Reserving seats separately from tickets

[ashley84]

Someone on here a while back pointed out that on the GWR website it is possible to reserve seats without having bought tickets. I have come to do this today and noticed they have tightened up on this a little, in that it now only lets you book unto 4 seats at a time, and make upto 5 reservations per day.

Does anyone know of any other ways of doing this? We are a family of 6, and whilst it will let me reserve 4 seats then another 2 separately, the two sets of reservations won't necessarily be near each other or in the same coach.

Thank you.

 

[Watershed]

Have you tried using the TPE website? It has a limit of 10 reservations per week but the maximum group size is 9.

 

[yorkie]

Someone on here a while back pointed out that on the GWR website it is possible to reserve seats without having bought tickets. I have come to do this today and noticed they have tightened up on this a little, in that it now only lets you book unto 4 seats at a time, and make upto 5 reservations per day.

Does anyone know of any other ways of doing this? We are a family of 6, and whilst it will let me reserve 4 seats then another 2 separately, the two sets of reservations won't necessarily be near each other or in the same coach.

Thank you.

Have you booked yet?

If you can book seats at the same time as buying the tickets, our ticketing site will allow you to choose seats.

If you already booked with our site and didn't get the seats you want, feel free to contact me and I will try to get it sorted for you.

Alternatively if you booked elsewhere, try contacting them.

 

[bananas]

Why does it keep getting more difficult to get seat reservations without tickets? You don't get given anything that credibly resembles a ticket (right? I've never used it) so is it really about fare evasion? Or are there people booking out whole trains that they'll never travel on just for the fun of it?

 

[Surreytraveller]

Why does it keep getting more difficult to get seat reservations without tickets? You don't get given anything that credibly resembles a ticket (right? I've never used it) so is it really about fare evasion? Or are there people booking out whole trains that they'll never travel on just for the fun of it?

I think some people take the mickey. Some book a table of four when it's just themselves travelling. Some book several trains as they don't know which one they're travelling on

 

[yorkie]

Why does it keep getting more difficult to get seat reservations without tickets?

If anything it's easier than ever. In the past you had to visit a ticket office and they would generally ask to see the original tickets.

You don't get given anything that credibly resembles a ticket (right? I've never used it) so is it really about fare evasion? Or are there people booking out whole trains that they'll never travel on just for the fun of it?

You should get some form of confirmation, if nothing else. Some retailers give reservations in e-ticket format. And it does make sense to have some restrictions in place to avoid/reduce abuse.

 

[ashley84]

Have you tried using the TPE website? It has a limit of 10 reservations per week but the maximum group size is 9.

Thank you, that does the trick! Feels like possibly a different version of the same software...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Jul 2025 ==

Have you booked yet?

If you can book seats at the same time as buying the tickets, our ticketing site will allow you to choose seats.

If you already booked with our site and didn't get the seats you want, feel free to contact me and I will try to get it sorted for you.

Alternatively if you booked elsewhere, try contacting them.

No we haven't. Our usual strategy is to do reservations first, then buy flexible tickets the day before, as then if one of us gets ill and we don't want to travel then we don't have to faff around applying for refunds. I know this isn't how it's meant to work but it has generally worked for us unto now.

 

[Watershed]

Thank you, that does the trick! Feels like possibly a different version of the same software...

They used to use the same software but have recently migrated to a completely provider. The functionality has been replicated though.

No we haven't. Our usual strategy is to do reservations first, then buy flexible tickets the day before, as then if one of us gets ill and we don't want to travel then we don't have to faff around applying for refunds. I know this isn't how it's meant to work but it has generally worked for us unto now.

Fair enough - but there are several retailers that will allow you to get a fee-free refund for unused tickets without needing to speak to anyone or fill out complicated forms. The GTR branded websites/apps, for example, will let you get a fee-free refunds on uncollected walk-up tickets (not eTickets though). Railsmartr will let you do so on walkup tickets although if collected, you have to go through customer services.

 

[HORNIMANS]

Have a two week All Line rover planned for two weeks time tried 6 different stations[large ones] will not give me seat reservations until I have the ticket.
Now you can only buy said ticket 3 days in advance Im now not going to bother.
Unless anyones got better information.on this.
what is the first train from Reading to Paddington with an ALR with Senior Railcard am travelling to York. Many Thanks.

 

[hornbeampark]

Have a two week All Line rover planned for two weeks time tried 6 different stations[large ones] will not give me seat reservations until I have the ticket.
Now you can only buy said ticket 3 days in advance Im now not going to bother.
Unless anyones got better information.on this.
what is the first train from Reading to Paddington with an ALR with Senior Railcard am travelling to York. Many Thanks.

I am aware the NR website says that you cannot buy an ALR more than 3 days in advance of the start date (or 5 days for telesales bookings) but I have never had a problem actually doing it. I have bought an ALR from both Paddington and Liskeard stations well in advance of the start date.

Furthermore here is a link to the TPE website which will happily sell you an ALR bearing a start date of 11/08 (2 weeks from today).

 

[Haywain]

what is the first train from Reading to Paddington with an ALR with Senior Railcard am travelling to York.

Any train. The Senior Railcard does not restrict the use of an ALR.

 

[Watershed]

Have a two week All Line rover planned for two weeks time tried 6 different stations[large ones] will not give me seat reservations until I have the ticket.

I'm not surprised by that; ticket offices have always applied this kind of restriction in my experience. However, it's easily worked around by getting standalone reservations on the GWR or TPE websites, as described above.

Now you can only buy said ticket 3 days in advance Im now not going to bother.

An ALR is really poor value compared to the cost of an Interrail, which would allow you travel across the continent without the ALR's time restrictions, in countries that generally care about running a decent railway. So I wouldn't blame you if you decided not to bother!

what is the first train from Reading to Paddington with an ALR with Senior Railcard am travelling to York. Many Thanks.

There are no restrictions from Reading to Paddington (the normal Senior Railcard restrictions don't apply to ALRs) but you can't leave Kings Cross on LNER before 10:00. You could always get a Grand Central service before then, e.g. the 08:26.