DaveB10780
Member
- Joined
- 10 Sep 2015
- Messages
- 210
How on earth can we have a train system where cross country say they are sold out nearly 2 weeks before travel on an off peak journey. Not sure how this is supposed to be managed but it is bonkers.
Or you could sit in an unreserved seat/coach.The only catch is that you will have to move between several different reserved seats during the journey.
According to NRE, tickets are available, though only in First on some services.It is possible that reservations have not opened yet; last September I had a similar issue and was only latterly able to book 3 days prior to travel.
Do they ever stop you travelling completely?Or you could sit in an unreserved seat/coach.
Thanks very much for that idea. Do you know whether you can do this via Cross Country by speaking to them directly?Try TrainSplit. The problem is Cross Country only booking up to their maximum socially distanced capacity and there are no seats left available for the full journey. TrainSplit will find a combination of seats that are available for different sections of the journey on the same train. I have just tried and found availability on the 1112 and 1212 from New Street.
The only catch is that you will have to move between several different reserved seats during the journey.
Some mandatory reservation TOCs don’t reserve this way any more and don’t have specific seats barred .If a family of 4 wish to travel together, the system with many operators appears to just book 4 bays of 4 (or 4 pairs or a combination) as this is all it can do. It means that on the day the family sit together at one bay of 4 and there are 3 bays of 4 (or 3 pairs) left unoccupied but no tickets available for purchase for that train. This can result in a train with lots of free seats and passengers turned away. Some operators are dealing with this better than others by allowing extra people on to fill these seats etc but others are just letting people crush load the unreserved carriage or be turned away. There isn't really an incentive to fix this.
On social media earlier today, a passenger booked 6 or 8 seats for a journey in 3 weeks time with another operator who have compulsory seat reservations (or at least the trains are in the system that way). The were promptly offered 6 bays of 4 and 2 pairs (or 4 and 2) taking up half a carriage. These people could have occupied 2 parallel bays but the system doesn't seem to allow for that. No more seats on that train now in standard class. If you want a ticket you'll have to buy first class(i checked out of curiosity).
Agreed. We're getting seats together for groups of people on many TOCs now.Some mandatory reservation TOCs don’t reserve this way any more and don’t have specific seats barred .
It won’t , numbers are growing faster than projected. It’s only a small minority who wouldn’t rather know in advance that they have a seat.I wonder when the various railway management teams will realise that measures like these encourage permanent loss of business to the motor car.
Ah yes, it's only a small minority who like being able to travel vaguely around the time they want. Most people are happy to travel 5 hours later, or tomorrow, or next week, if that's the next train that has availability.It won’t , numbers are growing faster than projected. It’s only a small minority who wouldn’t rather know in advance that they have a seat.
This has only happened a handful of times, mostly at tourist hotspots like Bournemouth and Bristol on sunny days. It's exceptionally unlikely to happen on any of the Turbostar routes. It just goes to show how barmy it is to have a 'reservations compulsory' policy (either in the data, or in practice), given that it simply pushes people over to other routes and services where you can't make reservations (but which could be just as busy, if not more).There have been a couple of isolated cases in the past where people were refused boarding because they had no reservation (although a valid ticket). I didn't fancy a potential confrontation so I just went via Coventry instead.
I don’t like travelling using Advance tickets because I don’t like the inflexibility of being tied to a booked train. Having to book flexible tickets such as Off Peak Returns well in advance to make sure that you have a reservation to travel on a booked train appears to be no better.It won’t , numbers are growing faster than projected. It’s only a small minority who wouldn’t rather know in advance that they have a seat.
This has only happened a handful of times, mostly at tourist hotspots like Bournemouth and Bristol on sunny days. It's exceptionally unlikely to happen on any of the Turbostar routes. It just goes to show how barmy it is to have a 'reservations compulsory' policy (either in the data, or in practice), given that it simply pushes people over to other routes and services where you can't make reservations (but which could be just as busy, if not more).
I'd just buy a ticket on the day and get on the train, doubt anyone will prevent this, just as you would on a shorter (or longer) distance trip with an operator that did not offer reservations. Of course no prospect of advance purchase discounted tickets (but then with reduced capacity designed in for social distancing maybe there would not have been any anyway).How on earth can we have a train system where cross country say they are sold out nearly 2 weeks before travel on an off peak journey. Not sure how this is supposed to be managed but it is bonkers.
But you booked your hotel weeks in advance?I don’t like travelling using Advance tickets because I don’t like the inflexibility of being tied to a booked train. Having to book flexible tickets such as Off Peak Returns well in advance to make sure that you have a reservation to travel on a booked train appears to be no better.
I have to care for elderly relatives which means that these days I book cancellable hotel rates for my holidays and accept that I have to pay a higher price. It’s the same with my rail tickets. I buy them on the day of travel or the day before if I want to reserve a seat. I have a week in a hotel in Penzance booked at a flexible rate for later this year. I do not want to have to book my rail tickets weeks in advance to be sure of being able to travel on the day and time required.
At cancellable rates.But you booked your hotel weeks in advance?
But you booked your hotel weeks in advance?
He would like to book flexible (cancellable) train tickets though...At cancellable rates.
Hotels will give you a full refund however if buy flexible train tickets in advance, you will (probably) have to pay a £10 fee to refund them.
I’m sure that it wasn’t that confusing what I posted!He would like to book flexible (cancellable) train tickets though...
On LNER you can reserve a seat up to 5 minutes before the train departs.I don’t want to book any train tickets in advance but just buy them from the ticket office or ticket machine on the day of travel as I have always done. The furthest in advance I may want to buy my train tickets could be the day before to be sure that I have a reserved seat.
It's no use being able to reserve seats 5 minutes beforehand if there aren't any left for the rest of the day. Which has happened on multiple occasions in the last couple of weeks and months.On LNER you can reserve a seat up to 5 minutes before the train departs.
Probably correct but LNER are not going to be of much use travelling from Nottingham to Penzance. I know that it is possible to travel via London but I’m wanting to travel on XC and the trains I intend to use are from Derby to Penzance are usually HSTs.On LNER you can reserve a seat up to 5 minutes before the train departs.
So you can reserve 10mins before travel on XC...Probably correct but LNER are not going to be of much use travelling from Nottingham to Penzance. I know that it is possible to travel via London but I’m wanting to travel on XC and the trains I intend to use are from Derby to Penzance are usually HSTs.
But that would then result in revenue abstraction.It's about time the admin fee was dropped. It doesn't represent any real-world human admin, just electronic transactions, and removing it would solve a load of issues. While things that do require real-world human admin like excesses don't attract the fee.