Arriva Trains Wales Club 55 online booking

[JohnB57]

It may be me being stupid, but I can't see a way to book Club 55 and normal tickets together.

I'll be of that age next week (hence the screen name) and eligible for the offer, so we're thinking of a trip to South Wales, booking online for an ATW service from Manchester. My wife has another few months to go and won't be eligible, but we obviously need to sit together and can't do that if we make the booking separately. Or can we..?

 

[Welshman]

Make separate bookings - in my experience, ATW never seem to bother putting-out the seat reservation tickets anyway.
And although you have to select your trains when booking Club55 tickets, I've been informed by ATW that you don't have to use the trains you've selected, as long as the ones you do use are within the validity period.

 

[JohnB57]

Thanks for that. The problem would be my wife's ticket, which strictly speaking would be valid only for the train and seat booked if we bought advance. If the service was busy and lots of people had seat reservations, I can anticipate problems and if we get split up, ears'd be bashed.

A bit of a flaw in the booking process as I'm sure you would agree.

 

[John @ home]

The problem would be my wife's ticket, which strictly speaking would be valid only for the train and seat booked if we bought advance.

ATW no longer provide a reserved seat to holders of Advance tickets. Reservations for a specific train are still issued, but are marked Coach * Seat ***. Train companies call this a "reserved place".

The disadvantage of this system is that a seat is no longer guaranteed. The advantage is that the passenger is free to sit in any unreserved, unoccupied seat.

 

[Welshman]

So there'd be nothing to stop your booking your Club55 ticket and your wife's advance ticket separately, and then sitting together on the same train.

As far as getting two seats together, ATW's x30 services from Manchester to South Wales usually arrive into Piccadilly about x10-15, and, in my experience, you can wait on the platform and as soon as the passengers have alighted you are allowed to board. So, providing you are there about 15 minutes beforehand, you should be able to get two seats together.

[Don't forget to take some proof of your age in case an on-train inpector asks to see it -I've never known it happen, but you never know - they reserve the right to.]

Anything to save you an ear-bashing.

 

[JohnB57]

Thanks guys - I appreciate the reassurance. We have been split on quite a few journeys where we've added my wife on at short notice and it's a bit of a pain. Also, as you will know, many TOCs get a bit snotty about using the exact seat - quite rightly of course - but we've never used ATW. I still think it should be possible to use a promotional code for the Club 55 ticket as ID is necessary, as you point out, on the journey itself in any case.

Cheers again for the help!

 

[John @ home]

many TOCs get a bit snotty about using the exact seat

That is not my experience.

I agree that it is a Condition of an Advance ticket that "Where applicable, you must travel in the Class and reserved seat(s) shown on the ticket(s)". But this Condition does not seem to be well known by the public and I have never observed any attempt to enforce the Condition.

 

[island]

ATW no longer provide a reserved seat to holders of Advance tickets. Reservations for a specific train are still issued, but are marked Coach * Seat ***. Train companies call this a "reserved place".

The disadvantage of this system is that a seat is no longer guaranteed. The advantage is that the passenger is free to sit in any unreserved, unoccupied seat.

That's true if booked online, but buying at the station normally gives a proper reservation.

 

[John @ home]

buying at the station normally gives a proper reservation.

Agreed, but for this ticket type there is a financial penalty for buying at the station.

Arriva Club 55 Website £17 (£16 with a Senior/Disabled Railcard)
Arriva Club 55 Not Friday £19 (£18 with a Senior/Disabled Railcard)
Arriva Club 55 Anyday £24 (£23 with a Senior/Disabled Railcard)

http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/Club55/TicketTypes/