FGW Ticket Questions

[SprinterMan]

I recently booked a ticket from London to Plymouth on the "Cornish Riviera". I was allocated coach D seat 80. Is coach D the coach with the televisions in it? And does anyone know if I will be on the sea-view side of the train on the Dawlish sea wall line (sorry if this is a stupid question but I don't know about how the carriage rotations work). I recived the tickets in the post and the seat number was listed as "80a". What does the "a" mean? I booked this through FGW's website. Thanks in advance.

 

[asylumxl]

I recently booked a ticket from London to Plymouth on the "Cornish Riviera". I was allocated coach D seat 80. Is coach D the coach with the televisions in it? And does anyone know if I will be on the sea-view side of the train on the Dawlish sea wall line (sorry if this is a stupid question but I don't know about how the carriage rotations work). I recived the tickets in the post and the seat number was listed as "80a". What does the "a" mean? I booked this through FGW's website. Thanks in advance.

I believe the entertainment is in B,and not D. Also the direction is hit and miss, depends which way it comes into Paddington.

When I've used this service, it hasn't been overly busy, and there may be extra seats available if you are not satisfied with your seat .

 

[W-on-Sea]

"A" means it's an "airline seat" (i.e. not one at a table). Could be facing either direction.

 

[moonrakerz]

I use FGW a fair bit, NEVER had my ticket checked to see if I am in the allocated seat, only on the right train; just grab any unallocated forward facing seat on the left hand side.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I believe the entertainment is in B,and not D. Also the direction is hit and miss, depends which way it comes into Paddington.

When I've used this service, it hasn't been overly busy, and there may be extra seats available if you are not satisfied with your seat .

No the Volo coach is D. But youre right, I'm sure by the time it reaches the coast there will have been plenty time to switch seats!

Not sure if every set yet has the TV coach?

Also although B and F seats still exist in 1st, I believe all in Standard are now A.

 

[SprinterMan]

I believe the entertainment is in B,and not D.

I found the bit on FGW's website about them. They say it's coach D but they could be wrong :P. Thanks for the input http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=4483

 

[Flamingo]

- Usually coach D has the Volo system (although there are a few sets running around without it still).
- A is just put on the tickets to cause confusion, IMHO
- Provided you are on the correct train (if on an advanced ticket), no-one will care where you sit if it's not reserved by another passenger, or in 1st if on a STD ticket.
- If in correct formation, I THINK that 80 will be a window seat on the right-hand side (land side) in the direction of travel, rear facing.

 

[SprinterMan]

- Usually coach D has the Volo system (although there are a few sets running around without it still).
- A is just put on the tickets to cause confusion, IMHO
- Provided you are on the correct train (if on an advanced ticket), no-one will care where you sit if it's not reserved by another passenger, or in 1st if on a STD ticket.
- If in correct formation, I THINK that 80 will be a window seat on the right-hand side (land side) in the direction of travel, rear facing.

Thats typical FGW lol, on the booking form i requested a forward facing seat :P

 

[asylumxl]

No the Volo coach is D.

My mistake! I didn't bother checking , just did it from memory.Which is obviously not very accurate .

I've got to be honest though, the Volo system is pretty poor in my opinion, and the content is ancient.

 

[TEW]

- A is just put on the tickets to cause confusion, IMHO

Recently on FGW most reservations no longer have the A printed which is much more logical, but I've also had the A printed on some tickets recently. Seems to be a bit random.

 

[barrykas]

Recently on FGW most reservations no longer have the A printed which is much more logical, but I've also had the A printed on some tickets recently. Seems to be a bit random.

Depends on the Ticket Issuing System. The reservation system no longer returns a "direction" code for FGW services, but some TIS still require you to specify Facing, Backing or Airline.

Cheers,

Barry

 

[yorkie]

"A" means it's an "airline seat" (i.e. not one at a table). Could be facing either direction.

