Unreservable seats on Lumo

[cambsy]

I am possibly travelling on the 10.53 Edinburgh to Kings Cross on Sun 30th July, and it’s sold out, so are there any unreservable seats still on Lumo trains?

And can I join the said train with an Off-Peak Single Edinburgh to Kings Cross, or will Lumo staff deny boarding if not holding reservation?

 

[Watershed]

Lumo are one of several TOCs who have marked their trains as "reservations compulsory" in the timetable data. However, this is misleading because reservations are not actually required to travel with them. They do have some unreservable seats; their website contains a map showing them.

That being said, Sunday morning is a very popular time to travel from Edinburgh to London, so I'd recommend getting to the station in good time - ideally in time for the train's inbound arrival from the depot, scheduled at 10:35 - to make sure you can get a seat. Otherwise there is no guarantee of being able to sit down, which would obviously make for a rather uncomfortable journey down to London.

If you're sure you want to travel with Lumo, you could buy a "Lumo only" Anytime Day Single for £75, which represents a small saving over the interavailable Super Off-Peak Single costing £87.

As there's no saving by buying either ticket in advance, and Lumo are often very poor about arranging ticket acceptance in the event of disruption, I'd recommend making the choice on the day - or using a site that makes it easy to get a fee free refund if you change your mind. Either ticket is flexible, so you can buy it simply by choosing any service that Sunday from the relevant operator.

 

[hexagon789]

I am possibly travelling on the 10.53 Edinburgh to Kings Cross on Sun 30th July, and it’s sold out, so are there any unreservable seats still on Lumo trains?

And can I join the said train with an Off-Peak Single Edinburgh to Kings Cross, or will Lumo staff deny boarding if not holding reservation?

The 'windowless' seats in each coach are unreserved I believe.

LUMO sell their own Anytime Day Single for £75, which is cheaper than the any operator Super Off-peak option by about £10.

 

[transportphoto]

The unreserved seats, if I recall correctly, are the ones with no windows.

 

[hexagon789]

The unreserved seats, if I recall correctly, are the ones with no windows.

That's my understanding too

 

[transportphoto]

The 'windowless' seats in each coach are unreserved I believe.

LUMO sell their own Anytime Day Single for £75, which is cheaper than the any operator Super Off-peak option by about £10.

I’d be very hesitant to purchase this - especially at times whereby the super off peak is valid - simply for the ability to have options when things go wrong. LNER do not often agree Lumo ticket acceptance in any event.

 

[Watershed]

The unreserved seats, if I recall correctly, are the ones with no windows.

The map on Lumo's website suggests that the unreserved seats have windows in coaches A and E, but not in B, C & D. So @cambsy would want to aim for one of the coaches at either end of the train.

 

[D1537]

There are Advance Singles available on every LNER train from 11.00 onwards for £83.70, which frankly I'd pay the extra £8.70 for ...

(And First for £117, worth it if you can demolish £30 worth of food and drink in 4.5 hours, which I have found it very easy to do).

 

[Bletchleyite]

I’d be very hesitant to purchase this - especially at times whereby the super off peak is valid - simply for the ability to have options when things go wrong. LNER do not often agree Lumo ticket acceptance in any event.

If they go wrong before starting your journey, you could just buy the Super Off Peak then and refund the Lumo ticket, with no admin fee due to the disruption.

 

[Watershed]

There are Advance Singles available on every LNER train from 11.00 onwards for £83.70, which frankly I'd pay the extra £8.70 for ...

Seems little point in saving £3.30 in exchange for being tied to one specific service rather than having the flexibility of any train that day, but obviously that's a decision for the OP to make.

Either way this demonstrates the importance of the £87 Super Off-Peak Single acting as a cap on the amount that LNER can charge. They'd clearly like to charge more!

 

[Hadders]

Seems little point in saving £3.30 in exchange for being tied to one specific service rather than having the flexibility of any train that day, but obviously that's a decision for the OP to make.

