Able to sit in unreserved coach?

[bella]

Have bought an advance ticket for next Monday's 10 40 Virgin from Glasgow Central to Euston. I'm told by the booking clerk at Central that the reserved seat is for a seat in Coach B with no window (just a panel). However although my ticket refers to and is subject to a second reserved seat ticket/coupon, she says there is nothing to stop me sitting in Coach F which is the unreserved coach if I want.

Is that advice correct? Am I likely to be asked to move from F to B should I do so?

 

[maniacmartin]

It's not strictly allowed, but you are unlikely to get into any trouble doing so

 

[Hadders]

You won't have any problems sitting in an alternative seat. The key thing is to make sure you're on the correct train as you have an Advance ticket.

 

[bella]

Thanks guys - that's helpful to know

 

[Gemz91]

Take your reservation out the seat you have reserved though to stop people thinking they can't sit in it.

 

[najaB]

Take your reservation out the seat you have reserved though to stop people thinking they can't sit in it.

The OP appears to be travelling with Virgin Trains which means a Voyager or Pendolino - hence reservation electronic displays. Good advice otherwise though.

 

[Romilly]

Not necessarily good advice, e.g. if the seat is reserved for different people for different parts of the train's journey. Also, some reservation tickets indicate a penalty for unauthorised removal, although I think threads about this in the past have never produced even anecdotal evidence of attempts to levy such penalties. And, of course, some reservation "tickets" are electronic not paper.

 

[Gemz91]

The OP appears to be travelling with Virgin Trains which means a Voyager or Pendolino - hence reservation electronic displays. Good advice otherwise though.

Good point!

 

[Welshman]

I know this is not going to make me popular, but if the train is full, it seems a bit unfair to take an unreserved seat which could be appreciated by a walk-up passenger, when you already have a seat reserved.

Especially as it is not practicable to remove your reservation coupon for reasons mentioned above.

I have actually been on full Virgin Trains where the Train Manager has asked folks to sit in their reserved seats, leaving the unreserved ones free for passengers on the day.

If possible, in future book online via the Virgin website, where you can actually choose/change your reserved seat to suit your preferences.

 

[najaB]

Not necessarily good advice, e.g. if the seat is reserved for different people for different parts of the train's journey.

In this case the seat is reserved for the entire journey.

 

[sheff1]

If possible, in future book online via the Virgin website, where you can actually choose/change your reserved seat to suit your preferences.

How is it that you can choose a preferable seat on the website, yet the booking clerk at Glasgow Central could not book that preferable seat ?

 

[causton]

How is it that you can choose a preferable seat on the website, yet the booking clerk at Glasgow Central could not book that preferable seat ?

In a booking office we can either choose "preferences" as on most websites (forwards, backwards, quiet coach, aisle, window etc) or an exact seat number.

To help you find your perfect seat we would have to Google a PDF seat map of the train you are booked to get and type in every seat number till we find one that is free!

Online it is much easier, you see which ones are free and just click on it!

 

[Welshman]

How is it that you can choose a preferable seat on the website, yet the booking clerk at Glasgow Central could not book that preferable seat ?

That's a fair comment. But if you're not at the station to start with you can usually book online sooner, hence the possibility of a "better" seat.

 

[sheff1]

In a booking office we can either choose "preferences" as on most websites (forwards, backwards, quiet coach, aisle, window etc) or an exact seat number.

To help you find your perfect seat we would have to Google a PDF seat map of the train you are booked to get and type in every seat number till we find one that is free!

Online it is much easier, you see which ones are free and just click on it!

Thanks for that. Seems to be yet another example where it is better to book online than use a booking office.

Interestingly, many moons ago when I was booking seats for people we had pieces of paper (one for each day) on which we could see at a glance which seats were available and reserve one in seconds. So much for progress !

 

[Romilly]

But in this regard, booking online is only better if you are booking with the TOC you are going to be travelling with AND that TOC's website allows seat selection. If not, you are far better looking up the seating plan for the stock you will be travelling on and then going to a ticket office so that they can book the specified seat you want (with the ticket office looking up the seating plan for you if they have access to it and you don't).