Christmas is coming!
Book your tickets for Christmas
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.
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 following trains will not run
Southbound
- 18.18 Aberdeen to Leeds
- 19.45 & 20.45 Leeds to King’s Cross
- 20.25 Lincoln to King’s Cross
- 19.36 Edinburgh to King’s Cross
- 19.06 King’s Cross to Lincoln
Northbound
- 18.30 & 19.00 King’s Cross to Edinburgh
- 20.03, 20.33, 21.33 & 23.33 King’s Cross to Leeds
- 20.00 King’s Cross to Sunderland
- 21.00 & 22.00 King’s Cross to Newcastle
- 23.00 King’s Cross to York
Friday 27 December - trains will start running later than usual
- First train to Leeds is at 07.03
- First train to York is at 07.06
- First train to Edinburgh is at 07.27
New Year’s Eve, Tuesday 31 December
We know on this date that our last trains will be earlier than usual, we're working closely with National Rail to confirm the timetable.
New Year’s Day, Wednesday 1 January
We know on this date that our first trains will be later than usual, we're working closely with National Rail to confirm the timetable.
Unfortunately we won't be able to run trains north of Edinburgh on New Year's Day.
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 weekend 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