Avanti web-site claiming No Reservations Available, when there are

[Belperpete]

I regularly make journeys that involve one leg on an Avanti WC service, and another leg with one or more other TOCs. I would like to book using the Avanti web-site, in order to clock up Club Avanti points. However, the Avanti web-site tells me that there are no reservations left on the services I want. It doesn't say which service(s) don't have reservations left, but as only the Avanti leg is reservable, it must be one of the Avanti trains. (Note: the Avanti app is even worse than the web-site - it tries to take payment, even going so far as to get authorisation from PayPal, but then says they have been unable to take payment and to try again in 24 hours)

So I go onto the web-site for one of the other TOCs, which quite happily sells me the tickets for the exact same journey, AND provides me with allocated seat reservations for the Avanti services. This is not a one-off, it seems to happen every time I try and book.

Why are Avanti claiming that there are no reservations available on their trains, when patently there are?

 

[Furrball]

I have had the same issue - when I asked Avanti they seemed not to care

 

[Bungle965]

Out of interest what is the journey in question?

 

[Belperpete]

Various journeys from Cambrian stations to south London, such as from Machynlleth to East Croydon.

 

[Bungle965]

Various journeys from Cambrian stations to south London, such as from Machynlleth to East Croydon.

It'll be RARS related then (reservation system) a fix is in the works soon from the supplier.

 

[Howardh]

On a similar thing, if I book Manchester - Brighton on the Avanti website, Standard Plus seating doesn't come up as an option as it does if I book two separate tickets. Something that Avanti should address!

 

[Starmill]

On a similar thing, if I book Manchester - Brighton on the Avanti website, Standard Plus seating doesn't come up as an option as it does if I book two separate tickets. Something that Avanti should address!

Are there any flows that aren't 'Avanti West Coast only' where you can buy Standard Premium inclusive tickets yet?

 

[OscarH]

Various journeys from Cambrian stations to south London, such as from Machynlleth to East Croydon.

Is there by any chance the non-Avanti trains are counted places rather than no reservation? I know of a bug that could cause issues with these multi leg journeys if so, for which the fix was recently released in the centralised reservation system if I remember right, but it would require Avanti to now do work to use the fix (my thoughts on the default behaviour that causes this are best left unsaid I think)

 

[Furrball]

For me it is Glasgow to Burton on Trent (which IIRC is priced by Cross Country)

 

[Haywain]

On a similar thing, if I book Manchester - Brighton on the Avanti website, Standard Plus seating doesn't come up as an option as it does if I book two separate tickets. Something that Avanti should address!

That will be because there are no through Standard Premium fares.

 

[Bungle965]

Is there by any chance the non-Avanti trains are counted places rather than no reservation? I know of a bug that could cause issues with these multi leg journeys if so, for which the fix was recently released in the centralised reservation system if I remember right, but it would require Avanti to now do work to use the fix (my thoughts on the default behaviour that causes this are best left unsaid I think)

Bang on, fix is in the works from PICO backend now Squills have completed their work.

 

[Belperpete]

Is there by any chance the non-Avanti trains are counted places rather than no reservation? I know of a bug that could cause issues with these multi leg journeys if so, for which the fix was recently released in the centralised reservation system if I remember right, but it would require Avanti to now do work to use the fix (my thoughts on the default behaviour that causes this are best left unsaid I think)

How would I find that out?

The itinerary for my most recent trips says "No space on the train has been reserved." against all the non-Avanti legs. Do TfW do counted places on the Cambrian services? And it happens whatever routing I use at the London end, via Southern or LO.

If the bug is in the central reservation system, why have TfW for example been able to sell me the tickets and reservations?

 

[Adam Williams]

If the bug is in the central reservation system, why have TfW for example been able to sell me the tickets and reservations?

It a) depends on how you use the reservation system and b) only affects retailers using the "new" APIs provided for the new reservation system. Most sales are currently going through a compatibility layer using a different interface instead.

Avanti were one of the first to migrate and their booking site has been broken for the longest as a result.

 

[dave87016]

I encountered the same problem , if I use my iPhone I cannot choose my seat it says they are unavailable when the seat picker shows they clearly are available , but if I use my PC and go onto the Avanti website I can swap seats without any problem so I think the app is the problem - I can’t see it being the internet browser but I may be wrong

 

[Belperpete]

For the journeys I make, both the web-site and the app claim that there are no seats available, before they get anywhere near letting me choose or swap what seats I want.

 

[dave87016]

Yesterday I tried booking Advance first from Blackburn to Kenton via Manchester Piccadilly and vice versa when booking on the app via my iPhone I couldn’t switch seats on the Manchester - London leg and vice versa it kept coming up your seats couldn’t be swapped due to more available seats to reserve or something along those lines

So I tried the exact same booking for the exact same trains on my PC and I was able to swap them

So for me as per post earlier in the thread it is either a browser or app fault