Having no seat reservations would be terrible for non-solo travellers. I've been on trains that are only about 60% full, but you can't get two seats together. During the daily commute, virtually everyone is a single traveller, and people always start a new row, rather than taking a seat next to someone. I come along with my partner, and we can't sit together.
Virgin's display of reservations is poor. We often join a train at Nuneaton going to Liverpool. Because someone else had the seats reserved from Euston to Nuneaton, the two reservations simply says "Reserved: Euston to Liverpool". Because those people didn't sit in those seats, two others thought they could take them and then they are mighty miffed when I ask them to move at Nuneaton. There's often not anywhere else for us (or them) to sit, and so there ends up being a disagreeable confrontation. I hate that Virgin keeps putting me in this situation.
The solution is quite simple - as well as ensuring that all segments of a reservation are shown (like on the old paper ones), also make it easy to get and change seat reservations - by an online or mobile phone application and by machines in the station. I'm sure the OP would have been much happier if, on arrival at Euston, he could have gone to a machine on the concourse and picked a decent seat, rather than taking pot luck once on board. The technology for seat reservations on trains to update in real time is already used elsewhere in the world. Why can't we manage it?
