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Changing a seat reservation on an advanced fare (not open / saver)

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itfcfan

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I have an Advanced First ticket between Euston and Oxenholme Lake District due for travel in a couple of weeks time. It's for two people and we're currently booked into a bank of four seats. I'd like to change this to a bank of two (providing some are available) but I've just been told by a member of staff at the Ealing Broadway ticket office that advance tickets cannot have their reservations changed (even if they're on the same service). Is this true? I intend to try again at Paddington, but I'd like to know if that's official policy or a misunderstanding.

Thanks in advance for any help.

John
 
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Merseysider

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The reservations can be changed but incur a £10 admin fee per ticket, as it is classed as an alteration of the ticket. If the service isn't too busy, just find another two unreserved seats elsewhere. First class in VTWC is nearly never full and the "exact seat" requirement of AP tickets is nearly never enforced anyway.
 
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I phoned Virgin and they changed mine without a charge. I had to pick up new tickets from the machine.
 
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At Euston, board the train at the earliest opportunity. Then look for unreserved seats which look better than the ones you have been offered.

With the exception of the East Coast services, I seldom take my reserved seat. If East Coast trains offer seat selection, then so can other train operators.
 

fandroid

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At Euston, board the train at the earliest opportunity. Then look for unreserved seats which look better than the ones you have been offered.

With the exception of the East Coast services, I seldom take my reserved seat. If East Coast trains offer seat selection, then so can other train operators.

So you are the one responsible for all those unoccupied reserved seats that are the curse of the walk-up passengers!
 

yorkie

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I couldn't try at an FGW ticket office.

Euston would be more likely to do it, as well as the telesales options mentions earlier.

Some people think that changing a seat is a change of travel plans. Some people think it isn't. We will never get consensus and I doubt the rail industry will take a unified approach in our favour. So you have to, as is often the case, 'shop around'
 

greatkingrat

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The rules in the Advance Fares FAQ are clear that it is a change of travel plans (although TOCs are free to waive the charge if they wish).

Q12 - A passenger has an Advance ticket but would like to change their seat allocation. Are they able to do this at the station in advance?
A: Yes, but this counts as a change as it takes retail time and therefore incurs a £10 fee per single ticket (some TOCs e.g. Virgin Trains may choose to waive this and will inform you). Seat preferences should be detailed when making the booking, not later. The ‘Conditions’ above shows that the ticket is only valid in the seat shown and this is the strict message to get across. However, tell the passenger that on-train staff may allow them to move if space allows.
 

Bletchleyite

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So you are the one responsible for all those unoccupied reserved seats that are the curse of the walk-up passengers!

I don't find them a curse. I find them a good chance of a seat on a busy train! Occupy one, if the owner turns up move immediately and with good grace - there is very likely to be another one.

But even so if the TOCs would get their act together and offer seat selection it would reduce.
 

andrewkeith5

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So you are the one responsible for all those unoccupied reserved seats that are the curse of the walk-up passengers!

No, the utterly useless seat reservation system used by all TOCs except VTEC is responsible for that. Never in history have I ever been given a seat that meets the preferences I set when booking, yet I have almost every time been able to find a seat which I could have reserved (had I been able to) with no reservation, where I subsequently sit.

My view on matters is that Advance tickets shouldn't be allowed seat reservations, but that's by the by. The point is, the seat reservation system is comprehensively unfit for the purpose it claims to have (it clearly never takes into account the given preferences), and really could be far better with relatively little effort, as shown by EC.
 
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fandroid

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I don't find them a curse. I find them a good chance of a seat on a busy train! Occupy one, if the owner turns up move immediately and with good grace - there is very likely to be another one.

But even so if the TOCs would get their act together and offer seat selection it would reduce.

Except that the person who vacated that seat has gone and taken a perfectly good unreserved seat that someone else could have occupied without the hassle of worrying about an apparent reservation on the empty seat in front of them. I've got used to dumping myself in these empty reserved seats, but there are plenty of folk out there who have forked out full fare and are seriously discomforted by the idea of camping in 'someone elses' seat.

It's a real downside to electronic reservation systems. I was on a Virgin East Coast train yesterday and there was an american family near me. The youngest member was a bit distant from his parents, but there was an empty seat nearer to them. The Scots girl opposite told him to move, but to take the paper reservation ticket out of the seat he had been in. That liberated that seat and it was occupied without hassle at the next station.
 

andrewkeith5

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Except that the person who vacated that seat has gone and taken a perfectly good unreserved seat that someone else could have occupied without the hassle of worrying about an apparent reservation on the empty seat in front of them. I've got used to dumping myself in these empty reserved seats, but there are plenty of folk out there who have forked out full fare and are seriously discomforted by the idea of camping in 'someone elses' seat.



It's a real downside to electronic reservation systems. I was on a Virgin East Coast train yesterday and there was an american family near me. The youngest member was a bit distant from his parents, but there was an empty seat nearer to them. The Scots girl opposite told him to move, but to take the paper reservation ticket out of the seat he had been in. That liberated that seat and it was occupied without hassle at the next station.


Of course, the moment the seat the reservation is for leaves the station where that reservation starts without the person who reserved it, the reservation is invalid anyway and the seat returns to being fair game.

In an ideal world we would have an electronic system where you had to check in to your reservation when occupying the seat or it became available upon departure.
 

IanD

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Of course, the moment the seat the reservation is for leaves the station where that reservation starts without the person who reserved it, the reservation is invalid anyway and the seat returns to being fair game.

Not often I get to do this twice in one day but here goes:

I feel I should repeat my stance that it is not at all obvious that such a reservation is "invalid" and such a seat is "fair game"! The intended occupier may have done any or all of these: gone for pee; gone to the buffet car; stepped out to the vestibule to make a phone call so as not to annoy other passengers; boarded at the wrong end of the train and is trying valiantly to make their way to said seat (on a severely crowded train that my take a while, perhaps more than one stop). My opinion is that if I have reserved a seat, I have reserved it for the entire portion of the journey from Station A to Station B, not from Station A to 1 yard beyond Station A. As the printed reservation labels display both start and end station and the electronic displays continue to show "Reserved" from Station A all the way to Station B, then it would appear that the TOCs back up that opinion.
 
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Hellfire

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Not often I get to do this twice in one day but here goes:

I feel I should repeat my stance that it is not at all obvious that such a reservation is "invalid" and such a seat is "fair game"! The intended occupier may have done any or all of these: gone for pee; gone to the buffet car; stepped out to the vestibule to make a phone call so as not to annoy other passengers; boarded at the wrong end of the train and is trying valiantly to make their way to said seat (on a severely crowded train that my take a while, perhaps more than one stop). My opinion is that if I have reserved a seat, I have reserved it for the entire portion of the journey from Station A to Station B, not from Station A to 1 yard beyond Station A. As the printed reservation labels display both start and end station and the electronic displays continue to show "Reserved" from Station A all the way to Station B, then it would appear that the TOCs back up that opinion.


I don't think anyone is seriously suggesting that they should leap into a reserved seat immediately the brakes are released on the train. But, if within 15 or 20 minutes of departure the seat is still free I would occupy it. If the passenger with the reservation returned after that time then I would, of course, surrender it.

I travel on many trains where it is obvious that people have reserved a seat but, for whatever reason, are not on that particular service or, have chosen to sit elsewhere. surely that doesn't mean those reserved seats remain a no-go area for everyone else.
 
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