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LNER compulsory reservations - what happens if you don’t have one?

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nedchester

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Sorry if this has been asked before.

Imagine you have a flexible ticket (Anytime, Off-Peak, Rover) and you board an LNER service without a reservation. What exactly can the TM do?

You have a valid ticket for the journey, you might even have a seat so the reality is that you are not “without a ticket”.

Has anyone been thrown off LNER services (or other services with compulsory reservations for that matter) for not having a reservations? It seems there’s little that can be done to prevent you from boarding, but what about once on board?
 
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Watershed

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Sorry if this has been asked before.

Imagine you have a flexible ticket (Anytime, Off-Peak, Rover) and you board an LNER service without a reservation. What exactly can the TM do?

You have a valid ticket for the journey, you might even have a seat so the reality is that you are not “without a ticket”.

Has anyone been thrown off LNER services (or other services with compulsory reservations for that matter) for not having a reservations? It seems there’s little that can be done to prevent you from boarding, but what about once on board?
Well you could, in theory, be forced to leave the train. You wouldn't be entitled to any Delay Repay if that happened.

In practice it's more likely you'd just be directed to coach C, which has unreserved seats, and be told to get a reservation from the next stop.

It's really more the boarding controls that you need to be concerned with - LNER have stated that this weekend many services are fully reserved and they will be checking reservations at certain stations (I imagine primarily Kings Cross and Edinburgh).
 

Wallsendmag

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Well you could, in theory, be forced to leave the train. You wouldn't be entitled to any Delay Repay if that happened.

In practice it's more likely you'd just be directed to coach C, which has unreserved seats, and be told to get a reservation from the next stop.

It's really more the boarding controls that you need to be concerned with - LNER have stated that this weekend many services are fully reserved and they will be checking reservations at certain stations (I imagine primarily Kings Cross and Edinburgh).
Newcastle had boarding controls on Thursday.
 

route101

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The notices on the train say alight at the next station if there is seats and make reservation for next service. Likely you will be asked to sit in coach C.
 

nedchester

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There's always a way around anything for the dishonest.

But is it dishonest? You have a valid ticket to go to York so no real dishonesty there in my opinion. Quite happy to do it myself.

The reality seems to be that nothing will happen and the TM is unlikely to enforce a removal from the train.
 

AlterEgo

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But is it dishonest? You have a valid ticket to go to York so no real dishonesty there in my opinion. Quite happy to do it myself.
You surely don’t need to ask whether telling a lie to someone to avail yourself of something you’re not entitled to is dishonest.

If you’ve not got a reservation you’re not entitled to board, simple.
 

mmh

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The notices on the train say alight at the next station if there is seats and make reservation for next service. Likely you will be asked to sit in coach C.

Really? Alight if there are seats to get the next train which may not (of course it will) have seats? That's bonkers!
 

DB

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But is it dishonest? You have a valid ticket to go to York so no real dishonesty there in my opinion. Quite happy to do it myself.

The reality seems to be that nothing will happen and the TM is unlikely to enforce a removal from the train.

If you had a ticket which was valid to both the destination you'd given to get onto the platform, and one of the stations the LNER train was going (for example, a rover ticket), it could also be that you'd just changed your mind. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been wandering round on a rover ticket and decided at the last minute to change plans.

LNER do seem to be going out of their way to drive passengers away. I avoid using them (and XC) because of the potential hassle, and so far I've not needed to go anywhere where one of those two is the only option. Northern, Transpennine and EMR seem fine and pretty much back to normal - apart from the irritating annoucements, they are largely treating people like adults and letting them decide whether they want to get on a busy train and where to sit.
 

nedchester

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If you had a ticket which was valid to both the destination you'd given to get onto the platform, and one of the stations the LNER train was going (for example, a rover ticket), it could also be that you'd just changed your mind. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been wandering round on a rover ticket and decided at the last minute to change plans.

LNER do seem to be going out of their way to drive passengers away. I avoid using them (and XC) because of the potential hassle, and so far I've not needed to go anywhere where one of those two is the only option. Northern, Transpennine and EMR seem fine and pretty much back to normal - apart from the irritating annoucements, they are largely treating people like adults and letting them decide whether they want to get on a busy train and where to sit.

Exactly. Maybe an 800 that I need for haulage has just come in so I board! ;)

Not exactly a crime either.

It’s one way of getting round the authoritarianism of some train companies I suppose.

Maybe they went to Hexham via York :D
Ah yes. North East Rover valid Newcastle to York to Leeds to Carlisle to Hexham!

