Megabus reservations

[JonathanH]

Megabus continues to try to sell reservations on its services, with the number of those seeming to have increased reducing the number of general seats available.

One thing I don't quite understand is what happens if the number of people not buying a reservation exceeds the number of 'general seats' on their services. From experience, it doesn't appear that they remove the headrest covers that show the reservation number so how do passengers know if those seats are available for general use and which ones?

I was looking at a Megabus journey on an Interdeck this weekend and noted that none of the reservable seats appear to have been booked - see screenshot below.

36 seats appear to be reservable and 29 aren't. I appreciate that selling reservable seats offers additional revenue but is this policy actually popular?

Turns out I have the twelfth booking. None of us appear to have booked seats.


[Picture shows a seat plan of an Interdeck vehicle with the prices for the front 10 rows of seats (less two stairwells)]

 

[extendedpaul]

People sometimes move forward as the bus departs even when there are further pick up points.

The unreserved back part of the bus is always at least initially fuller than the reservable front, though Megabus occupancy is still lagging behind National Express from my admittedly limited experience.

(I wonder why the six brown seats near the front are valued less than those further back ?)

 

[MCR247]

The ones further back (in the middle of the coach between the front stairs and the centre stairs/toilet) have better legroom, while the front seats and those just behind it have a standard amount

 

[JonathanH]

(I wonder why the six brown seats near the front are valued less than those further back ?)

Those six seats are also at a slightly higher height because of the interdeck design needing to accommodate the downstairs row of seats behind the driver so are a bit of a compromise.

The unreserved back part of the bus is always at least initially fuller than the reservable front, though Megabus occupancy is still lagging behind National Express from my admittedly limited experience.

So i guess my question is what happens when the number of reservations for general seating exceeds 29.

Answering my own question, the booking engine forces reservations at the lowest cost. I tried a booking for 21 people - it allocated the 17 remaining general seating spaces and then forced four of the £1 reservations.

 

[route101]

I took a Megabus from Birmingham to down to the coast recently and I reserved a seat near the front. Most people went to the rear half of the coach. The front was quiet. Never usually reserve a seat on a coach, as you could be right next to someone, though now more seats have opened up to reserve. 6

 

[JonathanH]

Never usually reserve a seat on a coach, as you could be right next to someone, though now more seats have opened up to reserve.

Yes, but the Megabus approach seems to be misunderstood in that the first people to book all decide not to reserve thinking that means they will ultimately be able to sit anywhere, not realising that the later bookers are then forced to make reservations. Ultimately, passengers do end up right next to someone regardless.

I'm not a huge fan of reservations on a coach.

 

[route101]

Yes, but the Megabus approach seems to be misunderstood in that the first people to book all decide not to reserve thinking that means they will ultimately be able to sit anywhere, not realising that the later bookers are then forced to make reservations. Ultimately, passengers do end up right next to someone regardless.

I'm not a huge fan of reservations on a coach.

Yes, not a fan either of reservations. Flixbus I think are all reservation. National Express only first few rows are reservable. Though I am fan of booking a second seat on Flixbus.

 

[LiIo75]

I have my first ever journey on Megabus in a weeks time. I paid an additional £1 for a seat reservation. I can remember which seat I selected but this is not shown on the confirmation email or PDF. How can I be absolutely sure I have a seat reserved and no one else will take it? Will there be unreserved seats available?

 

[JonathanH]

The driver may indicate which seat you should take.

The way the reservations work mean that on a full bus you need to sit in the seat you have reserved. What happens is that once all the 'general seating' is sold, passengers are forced to pay for the reserved seats. If the bus isn't full you have more freedom as to where to sit.

If you return to the booking engine and look at the service you are travelling on, you will see which seats are still available. If, doing this, you are obliged to make a reservation all the unreserved seats have been booked.

The difference between a seat booking and not having one is shown at the bottom of the page.

[Screenshot of booking process for Megabus showing one potential booking with a seat number and another with 'general seating']

 

[asb]

I have my first ever journey on Megabus in a weeks time. I paid an additional £1 for a seat reservation. I can remember which seat I selected but this is not shown on the confirmation email or PDF. How can I be absolutely sure I have a seat reserved and no one else will take it? Will there be unreserved seats available?

The reservation number itself should show the reserved seat number(s) at the end, after the destination city code (e.g. LON for London)

 

[route101]

Noticed the other day on the M11X, some people just sit in any seat, then someone with reservations comes along! I don't usually reserve a seat on NX/Megabus as everyone gets a seat and if you get to the stance early I can pick my usual window seat.

Can you book a whole row on Megabus?

 

[JonathanH]

Noticed the other day on the M11X, some people just sit in any seat, then someone with reservations comes along! I don't usually reserve a seat on NX/Megabus as everyone gets a seat and if you get to the stance early I can pick my usual window seat.

