER trains and managed stations as part of our ‘Covid aware’ pledge."
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