Nice one!
 

317 forever

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When I used LNER on June 11th, the seats opposite the aisle from mine were occupied by another couple. I therefore moved a little way down to an unreserved table. Although a train manager did walk through the train, he neither checked tickets nor asked me why I was sitting there.
 

yorkie

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Most Guards are not going to bother people for sitting in the wrong seat, in fact I've not witnessed it personally ever.

Back when the policy was new, I did witness an RPI giving some grief to LNER staff travelling from York to London in the unreserved coach, partly because their travel passes were out of date but also for not having a reservation. I didn't get questioned about not sitting in my assigned seat (the reason I wasn't is because someone was sat in my seat and I thought it better to go to Coach C than try to ask them to move).
 

davews

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How do they handle somebody who hasn't a mobile phone so cannot reserve a seat themselves in coach C? Is the train manager able to make a reservation for them? Or if you don't have a smartphone you shouldn't have got on it in the first place?
 

Haywain

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How do they handle somebody who hasn't a mobile phone so cannot reserve a seat themselves in coach C? Is the train manager able to make a reservation for them? Or if you don't have a smartphone you shouldn't have got on it in the first place?
Reservations are available at ticket offices and on the web, and can be made by staff.
 

route101

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When I used LNER on June 11th, the seats opposite the aisle from mine were occupied by another couple. I therefore moved a little way down to an unreserved table. Although a train manager did walk through the train, he neither checked tickets nor asked me why I was sitting there.
Was the seat reservation displays working? As it was Russian roulette to move seats when they were switched off.
 

Andy Pacer

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Was the seat reservation displays working? As it was Russian roulette to move seats when they were switched off.
I was under the impression that the reservation displays didnt need to be working, because everyone should have a reserved seat.
 

alistairlees

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Virtually every LNER train to / from kings cross on Thursday, Friday and Sunday is sold out / fully reserved. At less than 50% of capacity of course. People are just going to drive.
 

mangyiscute

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If you had a ticket which was valid to both the destination you'd given to get onto the platform, and one of the stations the LNER train was going (for example, a rover ticket), it could also be that you'd just changed your mind. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been wandering round on a rover ticket and decided at the last minute to change plans.

LNER do seem to be going out of their way to drive passengers away. I avoid using them (and XC) because of the potential hassle, and so far I've not needed to go anywhere where one of those two is the only option. Northern, Transpennine and EMR seem fine and pretty much back to normal - apart from the irritating annoucements, they are largely treating people like adults and letting them decide whether they want to get on a busy train and where to sit.
I would say that on Cross Country there's even less done to implement sitting in your seat that is reserved and I think that when they run trains as 8 or 9 coaches (which is a lot of the mainline services at the moment) with two trains joined together I don't think there are any reserved seats in the second train as before the journey they can't guarantee that there will be two trains. Also they do have a few seats per carriage which are unreserved, so I'd think you would have to be very unlucky to try and get a cross country train with no reservation and not be able to get on.
 

APT618S

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I would say that on Cross Country there's even less done to implement sitting in your seat that is reserved and I think that when they run trains as 8 or 9 coaches (which is a lot of the mainline services at the moment) with two trains joined together I don't think there are any reserved seats in the second train as before the journey they can't guarantee that there will be two trains. Also they do have a few seats per carriage which are unreserved, so I'd think you would have to be very unlucky to try and get a cross country train with no reservation and not be able to get on.
I have had a reservation in coach J this month on a 2x4 car Voyager which suggests reservations in the second train as the first train starts at coach A. It was a 10min reservation made after the train had commenced its journey.
However I agree with you that you would have to be very unluckly not to be able to board without a reservation.
 

STINT47

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If LNER are turning people away with rovers and other walk up tickets perhaps they should also stop accepting their shatd of the revenue when a rover is sold?

If they won't let people on and they end up using TPE or XC instead why should they get their share of the money? The saving could even be passed onto the passenger to reflect the reduced flexibility of the ticket.
 

AlterEgo

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If LNER are turning people away with rovers and other walk up tickets perhaps they should also stop accepting their shatd of the revenue when a rover is sold?

If they won't let people on and they end up using TPE or XC instead why should they get their share of the money? The saving could even be passed onto the passenger to reflect the reduced flexibility of the ticket.
They’re not turning people away and discriminating against people with those tickets, they are just saying - like all ticket holders - that you need a reservation. Even on LNER ONLY ones.
 
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