LNER First Class Lounge — Attraction in London

Dear LNER Customer Relations Team,

I am writing to formally submit a complaint regarding an incident that occurred on September 21, 2025, at 15:03, while travelling with LNER in First Class, Coach M, Seat 14.

I was travelling with one large suitcase and two smaller backpacks (one placed under my seat and one in the overhead rack). Shortly after boarding, a female member of staff approached me in a rude and disrespectful tone, insisting that my suitcase was “too large” and had to be moved to another carriage. I explained clearly that I had valuable items (a computer and a camera) in my suitcase and therefore needed to keep it within my sight.

Despite this, the staff member suddenly took my suitcase without my permission and attempted to move it to the next carriage. I followed her immediately, retrieved my suitcase, and repeated my concerns. Instead of offering assistance or understanding, she became confrontational, shouted at me, gestured aggressively, and even told me to leave the train if I was not happy. This happened on Platform 6, in front of other passengers.

Another male staff member later joined her, also behaving in an unhelpful and unfriendly manner. Eventually, I was ordered to place my suitcase in another carriage corridor, where it blocked access, while in my own carriage (Coach M) there was sufficient space for luggage, including in the wheelchair area.

This behaviour was completely unacceptable, unprofessional, and humiliating. As a paying First Class passenger, I expect courtesy, assistance, and safe handling of my belongings – not rudeness, intimidation, or the risk of theft/damage by forcing me to store my suitcase away from my seat.

For these reasons, I request:

A full refund of my First Class ticket.

A formal apology for the behaviour of the onboard staff.

If this issue is not addressed satisfactorily, I will share my experience on TripAdvisor and social media, as I believe other travellers deserve to be aware of how First Class passengers...

LNER First Class Lounge, Kings Cross

The first class lounge at Kings Cross is situated next door to Waitrose & Partners. A gloomy generic lift takes you up into the more enlightened lounge. We arrived at the lounge’s opening time, 06:00. Upon entry, you are required to show your first class ticket for your journey, which is good so only first class passengers can use this lounge as intended to. Once the coffee machine was turned on (about 20 minutes after the opening time) the coffee was absolutely dreadful, probably the worst coffee I have ever had. Luckily, once in the lounge you can still have access to downstairs, where the coffee shops and restaurants are. The furnishings of this lounge at Kings Cross is very modern and contemporary, with loads of light beaming in from the full scale sash windows. A departure board is located in the main section of the lounge which is quite handy. Once the train that you are indicated to travel on, shows ready to board, there is a designated entrance for first class ticket holders to access the platforms with lifts available for disabled or less able passengers, which is a pleasant touch. Overall, I would say, if you are able to, book first class, but definitely do not just book first class to use this lounge. The first class train journey was amazing from London to Edinburgh with friendly and attentive staff at hand, if you ever need more hot drinks...

Always a consistently bad experience at the first class lounge at Kings Cross. Far, far too small for the number of passengers who pass through the station results in the “lounge” being constantly over-crowded every day. Even if you can manage to find a seat, the lazy, apathetic nature of the disinterested LNER staff in the first class lounge compares very poorly with the far better service one receives from their far more professional on-board train colleagues.

Don't ever expect to be able to charge your phone during your visit. Although there are ample charging points provided, those charging points themselves are also battery powered but the idle, couldn't-care-less lounge staff never bother to charge them up overnight. Indeed, rather than refilling the refreshments, tidying up, or simply assisting customers, the lounge staff much prefer to spend their time in the staff-only room enthusiastically discussing Love Island or Big Brother for hours instead.

Almost no power points, unreliable wifi and woefully inadequate toilet facilities complete the consistently poor experience and adds insult to injury after spending many hundreds of pounds per person for each...