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East coast trains seat selection

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LondonJohn

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I booked a First Class advance from Newcastle to Edinburgh for a Saturday in April through the East Coast website. I did this so I could chose the seat.

It wouldnt allow me to chose any of my favourite seats so I tried to change it to any seat in the carriage and it would not let me so I just bought the ticket.

Last week when travelling through Edinburgh I went to the East Coast Travel Centre to ask if I could change my seat hoping not to pay the £10 amendment fee and he said that seats AND fares were quota controlled and for the 2 or 3 levels of First Class advanced it would only let him select a seat in a particular part of the carriage however when he selected an Anytime first class ticket it came up with all seats apart from the one I had already reserved.

He said I could choose my seat if I upgraded my ticket. I told him not to worry and called East Coast trains customer relations and they reserved the seat of my choice for me and emailed me a reference number to quote at a station to collect the new reservation ticket.

I asked how I should book online to be able to choose in the future and they said that they were not quite sure but just to book any seat and call them and they would change it for me.

Very helpful I must say but it does defeat the point of having the option of choosing a seat online but not being able to.

Anybody else had any experience of this ?
 
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Bungle73

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I've had no problems choosing the seat of my choice booking an Advance ticket. In fact I did it only the other day. I did notice a few seats were unavailable though, which to me looked like either staff or non-reservable seats (seeing as how tickets had only just become available). Most were available though.
 

Furrball

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There is a known issue with the site where if you are buying the last tickets at a price point (Advance) then it will not let you change your selected seats.

It is interesting that they let you change your seats as when I had an issue last year where the booked seats originally were opposite each other they were not following re-arrangements to the HST seating plan I was told on many occasions that it was not possible to change the seat reservations.
 

mirodo

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I've previously (on a couple of occasions) tried booking a table seat in the quiet coach (with no preference as to direction of travel). When I've been told there are no seats matching my criteria and it's given me a table seat in coach E, it's let me pick exactly what I asked for it the first place by changing my seat and manually selecting it.
 

lyesbkz

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I am booking an AP ticket via the website however when I select my new seat I get, despite I can see the coach being empty apart from one or two seats:

Your seat choice(s) are no longer available on this service. Please choose another seat(s).

I am trying to book into the quiet coach, and even when I select the Quiet coach option it says they were not able to fulfil my seating preferences.

When I contacted Web Support they said I could change my reservation at the station, but I'm skeptical about that - will I really be able to without paying a fee, on an Advance ticket?

(I should point out that whichever seat I try and change it to, it's not available)

To clarify, I have indeed read the posts above, but do not wish to go through such a complicated process to get my seat :(
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
There is a known issue with the site where if you are buying the last tickets at a price point (Advance) then it will not let you change your selected seats.

I have just booked it because the last thing I need is a price increase while I wait.


What has confused me is that it was not only the last 1st Advance ticket, but it was the lowest price band - are there really no more expensive 1st Advances?
 
Last edited:

Furrball

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Mirodo, that has been reported too!!

Lyesbkz, it is that there are no more advance tickets at the price point you have selected. If you added those tickets to your basket and then searched for additional tickets on the same journey you should find that the ticket price has increased and you can amend your seats.
 

lyesbkz

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Lyesbkz, it is that there are no more advance tickets at the price point you have selected. If you added those tickets to your basket and then searched for additional tickets on the same journey you should find that the ticket price has increased and you can amend your seats.

Nope, I checked again right after I completed my order, and that service was completely greyed out for 1st Advance! (I just checked again now and it definitely won't sell me a 1st Advance at all)

I just remembered though that it's probably because it has a TPE connecting train which I believe has only one 1st Advance ticket per service, since the 1st compartment only has a few seats to start with. I've had trouble with this in the past when trying to book a second seat for a friend to travel with me - ended up booking the EC and TPE legs separately :)
 

General Zod

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I had bought a cheap 1st Advance from Kings Cross to Inverness. It was on a table for 4 and the online booking system did not allow me to change my default seat reservation. I was advised by seasoned travellers on this forum that the onboard ticket staff are quite flexible and lenient wrt people sitting in their reserved seats. As we left Kings Cross and the alcohol started flowing, the table of 4 directly infront of my table started to get quite loud. I found the Ticket Inspector and asked if I could sit in a non-reserved seat elsewhere in 1st class. No problems he said very politely and so was had a quiet and pleasant journey from York to Inverness.
 

