BritRail Pass Reservations

[Addington]

I will be using BritRail passes during my visit to the UK this year. If I reserve a seat via www.britrail.com , there is a $19 charge per seat.

Am I able to reserve seats when I arrive in the UK at an attended station? I have tried asking this question via the National Rail website, but only got a cryptic response that didnt answer the question.

Any help would be appreciated.

Add

 

[Pumbaa]

Yes you can. Any staffed ticket office will be able to issue you a seat reservation free of charge for reservable services other than the Caledonian Sleeper, which may have a supplement payable.

 

[Chris Skelton]

I will be using BritRail passes during my visit to the UK this year. If I reserve a seat via www.britrail.com , there is a $19 charge per seat.

Am I able to reserve seats when I arrive in the UK at an attended station? I have tried asking this question via the National Rail website, but only got a cryptic response that didnt answer the question.

Any help would be appreciated.

Add

Yes you can.

However, reservations aren't all that necessary anymore. However, at certain peak times like holidays it would be advisable to make reservations.

That being said. If you wish to make reservations any staffed station can make them for you (as Pumbaa mentioned) free of charge. Save yourself the $19 charge.

Regards

Chris

 

[flymo]

Why on earth would it be $19 per seat?? is this Aussie Dollars?? (actually as it is almost parity then it could well be USD) if it is then that's £12 per seat!!!! that seems like a huge amount. I just tried to reserve a seat on Britrail from Hong Kong and it wanted to charge me €4 (about £3.30).

Crikey....I thought that was bad til I saw yours......hock:

 

[Chris Skelton]

Why on earth would it be $19 per seat?? is this Aussie Dollars?? (actually as it is almost parity then it could well be USD) if it is then that's £12 per seat!!!! that seems like a huge amount. I just tried to reserve a seat on Britrail from Hong Kong and it wanted to charge me €4 (about £3.30).

Crikey....I thought that was bad til I saw yours......hock:

It is steep.

But reservations aren't all the necessary anymore anyway. I would advise anyone not to even bother.

 

[cuccir]

It is steep.

But reservations aren't all the necessary anymore anyway. I would advise anyone not to even bother.

I disagree here - if you're doing a long trip and you can easily get to a train station a few days in advance, then I'd recommend it. I'm presuming that if the OP is rail-passing they might also have a fair bit of luggage. I wouldn't, for example, particularly want to walk onto a Sunday afternoon or week-day early evening London > Edinburgh service with heavy bags and no reservation.

But yes, wait till you come to the UK and you certainly won't have to pay $19 for the reservation!

Be aware that not all train companies allow for reservations on their services, and that if you do make a reservation with a Britpass then you're still not obliged to use that train if you don't fancy it.

 

[gordonthemoron]

it's a pity that UK TOCs don't allow booking reservations online (for a fee). DB charge €2,50 for a reservation booked with a ticket or €4,50 for reservation without a ticket (€1 extra for first class)

 

[TEW]

I've obtained seat reservations by emailing a TOC before. Free of charge, I didn't get a reservation coupon but I just took a print out of the email.

 

[Chris Skelton]

I disagree here - if you're doing a long trip and you can easily get to a train station a few days in advance, then I'd recommend it. I'm presuming that if the OP is rail-passing they might also have a fair bit of luggage. I wouldn't, for example, particularly want to walk onto a Sunday afternoon or week-day early evening London > Edinburgh service with heavy bags and no reservation.

But yes, wait till you come to the UK and you certainly won't have to pay $19 for the reservation!

Be aware that not all train companies allow for reservations on their services, and that if you do make a reservation with a Britpass then you're still not obliged to use that train if you don't fancy it.

You have a point. For long distances I can see. Its just been my experience that i've never needed one.

But by all means. If one feels comfortable making a reservation, then go ahead. But if the journeys are relatively short, I wouldn't bother.

And I do agree that waiting untill you get to the UK to make them is much cheaper.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I've obtained seat reservations by emailing a TOC before. Free of charge, I didn't get a reservation coupon but I just took a print out of the email.

On many routes this is the case.

 

[At_traction]

it's a pity that UK TOCs don't allow booking reservations online (for a fee). DB charge €2,50 for a reservation booked with a ticket or €4,50 for reservation without a ticket (€1 extra for first class)

But at least the British TOCs don't have compulsory reservations for their high-speed services like the SNCF has. Which means buying the TGV/Teoz ticket (including seat reservation) online prior to the start of the trip - and as the cheap fares get snatched soon after the 90-day pre-booking starts, that leads easily to huge fees (domestic flying would be cheaper). Or, if one is using a railcard like Interrail, the compulsory reservation can be done only in France (and some other continental major stations?), by which time there is likely to be no seats left for peak HS services.

And as the Italian railways (of all people beating the French ) also allow on-line seat reservation, it seems I'll be ditching my French rail holiday for a German-Swiss-Italian one. Why put one's head into a noose with a potential disaster due to missed connections that require compulsory reservations when there are countries that allow reservations to be done online... Au revoir.

OK, this went a "bit" to the overseas railways category, but the soap box is now hacked to shreds anyway...

 

[Railjet]

Or, if one is using a railcard like Interrail, the compulsory reservation can be done only in France (and some other continental major stations?), by which time there is likely to be no seats left for peak HS services.

I agree with you that it's a pain not being able to reserve on-line for French trains. Spain is similar. But I've not had a problem in getting reservations (at no mark-up) for trains in France and Spain from rail-appointed travel agents in other countries on the continent.

 

[At_traction]

I agree with you that it's a pain not being able to reserve on-line for French trains. Spain is similar. But I've not had a problem in getting reservations (at no mark-up) for trains in France and Spain from rail-appointed travel agents in other countries on the continent.

Of course that has to involve the buying of the appropriate rail tickets at the same time, I'd assume, or some sort of extra on top of seat reservations only for "administrational fees". Would they make the reservations and post them physically or would the seat reservations then have to be collected from a ticket office or a machine in France?

I guess that approach would be most suitable for relatively few, clear-cut point-to-point travels in these countries, rather than the intricate maze of changes and short hops that the planned routings seem to consist of, some TGV, some not. That would lead to such an amount of "phone-work" and hoping that a train that seems to have seats (=tickets in general, I guess there's no overbooking on seat reservations) available on the SNCF site shows the same on their system...

 

[Railjet]

Of course that has to involve the buying of the appropriate rail tickets at the same time, I'd assume, or some sort of extra on top of seat reservations only for "administrational fees". Would they make the reservations and post them physically or would the seat reservations then have to be collected from a ticket office or a machine in France?

No - these are reservations in connection with an Inter-Rail pass. The TGV ones cost €4 if I remember rightly, bought and collected from a travel agency. Much easier to find a travel agency on the continent that issues international tickets and reservations, than it is in the UK, of course.

 

[At_traction]

No - these are reservations in connection with an Inter-Rail pass. The TGV ones cost €4 if I remember rightly, bought and collected from a travel agency.

So, I guess that a RER trip to downtown Paris would then be on order, rather than a hop directly to a TGV at the airport...

Hmm, seems like an Axis of Berlin to Rome is likely. And those Swiss alps...

 

[Railjet]

So, I guess that a RER trip to downtown Paris would then be on order, rather than a hop directly to a TGV at the airport...

Hmm, seems like an Axis of Berlin to Rome is likely. And those Swiss alps...

For you, as (I presume) a UK resident, maybe; not for me.

Is it now so difficult to buy European train reservations in the UK? I vaguely remember seeing that DB's booking centre in the UK will also issue reservations for other countries, but maybe I'm wrong.