Either way this demonstrates the importance of the £87 Super Off-Peak Single acting as a cap on the amount that LNER can charge. They'd clearly like to charge more!

Indeed! The £87 Any Permitted Super Off Peak Single is the regulated fare between Edinburgh and London.

We’re constantly told by train companies/RDG/DfT/The Treasury that fares regulation is out of date, a relic from the 1990s and should be abolished. They talk about airline style surge pricing as the way forward.

Be very aware that if fares regulation is replaced by airline style surge pricing there will be no fares at £87 between Edinburgh and London on Sundays. Expect to pay much more.

Regulation is far from perfect but at least it provides a cap on what can be charged for leisure travel.

 

[Kite159]

Seems little point in saving £3.30 in exchange for being tied to one specific service rather than having the flexibility of any train that day, but obviously that's a decision for the OP to make.

Either way this demonstrates the importance of the £87 Super Off-Peak Single acting as a cap on the amount that LNER can charge. They'd clearly like to charge more!

Agreed, although I'm surprised the 'saving' is as much as £3.30 and not a token 50p for most of the trains. Much easier to go down the BR route of pricing off demand than to run 3tph from Edinburgh to London on some hours on Sunday afternoon.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The map on Lumo's website suggests that the unreserved seats have windows in coaches A and E, but not in B, C & D. So @cambsy would want to aim for one of the coaches at either end of the train.

Caution!

On Saturday I was on the 10.25 from King's Cross; we had E57 and E58... and the four seats in the row in front of us - which are marked unreservable on that seat plan - were all occupied with red lights showing on the reservation system and all four displays were showing King's Cross to Newcastle or Edinburgh... which suggests to me that once every reservable seat on the trains are sold out, the system does then reserve those seats. Additionally, I was talking to the on board staff at King's Cross prior to the stock arriving from Hornsey and they stated that the train was completely full - which again suggests the system simply leaves those seats until last but will then allocate them.

 

[cambsy]

Peter Mugridge, so there are possibly no un reservable seats on a Lumo train then? So if turn up on day and wish use Lumo train, which sold out then I physically may not be able to get a seat?

 

[Watershed]

Caution!

On Saturday I was on the 10.25 from King's Cross; we had E57 and E58... and the four seats in the row in front of us - which are marked unreservable on that seat plan - were all occupied with red lights showing on the reservation system and all four displays were showing King's Cross to Newcastle or Edinburgh... which suggests to me that once every reservable seat on the trains are sold out, the system does then reserve those seats. Additionally, I was talking to the on board staff at King's Cross prior to the stock arriving from Hornsey and they stated that the train was completely full - which again suggests the system simply leaves those seats until last but will then allocate them.

I would take Lumo's claims at face value. It's possible that they are reserved by Lumo so as to ensure they can't be reserved by an actual passenger, if you see what I mean.

 

[BZ1044]

I was on a Lumo service last week, the unreserved seats are now used for luggage - and indicated by using a seat cover on all unreserved seats.

 

[Mainline421]

I’d be very hesitant to purchase this - especially at times whereby the super off peak is valid - simply for the ability to have options when things go wrong. LNER do not often agree Lumo ticket acceptance in any event.

Just buy it at the station (ticket office or Scotrail TVM) at which point you'll know about any disruption, there's no advantage to purchasing in advance.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I would take Lumo's claims at face value. It's possible that they are reserved by Lumo so as to ensure they can't be reserved by an actual passenger, if you see what I mean.

Except that all four seats had ordinary passengers in them. The reservation lights and displays seemed to change at Newcastle to accurately reflect the ones who got off there ( from those seats ) and remained red for those showing as travelling to Edinburgh.

I was on a Lumo service last week, the unreserved seats are now used for luggage - and indicated by using a seat cover on all unreserved seats.

Those seats don't all match the white seats on that web page though.