LondonJohn

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I am booking an AP ticket via the website however when I select my new seat I get, despite I can see the coach being empty apart from one or two seats:



I am trying to book into the quiet coach, and even when I select the Quiet coach option it says they were not able to fulfil my seating preferences.

When I contacted Web Support they said I could change my reservation at the station, but I'm skeptical about that - will I really be able to without paying a fee, on an Advance ticket?

(I should point out that whichever seat I try and change it to, it's not available)

To clarify, I have indeed read the posts above, but do not wish to go through such a complicated process to get my seat :(
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


I have just booked it because the last thing I need is a price increase while I wait.


What has confused me is that it was not only the last 1st Advance ticket, but it was the lowest price band - are there really no more expensive 1st Advances?

I called East Coast Customer Relations and a very helpful guy allocated me the seat I wanted. Interestingly he said what people are describing he wasn't aware of but in his email to me he has said if I want to do the same in future just to contact Customer Relations.
 

lyesbkz

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Why does Coach K on this plan:

Screen Shot 2012-03-06 at 14.25.09.png

Not match Coach K on my seat selection chart?

Screen Shot 2012-03-06 at 14.26.18.png

Particularly in that Seat 05 is shown as a table seat in one, and an airline style in the other? Which one is correct?
 

Furrball

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Why does Coach K on this plan:

View attachment 10569

Not match Coach K on my seat selection chart?

View attachment 10571

Particularly in that Seat 05 is shown as a table seat in one, and an airline style in the other? Which one is correct?

The first one is the old seating plans - these were changed at the same time as the catering changes occurred last year. They have not removed them so a Google search still returns them.

The current PDF files can be found at http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/on-board-our-trains/in-your-coach/finding-your-seat/
 

lyesbkz

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island

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It is very rare to find someone who minds if you sit in a different seat to the one you reserved, as long as that seat isn't itself reserved.
 

lyesbkz

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It is very rare to find someone who minds if you sit in a different seat to the one you reserved, as long as that seat isn't itself reserved.

I'm one of those annoying people who has a favourite seat (yes, that's singular!) so I like to have it reserved ;)
 

Mike395

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True, although it is a good idea to remove the reservation label in your own seat if you do that (assuming the reservations aren't electronic of course!) to allow someone else to sit there :)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I'm one of those annoying people who has a favourite seat (yes, that's singular!) so I like to have it reserved ;)

I have a favourite seat on EMT HSTs (not sure if I should say which :P )- are the seating layouts the same on the EC ones?
 

lyesbkz

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True, although it is a good idea to remove the reservation label in your own seat if you do that (assuming the reservations aren't electronic of course!) to allow someone else to sit there :)

I never want to do that because often it is reserved later on in the journey by somebody else :p I've noticed that people are quite smart anyway and if the train has passed the station from which the reservation begins then they'll sit there anyway. And some people will sit there without even looking at all. It seems to work out most of the time :)

I have a favourite seat on EMT HSTs (not sure if I should say which :P )- are the seating layouts the same on the EC ones?

I have no idea, though Furrball has posted a link to the EC plans above.
 

bb21

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I have a favourite seat on EMT HSTs (not sure if I should say which :P )- are the seating layouts the same on the EC ones?

I doubt it. All EMT's single seats are on the same side of the carriage.
 

Butts

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Unless you are travelling on a busy service my advice would be to sit where you like.

Most people sit in their allocated seat so any unreserved seat in any carriage is fair game.

If you are on a shortish trip sit close to the Cafe Bar as the service normally starts from that end.
 

lyesbkz

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I doubt it. All EMT's single seats are on the same side of the carriage.

So are East Coast's, on the HSTs. It's the Mallards where half are on one side and half are on the other.

(Unless I've misunderstood what you meant!)
 

