Southeastern Railway Avis 

Dear Southeastern,
I am a regular passenger travelling from Ashford International to London St Pancras on your High-Speed services — typically departing around 08:06 or 08:16 on weekdays.
I’ve noticed that Advance Single tickets are consistently unavailable on these services, even when booking 10+ weeks in advance. The only fares offered are the significantly more expensive Anytime Day Singles, which makes regular travel unaffordable for many.
Interestingly, there have been brief instances ( for example last week) where Advance tickets appeared for the 08:06, only to be withdrawn again shortly after — suggesting that fares are being strategically restricted or removed, possibly to prioritise revenue over accessibility.
I understand that Advance tickets are discretionary, but given that you promote them as a way to make travel more affordable, the consistent lack of them on key services feels unfair — especially for loyal, regular commuters.
Could you please clarify:
1. Why Advance tickets are not made available on these services?
2. Whether there are plans to increase availability of Advance fares on peak services from Ashford?
3. What guidance Southeastern follows when determining which services receive Advance fare allocation?
I’d appreciate a transparent explanation, as this affects real passengers trying to make rail travel affordable and sustainable.
Kind regards,

Constant delayes or trains being cancelled

Very helpful customer service.Thanks to ''TBG''!

useless company and services. always late and delayed, old trains are shocking to be on, the older trains are an absolute mockery that you have to pay for them.

slow useless and cope less service

over priced and terrible

Just awful service, run down and rickety trains with stained seats and poor ventilation. Pathetic and meaningless excuses for disruption. The developing world operates a better option to travel.

I was trying to balance this review but there’s just nothing positive to say. Perhaps the staff are usually pleasant and take the brunt of it for this complete abject failure.

Overpriced dirty smelly trains, debris on seats, headphone dodgers, chronic lateness and unreliability , and next to nonexistent customer service means I would give zero stars if I could

I've had to use Southeastern Trains 4 times a week since August as I moved to Tunbridge Wells to try and see if I can commute to London and give my kids a better life outside of London. Because of your useless company, I am going to have to move back. Roughly 40% of my journeys are late or cancelled. I can't rely on you to get to work on time, I can't rely on you for my nursery pick ups. Countless amount of times I had to get taxis from Orpington/Sevenoaks to pick up my kids because the train wouldn't travel further. Your train fares are stupidly overpriced for the level of service you provide. Your train delays/cancellations are followed by lame excuses such as "there was an animal on the tracks". What kind of animal stops all trains for 4 hours and lives in the UK? You had "suspected gas leak in the Sevenoaks tunnel"...again this excuse is only good for a person with a single digit IQ. Just look at your reviews, they don't lie, people are fed up but they have no choice. Anyhow, hope your bosses get fat bonuses next year. You guys should all be fired.

Where do I begin. Awful train service, over priced and unreliable, Close genuine delay repay claims, have to resort to taxis and bus but never get my money back. FRAUD company, don't use this pitiful service ever. Toilets never available, never get a seat. Trains break down often, rude staff, dirty smelly trains. Worse service in the world.

Worst company in the worst industry. Keep lining thier back pockets without improving the trains... I'll take the Elizabeth line now and its so much better. More reliable better prices and all of thier trains have aircon.

Thanks for some of the worst commutes I've ever done

I work in a transport company, and delays/ cancellations / disruptions are inevitable. Unexpected things happen, and they can happen anytime. The thing with this TOC is that whenever something bad happens, there's no contingency or plan on how to get the service back up and running again. Whether it's to turn trains around or dispatch more drivers from their nearest depot to keep up with the delays/ cancellations, or deploy engineers / contractors to fix the main issue, none of these are clearly being done for the past few weeks that I have been using them to commute to work daily. I have been almost always late for work and always worrying about their service everyday that I had to keep looking at my phone every 30 mins, to make sure that their trains would get me to work on time. To think that a season ticket costs a fortune,their performance is really utterly rubbish and unforgivable, as these " disruptions" have been happening everyday with ridiculous excuses. Recently moved to this area so will try to avoid using this service again on our next move.

Poor communication, change of destinations halfway down the journey. Poor customer service

As a partly sighted person booked a train journey the wrong way around , in advance ,,rang them no sympathy no refund no help . Lost money Will not use again !

Lauretta at Lower Sydenham train station was amazing, it was my daughter's birthday and she ensured she felts special on her day. She also reassured me that I would make it to my destination despite the delays.
She not only just helped us but she went the extra mile!
thank you!

I would like to pay tribute to Warren at Parkway Thanet station. He was a real star and very supportive when I missed my train the other day.

He offered me a drink and check to make sure I was safe and that I boarded the next train in.

It was good to Kano that there is someone to help you at such a remote station.

I give him 5 stars. Thank you

Staff are rude and unreasonable 🤬Took train from Sturry to Canterbury West, did not see a ticket machine at Sturry station and did not see anyone onboard the train to buy a ticket.

Went straight to a member of staff on the gates at Canterbury West to explain and he said I would have to pay a penalty as I travelled without a ticket and gave me all this business about being recorded.

The staff members would not accept that someone can make an honest mistake and not see a machine especially when they are not from the area. I ended up giving them my life story for the day and why I was in Canterbury. Made no difference to these heartless people.

Having subsequently looked, the machine at Sturry is apparently by the ticket office on the other side of the road and completely out of sight from the Canterbury bound platform 🤦🏻‍♂️

My son was about to travel on the 14.42 (Platform 6) and tripped over some luggage sticking out in the aisle which resulted in him falling over and dislocating his knee. The staff at Victoria Station, London were so kind and attentive. I didn't get everyone's name but thank you to Genna Winslow and her colleagues who were around on Platform 6 and even walked us to the ambulance. We are really grateful for your kindness in this situation. My son is on the mend and back home in Maidstone.
Thanks also to Steve Jones, first responder in the Air Ambulance who was here in no time and put the knee back in place before the paramedics arrived. Amazing work.

When 4 people tell u something different to get a train at pancreas station and when they told us the correct one we ran the whole way and then told us we missed our train when we asked when the next one mad one guy from southern east train started harassing us and telling me to shut up and gonna call the police and that we are banned on my and my family . I love to see you try and call the police on my u when I’m 17 years old u idiot.

I had fallen down some steps at Stratford, I managed to get on the train but by the time I got to Ashford I couldn’t walk. The staff were SO helpful and attentive. They got me a wheelchair and a ramp then organised for a wheelchair and ramp at my destination. Couldn’t fault them. Thank you so much ☺️

I booked the right train tickets and got on the right train but it took me back to my place of departure causing me to miss an important non refundable event. I don’t recommend this Trainline as it is unreliable.

Catherine the train guard found some of my bank cards that had fallen out of my phone . So incredibly kind and went out of her way to help me. A real credit to the company . Train was the 0907 from
St Pancras international to Ashford