Reserving the same seat when splitting tickets

[FenMan]

Perhaps I'm overlooking the obvious, but I've never found the knack of forcing the same seat reservation on long distance journeys when splitting tickets.

I mostly book journeys through the GWR Mixing Desk, sometimes using their Android app.

Any tips on how to achieve this will be gratefully received!

(I accept a seat that is available on one leg of a journey may not be available on another leg, so no need to point this out).

 

[kevconnor]

It may depend on the journey. There is a journey I use to make for my old job where splitting from an anytime return to two anytime day returns mean I was saving about 50-60%. with these I was also able to go into a ticket office and reserve some seats in person.

 

[Merseysider]

I think you've answered your own question there

Trainsplit is, I believe, able to reserve the same seat for a through journey on split tickets. If the journey isn't too expensive then the small fee would probably be worth the convenience imo.

 

[matt]

I think you've answered your own question there

Trainsplit is, I believe, able to reserve the same seat for a through journey on split tickets. If the journey isn't too expensive then the small fee would probably be worth the convenience imo.

I don't think TrainSplit can currently but will in the future.

 

[yorkie]

I think you've answered your own question there

Trainsplit is, I believe, able to reserve the same seat for a through journey on split tickets. If the journey isn't too expensive then the small fee would probably be worth the convenience imo.

They do try! Some train companies make it harder for them than others. In the longer term, Trainsplit will hopefully have seating diagrams and a seat selector, which could help.

 

[island]

The only reliable option for this is to book in person at your local staffed station.

 

[FenMan]

Thanks all.

Going to a station with a ticket office would be a bit off route for me, however I'll give Trainsplit a go.

 

[SickyNicky]

Just to confirm, although we try, at the moment some TOCs have seating policies that make it hard or impossible to keep the same seat throughout.

We're working on that, but it's not going to be "fixed" any time soon. Sorry!

 

[LordCreed]

Not something I've tried, but maybe telesales for one of the TOCs? When I used to book business tickets for work the telesales team were always able to reserve seats next to each other, despite the fact we were getting on at different stations.

 

[gray1404]

What sort of different seating policy's do the different TOCs have and why?

 

[CyrusWuff]

What sort of different seating policy's do the different TOCs have and why?

I'd hazard a guess at either or both of:

• Allocating specific seats for given journey segments
• Allocating specific seats for given ticket types

Ostensibly this will be to "spread the load more evenly throughout the train" or some such, whilst effectively "penalising" people for splitting by potentially requiring them to move at each split point.

Not that I'm cynical you understand...

 

[JaJaWa]

The following TOCs and perhaps more have a seating map where you can click a seat if you book directly through their website:

• CrossCountry
• Virgin Trains East Coast
• Virgin Trains West Coast

 

[Deerfold]

The following TOCs and perhaps more have a seating map where you can click a seat if you book directly through their website:

• CrossCountry
• Virgin Trains East Coast
• Virgin Trains West Coast

Whilst of some use, it seems silly that where seat selection exists online it's not accessible to all websites that can deal with seat selection.