Can I make a reservation without booking a ticket?

[Belperpete]

Some TOCs are currently running services that are more or less reservation compulsory, e.g. XC, EC and Avanti WC. Last week, I was going to make a journey with a forward leg on one of these TOCs. I therefore tried to buy a ticket on-line, in order to get the required reservations. However, the only ticketing options I was given were "collect at station" or "app". Neither was suitable, as none of my local stations have ticket collection facilities, and the app doesn't work on my Android 4.? mobile. The only option seemed to be to buy on the day. However, currently, guards are unable to sell tickets, so I would have to travel the first hour of my journey without a ticket in order to get to a booking office to buy my ticket. And if I do this, I surely run the risk that the booking office is then unable to sell me a ticket for my journey as reservations are no longer available on the connecting service. Or they sell me a ticket without a reservation, meaning I am unable to board the connecting service.

For other reasons, I postponed the journey, but I will surely have the same problem in the near future when I need to make this or similar journeys. My only option seems to be to buy the ticket on-line, and collect it when I change trains. Or can I get a reservation in advance, before I buy the ticket on the day?

 

[_toommm_]

I can’t say either way about the reservation conundrum, but if you use LNER or Transpennine (there are more, but those I’ve used personally) you are given an e-ticket, which you can either show on your email or can print out.

If you travel on LNER, you can make a reservation with them directly at:

Make a seat reservation

If you're traveling with LNER make sure you have a seat reservation with your ticket for a comfortable journey. Make one here if your ticket or pass doesn't already have one.

www.lner.co.uk

 

[Belperpete]

I can’t say either way about the reservation conundrum, but if you use LNER or Transpennine (there are more, but those I’ve used personally) you are given an e-ticket, which you can either show on your email or can print out.

If you travel on LNER, you can make a reservation with them directly at:

Make a seat reservation

If you're traveling with LNER make sure you have a seat reservation with your ticket for a comfortable journey. Make one here if your ticket or pass doesn't already have one.

www.lner.co.uk

I would be very happy with an e-ticket, but unfortunately e-tickets are not offered for most of my journeys. I wouldn't touch an m-ticket with a barge-pole even if they did work on my mobile, as there are far too many problems with them. Many of my journeys involve breaks of journey, for example, which I understand are problematic with m-tickets.

 

[_toommm_]

I would be very happy with an e-ticket, but unfortunately e-tickets are not offered for most of my journeys. I wouldn't touch an m-ticket with a barge-pole even if they did work on my mobile, as there are far too many problems with them. Many of my journeys involve breaks of journey, for example, which I understand are problematic with m-tickets.

What journey is it you’re trying to make? Feel free to PM me if you don’t want it to be public, and I’ll see if I can get anywhere to generate a true e-ticket.

 

[Wallsendmag]

The LNER App and Website allow you to book seats and have them emailed to you without the need for booking a ticket.

 

[Paul Kelly]

The LNER App and Website allow you to book seats and have them emailed to you without the need for booking a ticket.

Is this something to do with Seatfrog? I noticed a few weeks ago that Seatfrog got a DfT innovation grant to develop an app to allow passengers to cancel one seat reservation and book another (which doesn't sound particularly innovative but maybe that's just me!):

Inventors have come forward with a host of ambitious projects to transform rail travel, including low-energy concrete slabs that automatically heat up in freezing conditions to help prevent passengers from slipping on icy platforms and the Seatfrog Train Swap app, which will allow passengers to quickly and remotely update their seat reservation to another service.

 

[Bletchleyite]

No, it's a COVID measure but it appears you can book for any TOC.

 

[Belperpete]

The LNER App and Website allow you to book seats and have them emailed to you without the need for booking a ticket.

Thanks for that. Although it doesn't say so, I take it that it only offers reservations on LNER services? When I try to book a reservation for Birmingham to Euston, for example, all I get for a variety of dates and times is "Sorry, no results could be found for your search."

 

[yorkie]

Thanks for that. Although it doesn't say so, I take it that it only offers reservations on LNER services? When I try to book a reservation for Birmingham to Euston, for example, all I get for a variety of dates and times is "Sorry, no results could be found for your search."

Yes, and you can't pick your seat (so you could be forced to sit diagonally opposite someone, while an entire coach is empty, as happened to people on a recent train I was on)

 

[Belperpete]

Thanks for the various responses. In the end, I booked on-line before travelling. The only option I was given was for collection at station (and no mention whatsoever at any stage that I would need to have the ticket before starting my journey). In the end, it was all a bit academic anyway - my first train was so late that I missed the connection I had a reservation for. No problem as the next Avanti service was near-empty, with plenty of seats showing as available, despite it arriving in London at what would in normal times be rush-hour.