Festive travel advice
Book your tickets
Whether you're wanting to visit Christmas markets in historic cities or going back home to see family. Book your tickets direct with us and reserve your seat.
Reserving a seat for your journey
Our trains are extremely busy over Christmas, so we recommend that you book in advance and reserve a seat to ensure you don't end up standing or on a later train, this Christmas.
Tickets with a seat reservation:
- LNER Advance tickets come with a seat reservation
Tickets without a seat reservation as standard
- Flexible tickets like Off-Peak, Super Off-Peak and Anytime tickets don’t come with a seat reservation.
- If you're booking on our website and you can't make a seat reservation that may be because the train is fully reserved and you might want to try and earlier or later train to travel on.
How to reserve a seat
It’s completely free to reserve a seat.
- You can add a seat reservation to your booking by visiting your local LNER station.
- Or you can call our Customer Services team on 03457 225 333.
Haven't reserved a seat? Check the best times to travel
This is a guide and the information may change. If you are planning to travel, we highly recommend reserving a seat.
Christmas timetables for LNER trains
Tickets for travel throughout December are now available on our website. Book in advance to get cheap train tickets for Christmas travel.
We will continue to release tickets over the next few weeks. Keep up to date on our future tickets page.
Christmas Eve, Tuesday 24 December
The 15.30 from London King’s Cross to Glasgow Central will terminate at Edinburgh Waverley.
Services to and from Aberdeen and Inverness will have changes to their calling patterns. Check in advance to see if your journey is affected by using our online Journey Planner.
In the evening, services will finish earlier than a normal weekday with last trains being cancelled and other services terminating short of their normal destinations.
Our last services to and from London King’s Cross will be:
Northbound
18.00 to Edinburgh Waverley
19.30 to Newcastle
20.03 to Leeds
Southbound
15.30 from Edinburgh Waverley
17.36 from Harrogate
Christmas Day, 25 December
As usual, we will not be operating any services on Christmas Day.
Boxing Day, 26 December
As usual, we will not be operating any services on Christmas Day.
Friday 27 December
Services will start up later than on a normal weekday.
The first services to and from London King’s Cross will be:
Northbound
07.27 to Edinburgh Waverley
07.30 to Leeds
Southbound
06.05 from Leeds
06.31 from York
05.59 from Newcastle
05.48 from Edinburgh Waverley
There will be a reduced service until 13.30 into and out of London. The following routes will have alterations:
- Services to and from Harrogate will start from and terminate at Leeds
- Services to and from Glasgow will start from and terminate at Edinburgh Waverley
- Services to and from Aberdeen and Inverness will be diverted and will be unable to call at Haymarket. Northbound services will depart London Kings Cross 30 minutes earlier than usual and southbound services will arrive into Edinburgh 30 minutes later than normal. There may be changes to calling patterns between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh
- The 14.52 from Aberdeen to London King’s Cross will take a diversionary route and will be unable to call at Kirkcaldy. A rail replacement coach service will operate from Kirkcaldy to Edinburgh Waverley
Saturday 28 December
- Services to and from Harrogate will start from and terminate at Leeds
- From 19.00 northbound services departing from London Kings Cross will be taking a diverted route between Peterborough and Doncaster and will not be calling at Grantham, Newark North Gate or Retford. Journey times will be extended by approximately 60 minutes. A rail replacement coach service will be operating between Peterborough and Doncaster serving the usual calling points
- Services to and from Aberdeen and Inverness will be diverted and will be unable to call at Haymarket. Northbound services will depart London Kings Cross 30 minutes earlier than usual and southbound services will arrive into Edinburgh 30 minutes later than normal. There may be changes to calling patterns between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh
- The 06.48 from Glasgow Central to London King’s Cross will start from Edinburgh Waverley at 08.00
Sunday 29 December
- Services to and from Harrogate will start from and terminate at Leeds
- Services to and from Aberdeen and Inverness will be diverted and will be unable to call at Haymarket. Northbound services will depart London Kings Cross 30 minutes earlier than usual and southbound services will arrive into Edinburgh 30 minutes later than normal. There may be changes to calling patterns between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh
- The 16.30 from Glasgow Central to London King’s Cross will start from Edinburgh Waverley at 08.00
- From 10.45 northbound services departing from London Kings Cross will be taking a diverted route between Peterborough and Doncaster and will not be calling at Grantham, Newark North Gate or Retford. Journey times will be extended by approximately 60 minutes. A rail replacement coach service will be operating between Peterborough and Doncaster serving the usual calling points
Monday 30 December
- The 06.48 from Glasgow Central to London King’s Cross will start from Edinburgh Waverley at 08.00
New Year’s Eve, Tuesday 31 December
Services to and from Aberdeen and Inverness will have changes to their calling patterns. Check in advance to see if your journey is affected by using our online Journey Planner.
