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LNER HST Unreserved Seats - latest situation?

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AlJohnstone

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11 Apr 2019
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My Son-in-Law has just booked KGX to EDB 12 midday this Friday 16 Aug HST (Highland Chieftain to INV). LNER site would not allow any seat reservation, presumeably because the train will be rammed (Edinburgh Festival, English Holidays, etc). Latest HST-seating-map-updated april-2019.pdf shows seats in the southern end nos 1 to 45 (minus priority) of Coach G as Non-Reservable, together with a smattering among the other Coaches. Does anyone know if, in reality, upon boarding, will that block of seats all be displaying Unreserved? I've told him about the Seat Sensor App, but this is no use until the journey is underway, I think?
 
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CJSwan

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23 Aug 2017
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I traveled in June on the 09:52 Aberdeen to Kings Cross service as far as Edinburgh, and yes, the southern end of coach G (nearest the buffet) was unreserved. My advice would be to try and get in that coach as soon as possible.
 

wezmerc

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29 May 2015
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9
If this Friday is anything like last (which I imagine it will be) I'd recommend avoiding that service if at all possible. LNER had to deploy crowd control measures to allow those with reservations access first for Edinburgh bound trains from around lunchtime. I'd suggest services pre 10am or later in the afternoon for a more comfortable journey with better chance of a seat.
 

Lemmy99uk

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5 May 2015
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Without a seat reservation, your son-in-law has simply booked a ticket to Edinburgh, not tied to a specific train.

The priority on the Chieftan will be given to those with seat reservations and those going beyond EDB.

I think it would be sensible to look at alternative services without a reservation.
 

ejstubbs

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19 May 2016
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Unless they've changed the system since the last time I did it, if you take your ticket to a station booking office you can get a reservation on an alternative train of your choice FoC - assuming reservations are available.
 

blackfive460

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23 Jun 2010
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Best thing to do is find your platform before the train is announced.

And the best way to do that is to use Open Train Times maps.
This is the one for Kings Cross https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/ecm1.
The train in question is 1W96 and should be shown on the map long before Kings Cross gets round to indicating which platform it's on. It's booked to depart from Platform 8 but may not actually use the booked platform.
 

mikey9

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19 Aug 2013
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Last Friday the Chieftain was fine (I and fam. of 4 were on it to Inverness)- was fairly full from London departure at 12 noon - and the usual variation of business (considering English school holidays) all the way up.

And Platform 1 last week.....although who knows?
 

43096

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And the best way to do that is to use Open Train Times maps.
This is the one for Kings Cross https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/ecm1.
The train in question is 1W96 and should be shown on the map long before Kings Cross gets round to indicating which platform it's on. It's booked to depart from Platform 8 but may not actually use the booked platform.
There are also staff information screens around the station that show train headcodes against platforms. They are visible (and useful) to punters if they know what they’re looking at.
 
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