Furrball

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I have received confirmation today from East Coast of the bug on their site that occurs when you try and change a seat reservation where your ticket(s) are the last at a price point.

The point you raised about changing seats and apparently being unable to change others up to the more expensive fares is a very valid one and not something we have picked up before. The problem appears to be then when you are using the last tickets available at a particular rate/price band, when the system tries to change your seat, it attempts to make a second booking with the same ticket. It does not cancel the first in case you choose to keep it. If you are down to the last seats, there aren’t any more to available to make that booking. We are taking up with our supplier in order to determine an appropriate way round this.
 

bb21

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So are East Coast's, on the HSTs. It's the Mallards where half are on one side and half are on the other.

(Unless I've misunderstood what you meant!)

No, that's fine, you haven't. I don't travel on EC very much so was looking at the seating plans provided earlier. :D
 

Deerfold

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True, although it is a good idea to remove the reservation label in your own seat if you do that (assuming the reservations aren't electronic of course!) to allow someone else to sit there :)

I've never been keen on doing that due to the threat on them of a #50 charge if I do.
 

Red Dragon

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I have received confirmation today from East Coast of the bug on their site that occurs when you try and change a seat reservation where your ticket(s) are the last at a price point.

That's good news. Last week I was booking a pair of 1st advance from Glasgow to Ilkley via East Coast and I was allocated a pair at a table for 4 between EDB and YRK. I tried moving the seat reservations but this wouldn't work so I cancelled and went back in to re-book - by which time the seats were more expensive ! I now know why - cheers.

I often travel on the Mallard and HST services from LDS to KGX. Does anyone know which of the seats are without views or are next to a "pillar" in Std Class. Advice appreciated by PM if you don't want to post here. TIA.
 

lyesbkz

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I called East Coast Customer Relations and a very helpful guy allocated me the seat I wanted. Interestingly he said what people are describing he wasn't aware of but in his email to me he has said if I want to do the same in future just to contact Customer Relations.

I emailed them yesterday and received a reply which ignored the fact that I was having technical problems and simply said:

When booking tickets on line, you are able to choose your own seats if travelling on our services, you can do this by using our online interactive seat map. Once your booking has been confirmed and the transaction completed, seat reservations are not amendable.

In exceptional circumstances we may be able to change these for you, if you would like to discuss this further please call (web support number).

So I gave them a ring earlier and they were very polite but said they'd have to ring me back tomorrow, and that it was very possible they wouldn't be able to do anything - and when I said which seat I was trying to get, they seemed very surprised that I had an exact seat in mind and said that was even more unlikely :(
 

wintonian

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It is against railway bylaws to.remove.a.seat.reservation without permission with a £50 IIRC.

I had one on Monday, apparently 2 of us were reserved in the.same seat, only.found out because the other person said they didn't mind me sitting there and tried taking my label with them.

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk
 
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I have a favourite seat on EMT HSTs (not sure if I should say which :P )- are the seating layouts the same on the EC ones?

No they are slightly different due to the luggage racks in the centre of the carriage on EMT HSTs. There are slightly less seats in the EMT standard coaches and in the first class coaches there is a single seat with a large table next to the centre luggage rack which you wont find on EC.
 

lyesbkz

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To add to my previous post, I'm beginning to get very annoyed with these people.

Web Support rang back and told me the seat I was after is not available. As soon as I got off the phone, I started an order for the same train and was able to select the seat I wanted, and put it in my basket and got to the payment screen. What's going on? :(
 

PaxVobiscum

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Just an observation, but I usually travel on one of the less busy EC services from GLC and there always seems to be a fair proportion of "no shows" for reserved seats, at least to about NCL.

Now a question - is it the accepted practice that:
if the holder of the reservation does not appear within a few minutes after the train has departed the "from" station named on the seat reservation, then it is permissible to assume the seat is no longer reserved for that part of the journey?

Or is that still an offence?
Obviously if they appear later on (having boarded at the wrong end of the train for example) you would have to move.

Perhaps it would be safer to check with the guard/TM?

(Sorry - that's 3 questions!)
 
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