Cross Country Reservation available but not at stations.

[SephenWorceste]

A bit of an odd situation with Cross Country. I have a 1st class off peak returns (provided by a travel agent) from Worcester to Southampton via Evesham. My plan is to use the 11.43 Oxford to Southampton train on Friday 21st April and the 10.17 Southampton to Oxford on Saturday 29 Apr. My travel agent and local travel centre says seat reservation are not available on these trains. I rang Cross Country and they told me they will only give me a seat reservation if I buy Advance tickets from them. These are available for my trains. They say this is because with flexible tickets I could make a reservation and then use another train. If I had Standard Class tickets this restriction would not apply. I have never had this before from Cross Country, Great Western or Virgin West Coast. It seems a bit odd to discriminate as to which ticket types, ticket class or vendors are allowed reservations. Any thoughts how to get round this.

Thank you in advance, Stephen.


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[furlong]

From the Conditions of Travel:

you can request a reservation either when buying a Ticket, or before the departure of your train on presentation of a valid Ticket, at most staffed stations.

 

[dcsprior]

A bit of an odd situation with Cross Country. I have a 1st class off peak returns (provided by a travel agent) from Worcester to Southampton via Evesham. My plan is to use the 11.43 Oxford to Southampton train on Friday 21st April and the 10.17 Southampton to Oxford on Saturday 29 Apr. My travel agent and local travel centre says seat reservation are not available on these trains. I rang Cross Country and they told me they will only give me a seat reservation if I buy Advance tickets from them. These are available for my trains. They say this is because with flexible tickets I could make a reservation and then use another train. If I had Standard Class tickets this restriction would not apply. I have never had this before from Cross Country, Great Western or Virgin West Coast. It seems a bit odd to discriminate as to which ticket types, ticket class or vendors are allowed reservations. Any thoughts how to get round this.

Thank you in advance, Stephen.


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You could go to a ticket office at a station, taking your existing tickets with you. AIUI it doesn't need to be the station you're travelling to or from, or run by the same company whose trains you're travelling on, but it does need to be one that offers tickets for future (rather than only for immediate) travel.

 

[SephenWorceste]

I have been to my local station. We have a travel centre but the computer says reservation are not available. Cross Country are only allowing reservations for Advance tickets booked through them.

Thank you, Stephen.


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[Merseysider]

Try asking XC on Twitter if you haven't already - I've found them to be brilliant. Keep it simple and just ask for the reservation.

 

[Bungle965]

Try asking XC on Twitter if you haven't already - I've found them to be brilliant. Keep it simple and just ask for the reservation.

I very much agree with you, they seem to be one of the better twitter feeds.
Sam

 

[furlong]

If seats are available, you can obtain reservations at any ticket office, as I quoted earlier:

8-12 CONDITIONS AND BYE-LAWS
(1) Prohibition on restricting the Purchaser's rights
An Operator must not publish any conditions which apply to the Purchaser of a Fare, Reservation or an Upgrade, and must not pass any bye-laws or operate any procedures, which restrict or purport to restrict the rights that the Purchaser would otherwise have under the National Rail Conditions of Carriage or the CIV Rules.

(2) Exception
Sub-Clause (1) above does not apply to the extent that this is expressly permitted by the National Rail Conditions of Carriage or, as the case may be, the CIV Rules.

And also:

8-9 THE AGENCY OF THE SELLING OPERATOR
Each Operator hereby appoints every other Operator which is notified pursuant to Clause 4-47 or 4-49 above of a requirement for, or the availability of, a Reservation or, as the case may be, the availability of an Upgrade as its agent to make the contract referred to in Clause 8-8 above for that Reservation or Upgrade.

 

[dcsprior]

I have been to my local station. We have a travel centre but the computer says reservation are not available. Cross Country are only allowing reservations for Advance tickets booked through them.

Thank you, Stephen.


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Ah apologies, I'd misunderstood what was meant by "travel centre" in your original post.

 

[SephenWorceste]

Ah apologies, I'd misunderstood what was meant by "travel centre" in your original post.

