Advance tickets but I got stars rather than seat reservations?

[saj]

So I booked my advance tickets online and have just gone to pick them up from the machine and realized that there are no seat reservations booked for my tickets, there are just seat tickets with stars where the seat numbers should be.... have googled this and I'm led to believe that my tickets are useless without a seat reservation?? Any help would be greatly appreciated .

Traveling from Crewe at 6.00 am .

 

[ainsworth74]

It's fine. Some TOCs reserve you on a specific train but do not give you reserved seats on that train. But the software cannot properly cope with this so on seat reservation coupons it will just give you details of the booked train and star out the 'coach' and 'seat' portion of the coupon as they don't apply.

As long as you have a coupon which states which train you need to travel on and you travel on that train you'll be fine.

 

[saj]

It's fine. Some TOCs reserve you on a specific train but do not give you reserved seats on that train. But the software cannot properly cope with this so on seat reservation coupons it will just give you details of the booked train and star out the 'coach' and 'seat' portion of the coupon as they don't apply.

As long as you have a coupon which states which train you need to travel on and you travel on that train you'll be fine.

Thank you for replying, it's strange because the seat reservation tickets show the actual timeo ff the train but my other tickets just says bookedtrainonly and the date, is that normal ??

 

[Kite159]

Which TOC are you travelling with?

London Midland for example will reserve you a place on the train, but not give you a seat number as they don't do seat reservations.

 

[ainsworth74]

Thank you for replying, it's strange because the seat reservation tickets show the actual timeo ff the train but my other tickets just says bookedtrainonly and the date, is that normal ??

Yeah that's also fine. Currently most advances will print with one coupon which is the ticket (the one that says booked train only) and another which is a seat reservation and tells you which train is booked (if you're changing trains then you may have more than one seat reservation coupon). See an example of a normal advance ticket with one ticket coupon and one seat reservation here, an example of an advance ticket with one ticket coupon and multiple seat reservations here and an example (like you have) of a ticket coupon and a seat reservation coupon with stars rather than seat numbers here.

 

[saj]

Yeah that's also fine. Currently most advances will print with one coupon which is the ticket (the one that says booked train only) and another which is a seat reservation and tells you which train is booked (if you're changing trains then you may have more than one seat reservation coupon). See an example of a normal advance ticket with one ticket coupon and one seat reservation here, an example of an advance ticket with one ticket coupon and multiple seat reservations here and an example (like you have) of a ticket coupon and a seat reservation coupon with stars rather than seat numbers here.

Thank you, you've been very helpful with your information.. feel like I can relax now as I'm quite excited about my first experience of the Caledonian sleeper train and Crewe is my connecting train in the morning, happy traveling

 

[Impey0711]

I've bought an advance single from watford-Manchester on the 08:10 been given a reservation for both legs of the journey but the 1st leg only gives me 6 mins transfer time at Milton keynes for the 08:56 Piccadilly train can I use any train between watford - Milton keynes or have to be that one ?

 

[Chapeltom]

I've bought an advance single from watford-Manchester on the 08:10 been given a reservation for both legs of the journey but the 1st leg only gives me 6 mins transfer time at Milton keynes for the 08:56 Piccadilly train can I use any train between watford - Milton keynes or have to be that one ?

If you have reservations on both trains you should have to use them, although a 6 minute connection at MKC seems plain daft. If you missed the Manchester Picc train due to delays to the first train you would be allowed to catch the next one

 

[Impey0711]

Don't really wanna hang about in mk for an hour tho not the best of locations

 

[Hadders]

5 minutes is the official connection time at Milton Keynes, as it is for most stations across the network.

If the official connection time were made longer then many journeys would become much longer and sometimes impossible.

I do think that the OP should be able to get an earlier train though. Technically he shouldn't which is a consequence of London Midland offering their own Advance fares and therefore issuing reservations.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If you have reservations on both trains you should have to use them, although a 6 minute connection at MKC seems plain daft. If you missed the Manchester Picc train due to delays to the first train you would be allowed to catch the next one

6 minutes at MK will be absolutely fine if things are on time. If not you'll be getting a Delay Repay refund

If it helps, VTs will go off platforms 5 or 6 (both on the same island), the LM is likely to go into 3.
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Don't really wanna hang about in mk for an hour tho not the best of locations

Classic MK prejudice There is nothing wrong with the area around the station, it is safe at all times of day, and there's a Spoons just up the hill if you want a pint.

 

[30907]

The timetable appears to give 10 minutes at MKC?
In this case, it's a Sunday morning which means there is a second Manchester train 10 mins later. It also means that the timetable is based on a two - track railway, meaning the LM train is unlikely to be overtaken by the VT.
If it was an hour wait, and an on time arrival in Manchester was vital, then I'd say go earlier, but in this case it's hardly worth it.

IMO, but slightly OT, the system needs tweaking so that a reservation for an Advance is only generated for services operated by the TOC that sets the fare. Whether this is do - able I don't know. ...