To reserve or not to reserve? (seats)

peteb · 18 Aug 2026

Seat reservations compulsory London Paddington - Cardiff Sunday 16th August

Just saw this from GWR. Text from attached screenshot of a post from GWRHelp on X.com “Heading to the #CommunityShield at the @principalitysta on Sunday? If you're taking the train, here is some important information about your journey Seat reservations are mandatory on all services to...

www.railforums.co.uk

I noted the issues facing people trying to get to Cardiff on Sunday who hadn't reserved seats.

Two Questions:

Now there's a hundred and one reasons why you might not want to reserve a seat, BUT, if when buying a ticket you're offered a reservation would you bother to reserve a seat?

(I appreciate certain tickets have a reservation automatically attached, eg: Advance).

Second question, if you find you've been allocated a really bad seat, would you just sit in another unreserved seat?

RailUK Forums

GRALISTAIR · 18 Aug 2026

peteb said:
Now there's a hundred and one reasons why you might not want to reserve a seat, BUT, if when buying a ticket you're offered a reservation would you bother to reserve a seat?

Absolutely I do. I cant understand why people would not.

styles · 18 Aug 2026

peteb said:
Now there's a hundred and one reasons why you might not want to reserve a seat

Out of interest, what are those reasons?

The only one I can really think of is the selfless act of not leaving a potential other passenger hanging around waiting to see if your reserved seat becomes occupied.

Technically, also the Conditions of Travel rule which says you should sit in your assigned seat but this is so exceptionally enforced it's not really worth worrying about.

sh24 · 18 Aug 2026

The only circumstances I can see where a seat reservation doesn't make sense is for a flexible ticket when my plans are genuinely up in the air and it seems pointless to reserve anything. Most of the time I'll have a preferred train, reserve a seat and in the event things change I'll take my chances. Thankfully don't use Cross Country much

yorkie · 18 Aug 2026

peteb said:
Now there's a hundred and one reasons why you might not want to reserve a seat, BUT, if when buying a ticket you're offered a reservation would you bother to reserve a seat?

It would depend on the service.

peteb said:
Second question, if you find you've been allocated a really bad seat, would you just sit in another unreserved seat?

Given the forum's ticketing site has a seat selector, there's no need to be randomly allocated a bad seat, if a good seat is available to reserve

DelW · 18 Aug 2026

peteb said:
Now there's a hundred and one reasons why you might not want to reserve a seat, BUT, if when buying a ticket you're offered a reservation would you bother to reserve a seat?

Personally I prefer to travel with a flexible ticket and no reservation, so I can pick a seat, switch seats or even switch trains on the day. I do try to avoid the busiest trains though (and never to use XC unless there's no possible alternative).

peteb said:
(I appreciate certain tickets have a reservation automatically attached, eg: Advance).

In addition to preferring flexibility, many of my longer journeys include crossing London, and advances enforce such ludicrously long transfers (typically 75 minutes between arrival at Waterloo and departure from Euston for example) that I won't use them.

peteb said:
Second question, if you find you've been allocated a really bad seat, would you just sit in another unreserved seat?

When I have had a reservation, I'd only switch if the train was quiet enough that there are plenty of spare seats.

Dave61 · 18 Aug 2026

peteb said:
Second question, if you find you've been allocated a really bad seat, would you just sit in another unreserved seat?

Yes, happened to me where the person in the next seat (airline style) had a dog in a carrier with her - I opted to walk down the carriage and found another seat which was also reserved from an earlier point but clearly they had not turned up (or done the same).

Which is the pain of reserved seats when nobody sits there - or someone grabs the seat hoping you don't turn up and have to turf them out of it

pokemonsuper9 · 18 Aug 2026

peteb said:
Second question, if you find you've been allocated a really bad seat, would you just sit in another unreserved seat?

Yes, all the time.
TPE's seat reservation tool will give me a bad seat, or even just a decent seat but otherwise worse than the alternative and I'll sit somewhere else.
A couple weeks ago I had a booked seat of B1 on a TPE from Glasgow, upon approaching the train I saw coach b was very busy, with seat B2 already occupied, so sat down in the near enough empty Coach A, where I was one of about 5 in the carriage up to Motherwell, where a family of 5 boarded, but still had two tables to myself from there (I sat on the right side but the left side was useful to look into Polmadie depot).

If I bother to get reservations for my Avanti I'll usually just end up in Coach A (if it's just somewhere on Crewe-Lancaster where there's nothing I'll need to voicenote as I see it), U, or G instead if it's an 11 car.
And Coach D too, given it's the last non-quiet carriage to be automatically assigned reservations so it's usually the quietest.

peteb · 18 Aug 2026

Dave61 said:
Yes, happened to me where the person in the next seat (airline style) had a dog in a carrier with her - I opted to walk down the carriage and found another seat which was also reserved from an earlier point but clearly they had not turned up (or done the same).

Which is the pain of reserved seats when nobody sits there - or someone grabs the seat hoping you don't turn up and have to turf them out of it

In Germany the seat has to be occupied within so many minutes of departure, after that it reverts to being free. But it's a pain if you were to go to the buffet car for half an hour, you risk someone bagging your reserved seat.