No problem. They are a dying breed. Unfortunately.


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[SephenWorceste]

Thank you Furlong. Cross Country are not making reservations available for flexible fares or through other resellers. That seems in breach of your quotes.

Best wishes, Stephen.


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[Merseysider]

Thank you Furlong. Cross Country are not making reservations available for flexible fares or through other resellers. That seems in breach of your quotes.

Best wishes, Stephen.


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That looks like a mistaken member of staff rather than any new policy.

XC are still reserving seats via Twitter (see attachment) and I've just been able to reserve a seat myself on your route via the TPE website.

 

[furlong]

Also there is this (which doesn't quite go far enough):

4-48 OPERATORS’ ABILITY TO REQUIRE OR MAKE AVAILABLE RESERVATIONS
(1) Requiring Reservations
...
(b) However:-
...
(ii) the Operator’s policy for requiring and charging for Reservations must not discriminate between, on the one hand, Through Fares and Inter-available Fares and, on the other hand, the Dedicated Fares of that Operator.

But perhaps this clause helps:

4-21 DUTY OF THE LEAD OPERATOR TO ACT IN AN EVEN-HANDED MANNER
In Creating a Fare pursuant to Clause 4-20 above, the Lead Operator:-
(a) must act in an even-handed manner between the Participating Operators which run trains on the relevant Flow; and
(b) must not engage in disruptive or anti-competitive or other pricing policies which restrict, or might reasonably be expected to restrict, passengers’ freedom to choose between the services of the Operators which run trains on the relevant Flow.

Could not offering reservations with the inter-available fare but only with dedicated fares be said to restrict passengers' freedom to choose the inter-available fare which can also be used on other operators?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Is it possible that, given the limited 1st Class accommodation on Voyagers, XC don't assign a quota for 1st Class walk-up tickets at all, only for Advances?

If that is the case, you MAY be able to obtain a reservation on the day of travel using their "10 minute reservation" service.

Send an SMS to 88008 (messages are charged at your standard network rate) with the following body:

• 21st April: TMR OXF SOU 1143 1ST
• 29th April: TMR SOU OXF 1017 1ST

Assuming there are seats available, you'll receive a confirmation message with the reservation details almost immediately.

 

[furlong]

Is it possible that, given the limited 1st Class accommodation on Voyagers, XC don't assign a quota for 1st Class walk-up tickets at all, only for Advances?

And if so, perhaps that falls foul of competition rules, if it means that passengers who want to be "guaranteed" a seat, but also want the flexibility to be able to switch to an alternative train later, are required to purchase an advance XC-only fare which they can't then use on another operator's trains.

 

[janb]

Is it possible that, given the limited 1st Class accommodation on Voyagers, XC don't assign a quota for 1st Class walk-up tickets at all, only for Advances?

I have encountered many times where you can't book seats with a 1st Off Peak Return (FSR) on CrossCountry. Usually able to cheat and book seats against a 1st Anytime Return (FOR) instead.

 

[SephenWorceste]

Thank you for your advice. I will start with social media and see how it goes but I have other options too.

Best wishes, Stephen.


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[SephenWorceste]

Just to update you. I Facebook messaged Cross Country and they responded immediately (at this time too). They had no problem with my seat reservation. The social media team seem excellent. A real pleasure to deal with.

I was mis informed by the booking support advisor and manager previously. A mistake not a policy decision which is good. The social media team said they will raise the issue.

Thank you, Stephen.


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[Blindtraveler]

I have to say the customer relations end of XC who may or may not be the same devision as handle social media are spot on. I rang them earlier today to make a standard seat reservation for a journey im making next week which is on multiple split tickets. No issue for the loveley cheery lass from the West Midlands.

 

[SephenWorceste]

I think you are right. The booking support department I spoke too was possibly based on the Indian subcontinent. I will say though the advisor and manager I spoke too had excellent English. I had no problem with service other than they did not do what I needed. It sounds like customer services and social media are UK based.

Thank you, Stephen.


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