Do reservation systems identify priority seats?

[TUC]

Not for the first time I have found when boarding the train that my reservation this morning is for a priority seat. I've no desire to occupy it if someone in need of a priority seat requires it. However, there may not be any other seats free at that stage. On the other hand, I think it is unlikely that no other seats were available for reservations when I booked my ticket last week.

Do reservation systems identify which are priority seats and leave them for passengers who request them and/or as a last resort when no other seats are available, or are they just left for allocation in the same way as any other seat?

 

[Wallsendmag]

Some trains were supplied with priority seats which over time have been changed to normal seats in the reservation system. For some reason the actual seats are still marked as priority seats. To book an actual priority seat the TIS making the reservation needs special permissions in it's RARS credentials.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Do reservation systems identify which are priority seats and leave them for passengers who request them and/or as a last resort when no other seats are available, or are they just left for allocation in the same way as any other seat?

Is it possible that holders of a Senior or Disabled Railcard will be directed to priority seats?

 

[Adam Williams]

Do reservation systems identify which are priority seats

Not in a way that retailers can easily get at.

Priority seat (PSEA) isn't an attribute that is actually routinely applied to seats in my experience. On some TOCs, these seats may be given a unique inventory class, but this isn't exposed to retailers via the interface almost all of them use to book seats.

leave them for passengers who request them and/or as a last resort when no other seats are available, or are they just left for allocation in the same way as any other seat?

Unless the TOC has gone to the trouble of doing what @Wallsendmag refers to (which is equally bad IMO, and leads to a poor user experience for customers who do want to book a priority seat), I suspect they're allocated in exactly the same way as all other seats.

 

[Haywain]

what @Wallsendmag refers to (which is equally bad IMO, and leads to a poor user experience for customers who do want to book a priority seat),

I think what my former colleague is saying is that on some newer trains seats that were initially designated as priority seats have now had that designation removed, because other priority seats also exist. Typically, I believe this is the case where priority seats have been designated in the middle of a coach as well as at the ends. Priority seats that remain are bookable through assisted travel channels, and end of coach seats are preferred as that makes access for assisting staff much easier.

 

[Adam Williams]

Priority seats that remain are bookable through assisted travel channels, and end of coach seats are preferred as that makes access for assisting staff much easier.

Understood, however I still think this isn't ideal simply due to how much extra faff Passenger Assist currently requires passengers requesting assistance to go to. My understanding is that there is finally some work likely to happen in this space to actually provide APIs to retailers, but my concerns mostly boil down to:

• We don't make able/mobile passengers go through a painful process of re-entering all of their journey details if they need a seat reservation meeting their needs.
• We don't require able/mobile passengers to phone up or write to the TOC/central passenger assistance to get a seat reservation meeting their needs in the case where the online Passenger Assist website/app is unable to come up with the same itinerary that the customer has been sold (which happens more than you might think).

 

[OscarH]

I think what my former colleague is saying is that on some newer trains seats that were initially designated as priority seats have now had that designation removed

I think I remember when this was changed, caused a bundle on fun with the reservation system reporting phantom availability for a few weeks!

 

[TUC]

Is it possible that holders of a Senior or Disabled Railcard will be directed to priority seats?

Very odd assumption if all Senior railcard holders are directed towards priority seats. Just because you are 60 is no indication of being in need of one.