Is it possible to change seat reservations (TPE in this case)?

[Bungle]

Sorry if this has been asked previously.... Mrs Bungle is travelling from Durham to Manchester Victoria a week on Sunday, using TPE with a split at Leeds (Advance from Durham to Leeds, then Off-Peak Single from Leeds to Manchester, remaining on the same train) - about £20 cheaper than the cheapest through ticket. Predictably, the TPE booking engine has given two separate seat reservations in different coaches for each leg of the journey.

I imagine, being a Sunday lunchtime and with engineering diversions and a reduced service in place, the trains are likely to be pretty busy from York onwards, so I don't want her having to move seat at Leeds - she says she will look for an unreserved seat when she gets on at Durham but in the event she has to sit in her reserved seat for the first leg, I'm sure she will almost certainly be turfed out at Leeds by someone else having reserved it for Leeds-Manchester.

Is it possible to ring TPE or, after printing the tickets, go to our local station (which is EMT-operated) and get them to change one or both reservations so she can stay in the same seat for the entire journey? Or are they likely to say no, and that it's a risk you take if you split tickets to save money, or that it's not possible to do it anyway?

 

[Merseysider]

The seat reservation for the Advance ticket won't be changed unless you pay a £10 fee (counts as changing ticket, which you aren't supposed to do with Advances) but the reservation for the off-peak single can be altered, or a new reservation issued for free if you take it to a staffed station by 1800 the day before travel.

Seat reservations are subject to availability and you may well find none available. That said, sitting in the wrong seat on an Advance isn't exactly punishable by death, and I'd be surprised if she were made to move unless the train was heaving/someone else had reserved it.

 

[Bungle]

Thanks - yes, I understand the need to do it sooner rather than later due to the fact it is likely to be busy and there may not be any available. It is good news that you can do it at any staffed station though, even if the likelihood of the same seat as her Advance ticket is still available is slim!

Her initial reservation is in Coach B then the second one is in A - ideally I would tell her to just ignore her seat number on the Advance and just sit in or as close as possible to the second one. I frequently don't sit in my booked seat on trains which are not busy, but as I say, on a Sunday afternoon on north TPE with a reduced service in place I expect it may well be heaving and she may not have the option.

The service in question is this one - is there any way of finding out, or does anyone know, whether it will be 3- or 6-car? I suspect 3, but am not sure.

 

[Merseysider]

I'm not sure even TPE can say for certain whether it'll be 3 or 6 car Things can change on the day which means more/less units are available than planned.

I've only rarely seen 185s coupled up on a Liv-Mcv-Ncl working though so I've also got a hunch it'll be 3 car. Sorry I can't provide a definite answer to that one.