In the evening, services will finish earlier than a normal weekday with last trains being cancelled and other services terminating short of their normal destinations.
Our last services to and from London King’s Cross will be:
Northbound
18.00 to Edinburgh Waverley
20.00 to Newcastle
20.33 to Leeds
Southbound
14.52 from Aberdeen
19.16 from Leeds
20.25 from Lincoln
New Year’s Day, Wednesday 1 January
In the morning, services will start up later than a normal weekday. Some services will be cancelled and others will start up from other stations.
Our first services to and from London King’s Cross will be:
Northbound
08.00 to Edinburgh Waverley
08.03 to Leeds
Southbound
07.15 from Leeds*
06.55 from Newcastle
05.48 from Edinburgh Waverley
*Subject to approval
Throughout the day, we will be unable to operate north or west of Edinburgh. Services to and from Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow Central will start from and terminate at Edinburgh Waverley.
Thursday 2 January
Services to and from Aberdeen and Inverness will have changes to their calling patterns. Check in advance to see if your journey is affected by using our online Journey Planner.
Onboard catering during Christmas
Throughout Christmas, we will be serving a special festive First Class menu onboard our trains. Most services will also be running our Let's Eat Cafe Bar in Standard Class.
You can see our festive First Class weekday and weekend menus below.
Weekday Christmas Menu
The weekday Christmas menu will be on trains on the following dates: 23, 24, 30 and 31 December 2019 and 2 and 3 January 2020.
Breakfast
During the Christmas period, you can expect the same great breakfast as any other day of the week. So tuck in and enjoy! You can view our First Class breakfast menu here.
Rest of the Day
Brie & cranberry sub roll V
Turkey & stuffing sandwich
Salmon & cream cheese sandwich
Beef in Yorkshire Pudding
A hearty beef stew containing potatoes, baby onions and button mushrooms in a rich gravy served with a favourite from our route - Yorkshire Pudding! NGCI if requested without Yorkshire Pudding
Warming lentil and vegetable chilli V Vg NGCI
Served with tortilla chips and a dollop of Holy Moly guacamole
Orange, cranberry & ginger cake
Crisps or pretzels
Fruit
A choice of an apple or a satsuma
Weekend Christmas Menu
The weekend Christmas menu will be on trains on the following dates: 21, 22, 27, 28 and 29 December 2019 and 1 January 2020.
During the Christmas period, you can expect the usual weekend breakfast menu. View our First Class weekend breakfast menu here.
Brie & cranberry sub roll V
Turkey & stuffing sandwich
Salmon & cream cheese sandwich
Orange, cranberry & ginger cake
Crisps or pretzels
Fruit V
Soft & hot drinks range
Festive First Class ticket
Treat yourself to the comfort of First Class this Christmas – featuring extra legroom, faster Wi-Fi on our Azuma trains and complimentary food and drinks served at your seat (subject to on-the-day availability).
How to upgrade
- All you need is a valid Standard ticket
- Ask the train manager when you board and, if seats are available, you’ll be able to enjoy the First Class festivities for £25 or £35 depending on your journey length.
Don’t forget your tickets and Railcards.
(And presents)
Remember to bring your reservation, tickets and Railcards with you, and have them available for inspection throughout your journey.
Luggage policy
What with all those presents and novelty jumpers, it’s hard to travel light at Christmas – but please only bring what you can carry. Our staff will be on hand to assist but luggage space on our trains will be more in demand than usual.
What can you bring onboard:
- Three items per person. A maximum of one large suitcase, a carry on bag and small handbag can be brought onboard.
- Luggage that cannot be stored safely, or is oversize, will be refused.
- Bikes are accepted onboard as long as you have a reservation, find out how to make a bike reservation here.
- Prams or buggies are allowed as long as they can fold down.
- Pets are also allowed to travel onboard, find out more here.
For more information, please view our luggage policy.
Useful numbers
If you have a general enquiry, take a look at our customer FAQs or call our friendly staff who will help you.
Ticket sales and information
Telesales 03457 22 53 33**
Assisted travel 03457 22 53 33**
Textphone 18001 03457 22 53 33
If you require information about other train operating companies please contact them directly.
Alternatively you can contact National Rail
Website www.nationalrail.co.uk
By phone 03457 48 49 50
**Calls cost no more than calls to geographic numbers (01 or 02) and must be included in inclusive minutes and discount schemes in the same way. Calls from landlines are typically charged up to 9p per minute; calls from mobiles typically cost between 3p and 40p per minute. Calls from landlines and mobiles are included in free call packages