Greater Anglia First Class and reservation downgrade

[Bringback309s]

With all the 720's that are starting to come into service (cough, cough) GA were due to officially end first class on everything except the Norwich services at the end of this month. is that still happening? Will first class compartments just be downgraded? Somewhere comfy to sit for a change? Also, what came of ending seat reservations on the Norwich services due to all of the 745's that were to be in service a couple of months ago (cough, cough)?

 

[trebor79]

There have been no seat reservations on Norwich service since early this year. Unsure whether the plan is to bring them back when the 745s enter traffic.

 

[Alfie1014]

The latest timetables published for Dec 15th through to next May show 1st class still on most EMU services (except some Stansteds and the 0500, 0900 and 1700 NOR-LST and 1100, 1900 and 2000 LST-NOR) and their booking engine still shows the full range of First Class fares on all but rural routes.

 

[noodlepoodle]

Good luck keeping normal punters out of first class on the WAML though given that there are no guards and GA announced it will be downgraded from 1 Jan 2020.

 

[mawallace]

Had this though on the regional lines - conductor was adopting - where there's a first class compartment - you need first class tickets.

 

[dk1]

There have been no seat reservations on Norwich service since early this year. Unsure whether the plan is to bring them back when the 745s enter traffic.

Yes the 745/0 have digital reservations screens.

 

[mawallace]

The press release said the seat reservation was temporary

https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/abo...emporarily-suspended-greater-anglia-intercity

Greater Anglia’s Business Readiness Director, Andrew Goodrum, said, “The new trains coming into service is really exciting, but we wanted to avoid any mix ups with reservations while the two fleets are swapped over.

“For example, if a passenger reserved their seat in advance, the reservation would be made for a seat in one of the current older trains. By the time they travel, this could have been swapped to one of the new trains, where all the seats will be different, meaning that they would not be able to find their reservation.

“The new trains are much longer than our existing fleet so getting a seat during the transition won’t be a problem.

“Once the old trains are removed from service our seat reservations system will be reinstated, but during the transition phase people will be able to get used to the new trains and familiarise themselves with the layout.”