It's been a long time since F or B were used. They've all (ie, including tables) been A for years now, as far as I am aware.

The only exception you are likely to encounter on NR metals are railtours

 

[embers25]

Also worth noting is that not all airline seats in coach D have tv's for some reason that I couldn't figure out. (Also obviously the table seats don't have tv's). In addition the last 3 fGW trains I've been on its not been working so don't hold your breath! Finally if you're in the middle of the coach on one side you lose a large area of overhead luggage space as it's taken up by the box that runs the system (that doesn't sound significant but during the summer crush any luggage space is of a premium.

 

[Flamingo]

Thats typical FGW lol, on the booking form i requested a forward facing seat :P

I don't know why they ask that, as there are so many variables it's a lottery.

 

[Royston Vasey]

It's been a long time since F or B were used. They've all (ie, including tables) been A for years now, as far as I am aware.

The only exception you are likely to encounter on NR metals are railtours

That's true of standard class on every intercity TOC I've used, but on FGW, first class seats remain F and B, for example G10F and G10B are facing across a table.

From my experience though, EMT, EC and Virgin all have uniquely numbered seats in FC.

 

[bnm]

Coach D, seat 80, should be on the left hand side from London, but backward to direction of travel, if the set you are booked on is in correct formation.

 

[SprinterMan]

Coach D, seat 80, should be on the left hand side from London, but backward to direction of travel, if the set you are booked on is in correct formation.

Thank you very much. Does this mean i will be on the sea-view side of the train at Dawlish? If I remember correctly I had seat 8 last time and had a sea view, so hopefully I will have a sea view because seats 8 & 80 appear to be on the same side of the carriage. Where did you get the seating plan from? Its brilliant.

Thanks everyone for feedback

 

[bnm]

Found the seating plan after an internet trawl. Yes, seat 80, coach D should be on the sea-wall side through Dawlish, as long as the set is in correct formation, which should be the case. It's rare for south-west bound services to be in reverse formation.

 

[TEW]

More common at the moment due to the Swindon-Didcot closure meaning a lot of trains are reversing direction.

 

[SprinterMan]

I am travelling somewhere else on the trains next saturday, will i be ok weather-wise?

 

[bnm]

More common at the moment due to the Swindon-Didcot closure meaning a lot of trains are reversing direction.

None of the services that head to the south-west are reversing at Swindon and it is only on Saturdays that some south Wales trains reverse at Swindon, so hardly a lot.

The odd set that is reversed at Swindon is then re-turned at Swansea if time permits.

 

[SprinterMan]

Is seat 80 actually in line with a window or is it one of the horrible seats in line with a pillar? Thanks

 

[bnm]

Seat 80 will, I believe, have an unrestricted view.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

There's a lot of very well informed people on here (plus a few less-so), and its clear from the answers to your 5 or 6 questions about just one journey that they are eager to help you with their specialist expertise. But, when it comes to . . . . .

. . . . next saturday, will i be ok weather-wise?

. . . then I'm not sure that even the excellent folks on here can answer that for you!!!!

Just keep looking at the Weather Reports as the week progresses:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/8 and put major places of interest along the route into the orange box.

Anyway, when FGW's HST sets are operating in reverse formation (back to front) there is generally a platform announcement to let you know this, just before the train arrives. This allows adequate time to move to the correct part of the platform. Clearly, such announcements are hardly necessary at the termini.

 

[SprinterMan]

Thank you very much everyone

 

[TEW]

None of the services that head to the south-west are reversing at Swindon and it is only on Saturdays that some south Wales trains reverse at Swindon, so hardly a lot.

The odd set that is reversed at Swindon is then re-turned at Swansea if time permits.

All the services that start from Swansea in the morning, and ones finishing at Swansea in the evening will be reversed direction so quite a few really. And the Swansea trains from my observations are not being self contained to the Swansea route, I've seen quite a few reversed formation sets out towards the South West in the last couple of weeks.