The turn up and go facility that has been a feature of British railways for over a hundred years is so flexible. Countries like Spain force you to reserve a seat in advance. Unless you're very lucky and reserve one just before travel turn up and go in Spain (other than local commuter trains) is no longer possible.

Adam Williams · 18 Aug 2026

DelW said:
Personally I prefer to travel with a flexible ticket and no reservation, so I can pick a seat, switch seats or even switch trains on the day. I do try to avoid the busiest trains though (and never to use XC unless there's no possible alternative).

You can still do all of these things even if you make a reservation

Jim the Jim · 19 Aug 2026

When Crosscountry used to do reservations on their Cambridge route, I would usually not reserve a seat, as it was usually more pleasant to sit in the unreserved coach, and I rarely committed to a specific train in advance and didn't want to add to all the reservations made but never taken up.

trei2k · 19 Aug 2026

I personally think that seat reservations should be limited to long distance trains only. They are otherwise a pain because they create unnecessary conflict. A few points from me:

Look at the many examples of where seat reservations are not displayed and there are inconsistencies in what should be done. Sometimes we see that train managers tell passengers they still apply (which in itself is a conflict as people boarding cannot see what seats are reserved or not) to highlighting that they are not in force.

It is common is see many reserved seats on services with no passengers in them. Only those experienced enough may hang around and take the seat if no one turns up.

Everyone has different preferences and for the non-seat map based reservations sometimes do a bad job to match these preferences.

Flexible seating is useful when there are smelly/misbehaved passengers.

Finally, the widespread nature of reservations and creeping move towards compulsory reservations is likely to lead to sub-optimal conditions like we see in Spain/France where trains can "sell out". We are already seeing this with the abuse by the industry of the compulsory reservations plan. Now we all know we can get around this by buying a flexible ticket, but is it fair that someone with less knowledge of the railway might be forced to take a sub-optimal train.

I appreciate there are some instances such as for elderly travellers or those not familiar with the railway, reservations can add a bit of comfort/certainty to the journey.

sh24 · 19 Aug 2026

A better idea is implementing a fit for purpose seat reservation solution - a system that consistently works on board, enforcement by staff, no suspension every time the train gets busy, and a customers facing solution where you can book and cancel reservations (linked to their ticket), with seat selector functionality. Sadly I can't see that happening.

Falcon1200 · 19 Aug 2026

The only time I reserve a seat nowadays is on LNER between Kings X and Edinburgh, purely because the trains are so busy and there is no guarantee of getting a seat otherwise! Plus LNER's website usefully allows one to select a better, if applicable, seat than that originally allocated.

At other times, travelling south from or north to Glasgow, I do not always know exactly what route I will take until en route, and there are normally unreserved and empty seats available.

robert thomas · 19 Aug 2026

I much prefer to be flexible. I have travelled independently for 70 years at up to 45000 miles a year here and throughout Europe and have never reserved a seat except for the handfull of ocasions where I have bought an advance ticket and for trains like Eurostar which have compulsory reservations The few times I've had to stand have usually involved rugby internationals.

WestAnglian · 19 Aug 2026

trei2k said:
It is common is see many reserved seats on services with no passengers in them. Only those experienced enough may hang around and take the seat if no one turns up.

I see very much less of this now than I did a few years ago. At one time booking engines would reserve a set by default but now it's an option.

Snow1964 · 19 Aug 2026

On our line (where some journeys are 3+ hours), can't reserve seats, and advances just say use any seat.

The trains still have seat back holders for card reservations (not been used for at least a decade), and are expected to stay for at least another 6-7 years. But no attempt has been made to fit electronic reservation displays for 15-20 years of electronic era.

So question is why are some 1 hour journeys allowed reservations, but some 3 hour journeys don't. Surely a good start would be consistency.

LittleRedTrain · 19 Aug 2026

I prefer not to reserve seats as I value the flexibility of being able to pick a seat that suits me (decent window view, shady side of train, further from disruptive passengers etc).
Most of my travels are on Chiltern who don't offer reservations anyway (though it sounds like they may be coming).

When CrossCountry used to have a fully unreserved coach on all trains, I tended not to bother reserving and try my luck there. However, now a 4 car Voyager only has a tiny number of unreservable seats, I tend to get a reservation even for short journeys just in case, especially when travelling with my wife, who cannot stand for long periods.
If the train turns up as a 5 car or a double set, I usually won't use my reservation and tend to go for an unreserved coach, as there's usually less of a bunfight to board and find seats.

I'd rather the trains had enough capacity that this wasn't necessary, but with XC it's often a case of 'any port in a storm'.

route101 · 19 Aug 2026

Quite often on Avanti I will just go to unreserved coaches, went to G the other week and it was empty. I remember on some operators they bunch the reservations together or you will be sitting next to someone while the rest of the coach will be empty.

I have notice more people taking what times the app says even if they have a flexible ticket.

To reserve or not to reserve? (seats)

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