Avanti seat reservations

[td97]

Avanti previously were very obliging in booking or amending a seat reservation for one of their future services.
I've asked on Twitter this morning to change a reservation but they have refused, stating they are unable to do this at present.
Is this anyone else's experience, and would I have better luck trying an Avanti ticket office?
(The obvious answer is using the seat selector by booking directly or Trainsplit, but I used LNER's booking site to gain a not-insignificant 5% cashback offer)

 

[Merseysider]

Any ticket office can in theory issue seat reservations but I’ve heard from others on here that Avanti are being difficult at their ticket offices too. Try a non-Avanti one if you can.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There is a fairly high chance they won't be displayed anyway, or the displays will incorrectly show Available. So I would say it isn't worth the hassle, just head for coach C or U.

 

[td97]

Try a non-Avanti one if you can.

Thanks, Manchester Victoria has very helpful staff so I'll try there.

There is a fairly high chance they won't be displayed anyway, or the displays will incorrectly show Available. So I would say it isn't worth the hassle, just head for coach C or U.

If I was boarding at the terminus I would. But joining mid way through the journey and wanting 2 seats together, it's less likely that a row of unreserved seats will be available (on what I expect to be a busy service).

 

[Watershed]

I'd simply get a reservation using one of the MixingDeck sites. You don't actually need to have booked a ticket through them to do so. You simply log into your account (e.g. here) and then proceed to make a reservation.

The only issue I've experienced with this is that it sometimes gives you a reservation in coach H, which is Standard Premium. You can select you'd like two airline style seats and hopefully this will put you in a "normal" standard class coach instead.

Also, bear in mind that if the reduced timetable hasn't yet been entered into the timetable systems, reservations won't be open and any existing reservations you have won't be shown on the train. So you can only do this a few days in advance, once the timetable is uploaded.

 

[td97]

I'd simply get a reservation using one of the MixingDeck sites

Thanks, very useful.

Also, bear in mind that if the reduced timetable hasn't yet been entered into the timetable systems, reservations won't be open and any existing reservations you have won't be shown on the train.

Do you mean wait until the STP schedule for my chosen Avanti service has been loaded onto journey planners? As Avanti are stating any existing seat reservations will be honoured/transferred if they are made after 8 August (obviously applicable for me)

 

[Watershed]

Do you mean wait until the STP schedule for my chosen Avanti service has been loaded onto journey planners? As Avanti are stating any existing seat reservations will be honoured/transferred if they are made after 8 August (obviously applicable for me)

Yes. You can see whether this is the case for the dates you'll be travelling by looking at Real Time Trains' detailed mode and seeing if Avanti schedules are listed as STP rather than WTT.

I don't think there is any way for Avanti to transfer reservations between LTP trains that are cancelled and new (BI) STP trains, but I could be wrong.