Unreserved coaches on Cross Country Voyagers

[davetheguard]

Have Cross Country increased the amount of unreserved seats on their Voyager sets? I travelled from Devon to Birmingham & back yesterday -my first long trip with them since BC- & the Train Manager on the 5 car set clearly announced "Unreserved seats in Coach B and Coach F". In my experience it used to just be in Coach B. The same happened on the way back; another 5 car set.

What about the 4 car sets - are some unreserved seats now available on them too?

If correct, this feels like a distinct improvement to this punter at least, and makes me more likely to travel with them in future. Edit: or late thought, is coach F the first class vehicle, and I'm being over optimistic here?

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[dk1]

Coach A is 1st class. Coach B is missing on 4-car units.

 

[davetheguard]

Coach A is 1st class. Coach B is missing on 4-car units.

Thanks for confirming that First Class is in coach A; that helps.

The question remains: can anyone confirm that unreserved seats are now available in coach F (as well as those always available in coach B) on 5 car sets?

and

Any coaches with unreserved seats in 4 car sets? No coach B in 4 car sets.

 

[virgintrain1]

Coach F became unreserved as well when social distancing was abolished. (With the exception of the the wheelchair space and the two seats next to it)

 

[davetheguard]

Coach F became unreserved as well when social distancing was abolished. (With the exception of the the wheelchair space and the two seats next to it)

I assume from this that Coach F in both the five and four car sets is now unreserved. Good news in my book.

 

[GoneSouth]

I assume from this that Coach F in both the five and four car sets is now unreserved. Good news in my book.

Let’s hope so, hate a 4 car set turning up and all available seats have reservations for part of my journey, very infuriating (like most aspects of XC’s service).

 

[Mugby]

I noticed this too on Sunday. I got the 1203 from Birmingham to Aberdeen which was a 5-car set and the TM announced two unreserved coaches.

Incidentally, I had intended to get the 1133 Glasgow service, it was 9-cars, 4+5, the 4-car set was leading and rammed, the 5-car set was trailing and
locked out of use!

 

[voyagerdude220]

I noticed this too on Sunday. I got the 1203 from Birmingham to Aberdeen which was a 5-car set and the TM announced two unreserved coaches.

Incidentally, I had intended to get the 1133 Glasgow service, it was 9-cars, 4+5, the 4-car set was leading and rammed, the 5-car set was trailing and
locked out of use!

The 11:33 Birmingham to Glasgow had a set swap at Derby and was formed 2x220 from Derby to Edinburgh, with the front set continuing alone Edinburgh to Glasgow.

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Problem is with Coaches B and F being unreserved on the XC Voyagers means Advance fares will still be expensive as a small bit of Coaches C and D in Standard Class will be unreserved.

 

[stottyuk]

4 car - Unreserved carriage is F

5 car - Unreserved carriages are B and F

8 car - Unreserved carriages are F and L

9 car - Unreserved carriages are B, F and L

10 car - Unreserved carriages are B, F, H and L


First class are carriages A and G

 

[davetheguard]

4 car - Unreserved carriage is F

5 car - Unreserved carriages are B and F

8 car - Unreserved carriages are F and L

9 car - Unreserved carriages are B, F and L

10 car - Unreserved carriages are B, F, H and L


First class are carriages A and G

Great summary - thanks stottyuk.

 

[GoneSouth]

Problem is with Coaches B and F being unreserved on the XC Voyagers means Advance fares will still be expensive as a small bit of Coaches C and D in Standard Class will be unreserved.

Advance fares are pretty much non existent on the XC journeys I’ve made in the past 10 years so I’d rather have the unreserved seats than an expensive 3 hour shuffle between other peoples’ seats!

 

[MCR247]

Slightly off topic but is there an unreserved coach on the XC HSTs?

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Slightly off topic but is there an unreserved coach on the XC HSTs?

Yep - Standard Class section of Coach B and all of Coach F given B and F are unreserved on the Voyagers (just B on 170's)!

 

[hexagon789]

Slightly off topic but is there an unreserved coach on the XC HSTs?

Used to be the 10 seats in Coach B! Which is quite funny given the recent thread by @yorkie on the subject of the now infamous Coach B!

CrossCountry HST Coach B standard seating

Does anyone know what the current status of the Standard class seating in Coach B on XC HSTs is? A member of catering crew boarded this train at Leeds and told people who had been sitting there that they should not be sat there and that the staff on the train before Leeds shouldn't have let...

railforums.co.uk

 

[MCR247]

Yep - Standard Class section of Coach B and all of Coach F given B and F are unreserved on the Voyagers (just B on 170's)!

Used to be the 10 seats in Coach B! Which is quite funny given the recent thread by @yorkie on the subject of the now infamous Coach B!

CrossCountry HST Coach B standard seating

Does anyone know what the current status of the Standard class seating in Coach B on XC HSTs is? A member of catering crew boarded this train at Leeds and told people who had been sitting there that they should not be sat there and that the staff on the train before Leeds shouldn't have let...

railforums.co.uk

Thanks both

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Thanks both

You're welcome .

The only problem with Coach B and F being reserved on Voyagers is any 4 or 5-car services mean not even all of Coach C and D can be reserved which means CrossCountry will end up charging more for advance tickets for these services.

 

[davetheguard]

charging more for advance tickets for these services.

Not possible on XC surely? If they make their Advance tickets much more expensive, they'll be more than the walk up fares!