Manchester / Preston to Portsmouth

[Invincibles]

I am travelling down to Portsmouth tomorrow on an advance first ticket (Virgin West Coast + Connections) and my friend is travelling down from Preston (Lancs) on an advance first ticket (Virgin West Coast + Connections)

My train is the 05:55 from Piccadilly and I am advised to go to London Waterloo and take the 09:00 train.

His train is the 05:58 from Preston and he is advised to go to London Victoria and take the 09:02.

It seems a little strange to me that they have advised different connections for trains that arrive in London Euston within a few minutes of each other.

We would like to take the same train to Portsmouth from London, and since I have never travelled that way I am intrigued by the 09:02 via the south coast.

Is there anything to stop us taking the same train from London? (obviously they are advanced tickets)

I certainly do not want to be charged the first class fare from London to Portsmouth for getting the wrong train.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Deerfold]

I am travelling down to Portsmouth tomorrow on an advance first ticket (Virgin West Coast + Connections) and my friend is travelling down from Preston (Lancs) on an advance first ticket (Virgin West Coast + Connections)

My train is the 05:55 from Piccadilly and I am advised to go to London Waterloo and take the 09:00 train.

His train is the 05:58 from Preston and he is advised to go to London Victoria and take the 09:02.

It seems a little strange to me that they have advised different connections for trains that arrive in London Euston within a few minutes of each other.

We would like to take the same train to Portsmouth from London, and since I have never travelled that way I am intrigued by the 09:02 via the south coast.

Is there anything to stop us taking the same train from London? (obviously they are advanced tickets)

I certainly do not want to be charged the first class fare from London to Portsmouth for getting the wrong train.

Thanks in advance for your help

This depends on whether you have been given reservations (either specific seat reservations or a card saying Coach * Seat **) on your trains south of London. If not, you're free to take any reasonable (non-bookable) train on a valid route.

If your train is specified, you'll have to stick to it.

The fun comes in trying to work out if the train you want to take is bookable.

 

[Be3G]

I can probably explain why you've been routed on different trains to Portsmouth. Euston to Victoria is a slightly quicker journey than it is to Waterloo, so I guess the journey planner you used thought that your friend would just miss the fast train from Waterloo, so has directed him to the slower one from Victoria. That will, I assume, still arrive at Portsmouth a little earlier than the next fast from Waterloo.

 

[Invincibles]

Thanks both

I am yet to pick up my ticket from the Fastticket machine, but the booking confirmation email says "no seats reserved"

So I can probably change to the Victoria one?

 

[Deerfold]

Thanks both

I am yet to pick up my ticket from the Fastticket machine, but the booking confirmation email says "no seats reserved"

So I can probably change to the Victoria one?

If both your and your friend's says that, you should be fine.

 

[Invincibles]

So am I right to think that if that train is reservable then I can not use it? I tried the Southern website but it is not clear whether I can reserve seats or not.

Cross Country shows that it is not possible to reserve seats on that train if I try to buy another ticket for it, so I guess all would be well.

My friend is not always the best at understanding technical questions, so thought I would try a different route.

 

[John @ home]

So am I right to think that if that train is reservable then I can not use it?

That's not quite the full story. Yes, if the train offers reserved seats then you can't use it.

But some (but not all) Advance tickets on SWT and Southern come with no reserved seat but a reserved place on a specific train. We won't know if either you or your friend have this til the tickets are collected. If you have a reserved place, you must travel by that train.

 

[Waldgrun]

I would ask, do you know the difference between First class on SWT's classes 450 & 444, and Southerns Class 377's?

 

[wintonian]

I would ask, do you know the difference between First class on SWT's classes 450 & 444, and Southerns Class 377's?

On SWT the 450's are 2+2 seating with manual recline in the middle of the set

444's are 2+1 with proper reclining seats and are in the end coach.

Both have blue seats.

On Southern look very carefully for a window sticker.

 

[Invincibles]

I would ask, do you know the difference between First class on SWT's classes 450 & 444, and Southerns Class 377's?

Those 444 ones do look nice, I just assumed it was all 2+2 in the old Network South East area (having lived in Manchester a long time and now working in China I tend to make generalisations in my mind)

From what I remember though you are by no means certain to get a 442 on either Southampton or Portsmouth routes and as such it is probably just going to be a 2+2.

Anyway, both on the respective Virgin trains with no problems so I will pass on the message about the chance of a better seat when we meet in Euston.

Thanks again to everyone for their help
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Very fair point about the first class on the 377, but it was nice to have a lot of space to ourselves while the other parts of the train got quite full.

There were no problems with the tickets either