Caledonian sleeper - Scotrail booking site

[FabienDem]

Hello,

I wanted to book tickets on the Caledonian sleeper for a London Euston - Inverness trip.

But when selecting 2 sleeper standard return tickets, I am proposed to choose between 4 options (which are not options as we have to choose one of them....) :
Optional extras are available

• CAL SLEEPER SEAT RES (free)
• COMPLIMENTARY SEAT (free)
• CHILD BERTH FEE/RES (£20.90 extra)
• STD SCOTTISH SLEEPER (£41.80 extra)
• CALEDONIAN SOLO RES (£59.40 extra)

Do you know what is the difference between "CAL SLEEPER SEAT RES" and "COMPLIMENTARY SEAT" as they are both free ??

Thanks in advance !
Fabien

 

[yorkie]

Welcome to the forum.

What a confusing list!

The first two appear to be the same thing - a seat reservation. I doubt it makes a difference which you choose.

The £41.80 fare is a berth in a twin cabin, so if you booked two of those, you'd have one small cabin between two of you (if one person books, they can end up with a stranger!)

The £59.40 is a cabin to yourself (if two people are travelling, is possible to 'inter-connect' two facing adjacent cabins to make a larger size compartment).

We do have staff who work on the Sleeper on this forum, who may be able to assist further.

 

[CallySleeper]

Hi Fabian, welcome to the forum.

Both of the 'free' options are exactly the same thing.

Can we just clarify, do you intend to hold a tickets such as off-peak or anytime returns for this journey?

If this is the case, 'STD SCOTTISH SLEEPER' 'upgrades' your ticket from a seat only to a cabin (berth). 'CALEDONIAN SOLO RES' gives you exclusive use of a cabin (probably pointless if there are two of you travelling & sharing a cabin).

The former option will cost you £233.90pp return. Be aware however that it is possible, depending on your travel dates to reduce this price much further by buying two Advance or Bargain Berth tickets. For example, using the two cheapest Advance tickets (if they are available) would give you a return cost of £132.20pp. I'd therefore strongly advise you to check this before buying an 'open' ticket. Alternatively if you are able to advise us of the dates you intend to travel we can check this for you.

 

[F Great Eastern]

I must admit that booking engine is terrible for booking sleeper tickets, I had a look a it a few days ago and it confused the hell out of me about what tickets included berths and what didn't there were so many ticket types it was crazy.

It would be useful if someone could go through all of the (many) options for sleeper tickets and their names on the booking system and what they mean, since it's totally confusing compared to the old much more simpler system.

 

[jopsuk]

Aye. I can understand (sort of) the desire to integrate the sleeper ticketing into the main engine, but they;'ve ended up with a horrible mess. Finding Bargain Berths is especially a challenge- the old system for those was simple and very useful if you hadn't nailed down which nights you wanted to travel

 

[FabienDem]

Woaw thank you for all these replies.

I am glad (in a way...) to see that I am not the only one feeling lost in this interface. I am quite used to booking trains or planes and this is not the best experience as you said
English is not my native language which probably doesn't help....

@ CallySleeper: I planned to travel on wed. night on the 4/09 from London and coming back on sunday night on the 8/09. I don't need any flexibility like anytime return and I don't mind stopping at Fort William or Inverness.
London <-> Fort William seems to be fully booked on these dates. Or you may find some space if you play with the system which is frustrating.....
It's a bit a last minute organisation So I have my bit of responsibility...

Caledonian Sleeper seems to be an awesome experience and it probably deserves a better booking system anyway....

Thank you guys for your help!

 

[Bidstonboy]

While there is a topic about the sleeper on the go, I hope you don't mind if I sneak in a quick question. I'm booked on the Inverness-Euston next month and received a text message from Scotrail with the details of the train and my berth number etc. The text starts by saying "This is your e-ticket." Is it enough just to show this text to the sleeper attendant as I board, or will the guard come through in the night and need to see some form of paper ticket kept in the attendants compartment as happens in Europe? Thanks.

 

[CallySleeper]

While there is a topic about the sleeper on the go, I hope you don't mind if I sneak in a quick question. I'm booked on the Inverness-Euston next month and received a text message from Scotrail with the details of the train and my berth number etc. The text starts by saying "This is your e-ticket." Is it enough just to show this text to the sleeper attendant as I board, or will the guard come through in the night and need to see some form of paper ticket kept in the attendants compartment as happens in Europe? Thanks.

Nope that's enough. You may also be asked to show the card you used to buy the ticket.

 

[Bidstonboy]

Thanks. I already have a rainforest of tickets, reservations and receipts for journeys that week in my wallet, 2 less for this will help. In fact, I think it's a good idea to send out a text, just so long as I don't end up with a number "3" stamp punched on my phone!!

 

[CallySleeper]

Hi Fabien,

Unfortunately Sunday night services to London are generally very busy, and also given the fact you're looking to travel next week. The booking engine won't allow me to book any cheaper tickets and so unfortunately the cheapest I can manage is two 'standard single' tickets which comes to £301.60 per person.

Your other options are:
- If you would be willing to make your return journey by 'Seated' Sleeper (ie. in a seat, not a bed) then this would reduce the total cost to £196.40pp. Seats on the return train are still available.
- For the same price you can also make the return journey on any daytime train, for example the Highland Chieftain. While it's not the Sleeper I would also recommend this train which leaves Inverness for London Kings Cross at 09.40 on a Sunday morning (07.55 other days). Since it's the same price I would personally probably choose this option over trying to sleep sat down!
- Or, consider if you can make the return journey another night. The sleeper doesn't run on Saturday night, but for example the cost of returning on Monday night would be £232.90pp, if booked now.