Shortest/cheapest reservable journey

[cjohnson]

Booked a couple of tickets via East Coast's site today, which came just under £21.

As you have to spend > £22 in one transaction to get the EC rewards points, I bought a Culrain to Invershin single (Far North line) being a fare I recalled was one of the cheapest fares currently available (£1.20).

For this fare I was prompted to make a reservation - so now have a carriage and seat reservation for this trip that's timetabled for just one minute, and at a cost of just £1.20.

Is there a cheaper/shorter journey that it's possible to make a seat reservation for? (And also - will the Scotrail guard actually put that seat reservation ticket out for my trip? Does it cost that TOC materially more to print/administer such reservations?)

 

[142094]

Yes, the guard will no doubt put the reservation ticket out, as they will not know who is or isn't boarding that train. Some of the services on the ECML have hundreds of reservations put out, and quite a lot of the time the seat goes unused.

 

[yorkie]

That's slightly shorter than the one that most people think of: Manchester Oxford Road <> Manchester Piccadilly.

If you need cheap tickets to get the value up to £22, then others to consider include Lichfield City <> Lichfield Trent Valley (not reservable, in case anyone is wondering), and you can also add a Railcard or buy a Child fare, if you need to just add a few pence.

 

[Eagle]

If you need cheap tickets to get the value up to £22, then others to consider include Lichfield City <> Lichfield Trent Valley...

Although in the OP's case that would have been too cheap...

 

[SickyNicky]

I'm not quite sure why you'd want to get the price up to £22 artificially. That would only earn you 22p worth of points - considerably less than the cost of the ticket.

On reflection, I suppose it might be to build up points towards free EastCoast tickets.

 

[dangie]

Although in the OP's case that would have been too cheap...

50p single
60p return

Bargain (assuming that's where you want to go)

 

[MarkyMarkD]

EC do not appear to apply the £22 minimum despite what it says on their site. I very often earn EC Reward Points on lower value transactions.

 

[island]

I'm not quite sure why you'd want to get the price up to £22 artificially. That would only earn you 22p worth of points - considerably less than the cost of the ticket.

On reflection, I suppose it might be to build up points towards free EastCoast tickets.

You could make an argument that 22 EC points are worth £2.20, on the grounds that 50 points give you a lounge pass which would otherwise cost £5 if you're on a First Advance.

That's slightly shorter than the one that most people think of: Manchester Oxford Road <> Manchester Piccadilly.

Which is a reservation I have been given as part of a longer journey. I didn't have the heart to go and kick someone out of my seat on the rammed EMT train!

 

[Failed Unit]

EC do not appear to apply the £22 minimum despite what it says on their site. I very often earn EC Reward Points on lower value transactions.

I think they do have times that you will get the points anyway, such as if you are buying East Coast AP tickets. I would be happy to be corrected, but I think you will get absolutely nothing if you spent £21.90 on another operators AP ticket (or even walk on fare)

 

[Deerfold]

From http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/loyalty-intro-page/membership-terms-and-conditions

5.3 You will earn Points whenever you spend above £22 (including the amount of any credit card fees, postage and VAT paid on that transaction) on qualifying Products in a single transaction. Where your total transaction spend is £22 or less, you will only earn Points if the specific Products you have bought qualify for Points irrespective of the overall amount paid in the transaction, as specified by ECML from time to time.

Presumably East Coast's own AP tickets are included in the "specific Products"

 

[Ivo]

If you need cheap tickets to get the value up to £22, then others to consider include Lichfield City <> Lichfield Trent Valley (not reservable, in case anyone is wondering), and you can also add a Railcard or buy a Child fare, if you need to just add a few pence.

Whenever I take my niece on a train, I buy her this exact ticket so she can have a physical ticket. 25p well spent!

Of course, come October, she'll have to pay, so it'll be curtains.

 

[Gaztynan]

Unbelievably megabus offer a glasgow-crewe departing at 0420 for £1 single via virgin trains!!!!!

 

[Deerfold]

Unbelievably megabus offer a glasgow-crewe departing at 0420 for £1 single via virgin trains!!!!!

I've done London - Keighley for £1 including EMT St Pancakes - East Midlands Parkway with Megabusplus.

Admittedly we were 3 hours late, but that was due to a breakdown on a coach and the replacement coaach driver getting lost.

 

[transportphoto]

I have once had a reservation on an XC 170 between University Birmingham and Birmingham New Street - FSR telesales done it with no problems, even with a slight chuckle at the journey time!

TP

 

[Oscar]

I have once had a reservation on an XC 170 between University Birmingham and Birmingham New Street - FSR telesales done it with no problems, even with a slight chuckle at the journey time!

TP

I had one of these once last year too. It was slightly annoying as I ended up going into New Street a couple of hours before my booked train out, meaning I had to buy another ticket (whereas if I had not had a reservation on this leg of the Advance I would have been free to catch any other train).

 

[Deerfold]

I have once had a reservation on an XC 170 between University Birmingham and Birmingham New Street - FSR telesales done it with no problems, even with a slight chuckle at the journey time!

TP

Would you have had time to find your seat and argue about it with whoever was sat in it in that time?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I had one of these once last year too. It was slightly annoying as I ended up going into New Street a couple of hours before my booked train out, meaning I had to buy another ticket (whereas if I had not had a reservation on this leg of the Advance I would have been free to catch any other train).

I thought you could only catch any train if they were non-reservable?

 

[Oscar]

Yes, that is true. The XC trains mentioned here are reservable. If you have a reservation on a certain leg of the journey, you can't use any other train, even if non-reservable. Otherwise someone could buy for example a Huddersfield - York TPE Advance on a specific train and catch Northern stoppers instead, not what is intended. If I had selected an itinerary with one of the non-reservable LM trains (e.g. the Cross City ones), I would have been able to catch any other non-reservable train.