Unreserved seating on Pendos?

[BurtonM]

I've just been away for a week in London - on the way down it was an 11 car 390, as it usually is in my experience - I sat in the unreserved seats, at a table in F (MAN-EUS). But on the way back up (1400 on a Saturday), it was a 9 car. As it used to be (I believe), E on the 9-car sets was the unreserved coach. So I went to sit in E, but it was full of reservations, mainly at the tables. (I had to put up with some clueless woman's crying child nearby for the whole journey too!)
So, my question is: have Virgin done away with unreserved seating on 9-car 390s now? And is 9/11 car just luck of the draw, or was I on a short form?

 

[user15681]

Could it be that the service was diagrammed for 11 cars, but was substituted for a 9 car at the last minute? If it was diagrammed for 11 cars then U and F would be unreserved, meaning E would have reservations. If it was then swapped for a 9 car, there would still be reservations for coach E, even though it's normally unreserved.

 

[CallySleeper]

14.00 SO ex Euston should normally be 11 cars.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I was on the 15.35 Manchester - Euston today which was 9 cars and E was unreserved so as others have suggested it was almost certainly a diagram swap that the OP came across.

 

[yorkie]

on the way down it was an 11 car 390, as it usually is in my experience - I sat in the unreserved seats, at a table in F (MAN-EUS). But on the way back up

To clarify, that's the geographical up/down (as in the way North is usually shown at the top of a map) rather than the railway Up/Down?

 

[CallySleeper]

To clarify, that's the geographical up/down (as in the way North is usually shown at the top of a map) rather than the railway Up/Down?

It would seem so.

 

[BurtonM]

Ah yes, I was speaking quasi-geographically.
Thanks for the info - I'll know if I'm on a short form in future!