Can you book a whole row on Megabus?

Is the M11X (2300 from Victoria / 2330 from Glasgow) always run using coaches from McLeans of Airdrie now as a long-term arrangement?

AJ69MCL is a truly uncomfortable coach with the hard seat backs. AJ19MCL has softer seat backs. Hovever, they both seem a bit too low capacity for this service.

I don't think people fully understand the reservation policy yet. I rode the 2300 from London to Glasgow on Friday night (and the 2330 back on Saturday night) in the general seating.

On the Friday trip, a family had booked a row across the coach, turned up relatively late, and had to move some people from their seats. However, it appears that fewer seats are marked out with numbered reservations than advertised for these services.

On the Saturday trip, a passenger from Edinburgh had decided to sleep across two seats towards the back and had to be woken at Glasgow since these coaches generally fill to capacity.

Still, at least Megabus don't yet allocate seats for passengers who don't want one and book early. I have booked a overnight Flixbus trip to Leeds in July and been allocated a place on the back row. I think they may have changed their algorithm to start allocating passengers not wanting to pay for a seat choice from the back instead of the front.

 

[route101]

Is the M11X (2300 from Victoria / 2330 from Glasgow) always run using coaches from McLeans of Airdrie now as a long-term arrangement?

AJ69MCL is a truly uncomfortable coach with the hard seat backs. AJ19MCL has softer seat backs. Hovever, they both seem a bit too low capacity for this service.

I don't think people fully understand the reservation policy yet. I rode the 2300 from London to Glasgow on Friday night (and the 2330 back on Saturday night) in the general seating.

On the Friday trip, a family had booked a row across the coach, turned up relatively late, and had to move some people from their seats. However, it appears that fewer seats are marked out with numbered reservations than advertised for these services.

On the Saturday trip, a passenger from Edinburgh had decided to sleep across two seats towards the back and had to be woken at Glasgow since these coaches generally fill to capacity.

Still, at least Megabus don't yet allocate seats for passengers who don't want one and book early. I have booked a overnight Flixbus trip to Leeds in July and been allocated a place on the back row. I think they may have changed their algorithm to start allocating passengers not wanting to pay for a seat choice from the back instead of the front.

It seems I was on the same service as you on Friday. I wrote a trip report in the sticky thread. I did notice a family with two kids turned up and moved some people out towards the front. I was sat on the right hand side towards the back, 3rd row back from the toilet opposite an area without seating. The seats were quite uncomfortable with no armreats between seats. I cant remember the coach registration but seats were same as the new panoramas.

On Flixbus I just pay to book a seat in advance and if not too much, book the seat next to me.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 May 2022 ==

Is the M11X (2300 from Victoria / 2330 from Glasgow) always run using coaches from McLeans of Airdrie now as a long-term arrangement?

AJ69MCL is a truly uncomfortable coach with the hard seat backs. AJ19MCL has softer seat backs. Hovever, they both seem a bit too low capacity for this service.

I don't think people fully understand the reservation policy yet. I rode the 2300 from London to Glasgow on Friday night (and the 2330 back on Saturday night) in the general seating.

On the Friday trip, a family had booked a row across the coach, turned up relatively late, and had to move some people from their seats. However, it appears that fewer seats are marked out with numbered reservations than advertised for these services.

On the Saturday trip, a passenger from Edinburgh had decided to sleep across two seats towards the back and had to be woken at Glasgow since these coaches generally fill to capacity.

Still, at least Megabus don't yet allocate seats for passengers who don't want one and book early. I have booked a overnight Flixbus trip to Leeds in July and been allocated a place on the back row. I think they may have changed their algorithm to start allocating passengers not wanting to pay for a seat choice from the back instead of the front.

The M11X is a more recent variation. In the past there was just dupes.

 

[Martin1988]

I caught a Megabus on Sunday morning between Bristol and Birmingham and sat right at the front despite not having reserved a seat there. Either the seat I was sitting in hadn't been reserved or the passenger who had reserved it no showed.

I caught the Flixbus back home and had been allocated a seat right on the back row. However upon boarding the back row was occupied and the driver told me there was no reserved seating so I ended up in a front row seat. Have twice had the reverse happen where I've reserved a seat in the front row and ended up on the back seat instead.

Last June I did a trip from Bristol to Leeds with Megabus on a very lightly loaded service with no more than 10 of us on (the week when the Covid restrictions should have been dropped but their lifting got postponed). On boarding I asked where I should sit and was told 'in the back half'. I sat on the back row as far as Birmingham but then after 1 passenger boarded there I moved to the front anyway for the last leg of the journey.

From experience Megabus drivers don't seem to mind passengers sitting in the front row seats if they are not occupied by reserved customers but Flixbus drivers seem to totally ignore reservations.