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Changing seats on advance ticket

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NLondonlurker

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Hi, just after bit of advice. I bought an advance ticket online on Avanti West Coast from North Wales to London - 30th December, for 2 adults, 2 kids - and its given us seats all completely separated. Whilst it may just be the train is completely packed, if there are some more suitable options for family of 4 (with young kids who cannot travel on their own) are the ticket office staff likely to be able to accommodate change of seats? Still looking to travel on same train if possible - just want some seats that are closer together.
 
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WesternLancer

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Hi, just after bit of advice. I bought an advance ticket online on Avanti West Coast from North Wales to London - 30th December, for 2 adults, 2 kids - and its given us seats all completely separated. Whilst it may just be the train is completely packed, if there are some more suitable options for family of 4 (with young kids who cannot travel on their own) are the ticket office staff likely to be able to accommodate change of seats? Still looking to travel on same train if possible - just want some seats that are closer together.
don't want to sound daft but have you checked they are all seperate places against a proper seating plan? I only ask as some train numbering systems sound like they are not together but might well be.

Their seating plans are here - if you are on one of their through services from North Wales I think it would be a Super Voyager train plan you need.

https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/~...s-rolling-stock-information-digital-a4-fa.pdf
 

island

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You can pop to any staffed ticket office before the day of travel who can have a look at what's available and rebook your seats if feasible.

They are entitled to charge a £10 admin fee.

If you want to possibly save the trip to the station can you tell us which service you are on and we can probably check if there is anything suitable to move into.
 

221129

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Not sure about that. If you hold tickets already, you can usually reserve seats for free, as you are not changing the journey, for which there certainly is a fee.
If they are changing reservations on advance tickets this is counted as a change of journey and attracts up to a £10 fee per ticket.
 

WesternLancer

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If they are changing reservations on advance tickets this is counted as a change of journey and attracts up to a £10 fee per ticket.
Yes, the whole point about Advance tickets is that they are a less desirable, less flexible fare in return for a cheaper price (this includes an incentive not to take up more staff time by wanting to alter your seats etc), but it's daft if the seats really are dotted about if booked in one booking! I suspect a customer focused ticket office staff member might just issue new reservations given that travel with young children is involved.

Do Avanti enforce a ' you must sit in your reserved seat' policy for Advance ticket holders? Some TOCs do not seem to bother - in which case given the OP is getting on nearer journey origin point I'd head for the unreserved carriage (C?) and see if any free groups of seats available, if TOC won't do a free swap.
 

yorkie

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If you've not already seen it, see this thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/why-has-avanti-west-coast-got-rid-of-the-seat-selector.196410/

Hi, just after bit of advice. I bought an advance ticket online on Avanti West Coast from North Wales to London - 30th December, for 2 adults, 2 kids - and its given us seats all completely separated. Whilst it may just be the train is completely packed, if there are some more suitable options for family of 4 (with young kids who cannot travel on their own) are the ticket office staff likely to be able to accommodate change of seats? Still looking to travel on same train if possible - just want some seats that are closer together.
This is a common problem with the Avanti website e.g.
https://twitter.com/KJensenClark/status/1207108994877263872
Actually, yesterday I used the new app and chose my preferences of: table, forward, window, power; and was assigned this seat: no table, backwards, aisle, no power, and stuck in quiet coach. Complete opposite to every single choice and total fail.
Avanti even tried to justify this as normal:
https://twitter.com/AvantiWestCoast/status/1208045137412214784
AvantiWestCoast on Twitter said:
The same could happen in any situation involving seats - at a cinema, at a sports venue, on a plane....
however others replied stating the plane comparison was not a valid one; furthermore people tested several bookings where people were split up and looked at the seat selector to see that seats that were together were in fact available.

It's absolutely clear that their algorithm splits people up unnecessarily.

Probably quickest to contact them by Twitter to be honest
Sadly not; they will just say:
https://twitter.com/AvantiWestCoast/status/1209413100954370048
AvantiWestCoast on Twitter said:
You can do this by speaking to our Aftersales team on 0345 528 0253, option 6. ^EA
(and, as mentioned elsewhere, another forum member found it took 40 minutes to change them!)

Not sure about that. If you hold tickets already, you can usually reserve seats for free, as you are not changing the journey, for which there certainly is a fee.
A good train company will take that view. But some may try to charge £10 per transaction, or even per ticket in some cases.

Does anyone know Avanti's policy?
...Do Avanti enforce a ' you must sit in your reserved seat' policy for Advance ticket holders? ...
No, but based on the activity on Twitter recently, many of their trains have been extremely busy, with no spare seats.
 

jfollows

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Do Avanti enforce a ' you must sit in your reserved seat' policy for Advance ticket holders? Some TOCs do not seem to bother - in which case given the OP is getting on nearer journey origin point I'd head for the unreserved carriage (C?) and see if any free groups of seats available, if TOC won't do a free swap.

I can't answer this with certainty, but the same staff who used to work for Virgin will be checking your tickets, and I hardly ever sat in my reserved seat and they never raised any issue (given that I was on the booked train). I do occasional charity work and the charity books my ticket for me but I usually sit in a "better" unreserved seat on the same train without any problem.

I have yet to see for sure if Avanti will be the same.
 
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It has never been a problem for me sitting elsewhere, sometimes not even in the right coach. Also, many single travellers will move to allow a family with children to travel together, there are far more thoughtful and kind people out there than mean ones.
 

SwindonBert

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I've never had a problem, asked a train manager once if it was OK, he basically said he really didn't care as long as I didn't take someone else's seat.
 

aye2beeviasea

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They're refusing to reserve seats via Twitter? That's really annoying, Virgin would happily do that for you and usually only took a couple of minutes to reply.
 

yorkie

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They're refusing to reserve seats via Twitter? That's really annoying, Virgin would happily do that for you and usually only took a couple of minutes to reply.
They have been either saying the best seats have been allocated or have told them to call 0345 528 0253 (but calling them can take 40 minutes!)

They are also adamant that seat preferences are honoured where available but several people say that is not the case.

For example:

https://twitter.com/NormanNormal12/status/1208724237898436613
Matt Buddin said:
This new @AvantiWestCoast service instead of Virgin Trains is amazing. My seat preferences said window seat, forward facing and table. And i have neither of those things...
Avanti West Coast said:
You set a seat preference when booking, Matt, if it was available it'd be booked, the website explains this is a preference and not a guarantee ^MB
Norman Normal said:
Drivel. This has been tested on 5 different trains on 5 dates in the future. The Reservation system shows reservable forward window table seats for these services yet when purchasing tickets on your site a random seat is assigned which fulfils none, some or all criteria.
 

Elecman

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It has never been a problem for me sitting elsewhere, sometimes not even in the right coach. Also, many single travellers will move to allow a family with children to travel together, there are far more thoughtful and kind people out there than mean ones.

Indeed when a Virgin TM asked for someone to change seats to let a young mother with 2 toddlers sit together on a crowded service I immediately agreed to move. Bonus was being quietly told by th3 TM to take myself off to First Class for doing so.
 
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