Britrail pass/seat reservations on LNER

Making a reservation is simple and it is also always free.

Britrail charging $30 seems pricey.

Anyway do it on this we page between 12 weeks and 1 hour before travel- https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/make-a-reservation/

I haven't personally used this method, as I always reserve with a ticket purchase. But hopefully you will be taken to a seat chart. Out of London you want to be on the right hand side of the car facing forwards. You can't all have a window seat and be seated together as the 1st class cars are in a 2+1 seating.

Normally the single seats (so 2 round a table) are on the right hand side of the train like this- https://www.lner.co.uk/globalassets/_page-structure/azuma-content/Azuma-seat-maps
with the 1st class cars K to M at the rear end of the train in the direction of the travel (the 'London' end in industry speak)

At that time if day and that far north by the time you reach the coastal views 1st class should be quiet- so just move to any unoccupied seats. On those trains you get served the 'Dine' menu- this is the current menu- https://www.lner.co.uk/globalassets/lner2321-dine-3-oct-2023-lner-menu-6pp-598mm-x-200mm-print.pdf

isn31c - thank you. That got me close. I was able to use the LNER app to get to the part with seat reservations - but Britrail didn't give me a booking number - so I used "0" and that reserved us 3 seats. Groups of 4 are on the port side and not Starboard. so it didn't go like I hoped it would with finding seats together on the right side but I'm guessing as you say that we can probably move around eventually.

you won't have a booking number (from Britrail or anybody else) because you won't have a booking. You won't have a travel ticket for any particular train, you have a pass. You just want a particular seat. So you were successful!! Congrats.

Britrail charging $30 seems pricey.

They are charging for a service. Yes, any staffed rail station can make reservations up to quite close to travel, and they don't charge. But somebody is doing the work and that work costs the rail industry money. Very generous of them.

Britrail also provide the service, and they, as a profit centre, choose to charge for the service. Is £30 too much? Maybe. But. The price is what a willing buyer and a willing seller agree on, and people pay that so they must be willing.

That is not quite correct that you don't have a booking number.

Although it is not a number you should ever have to use, in your confirmation e-mail you have been given an 8 figure alpha numeric 'Booking Reference' for your seats. Something like NLCGC72R [made up example]. Keep that e-mail just in case it should be needed. You were also given on screen a different 'Seat Reservation Number- something like JK308695.

All you should ever need is your seat numbers, but you never know.

I knew about that as I recently did a seat only reservation with Great Western (the only national seat only on line seat booking portal) and got one (for an Avanti West Coast Train), so have just done the same on LNER for a random train on a random date (to try out the system) and got such a booking reference, the same as on Great Western.
You can only book LNER seats on the LNER portal.

isn31c and Nigel - thank you both for the insight. I should clarify a couple of things - when I was going thru the process of selecting seats on the LNER app, it first asked for my booking # - which of course I don't have because I bought a pass on Britrail, which doesn't have one. And further, the Brit rail pass was sold through ACPRail. They did not provide a number with the pass. Once I bypassed the confirmation # with a "0", I did get a confirmation number from LNER with my seat reservation. I hope this helps someone who is trying to figure out this same thing.
I also think that people outside the UK have a different process and things are called different names? It’s pretty confusing but I think it’s going to all work out just fine now!

Sandstone Mike - Hi, if you don't mind me piggybacking on your question, I am in the same predicament trying to figure how it all works. I am about to buy the Britrail pass for a family of 4 in December and am trying to figure out how to reserve with LNER. I understand you were able to reserve through the app? Could you give me some pointers? Also, another user posted a weblink here for reserving, is that a viable option? Thank you in advance!

I made some edits to soften some hyperbole and tone. Thanks everyone!

Eddie, I don’t know about the web link but here’s what I did:
I reserved our Britrail passes and then went to the LNER app . The LNER app asked me to enter a valid pass and because I had not (and couldn’t yet) activated our passes because you don’t do that until the day you start, I had to enter ”0”. I was then able to reserve seats on the LNER trains we wanted. You receive a confirmation email from LNER.
The morning we were to travel from Edinburgh to London I woke up to a notice saying our train was cancelled. Through the LNER app, I was able to reserve seats on another train and it worked so slick. I may be leaving something out but this is generally how it worked for me. Best wishes

First time poster here. Our trip from Edinburgh to York is happening on one of the LNER strike weekends. We booked our seats on ScotRail but our confirmation says "Only valid on booked London North Eastern Railway Services and required connecting
services". I'm a bit confused as to what that means. Are our tickets valid on ScotRail or LNER? We've been to the UK many times but this is the first time for a rail strike. Thanks for your help!

Ca71 -- All UK train operating companies sell all tickets for all routes and ScotRail is one of those TOCs. The TOCs do not actually have to operate a route to sell the tickets for that route. So, if I chose to, I could buy a ticket from ScotRail for a journey from Chichester to Portsmouth operated by Southern Railway.

For Edinburgh to York most of the trains are operated by LNER usually departing on the hour & half hour, and Cross Country operates a few departing about 4-8 minutes after the hour.

Only valid on booked London North Eastern Railway Services and required connecting

That's the fare validity/details. I'm assuming you've purchased an Advansed Ticket for your journey -- you have a ticket for a specific train operated by LNER.

Just general information I cannot answer how strikes will affect actual service.

@California 71-

This thread gives you the service levels on LNER on strike weekends- https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/new-lner-strikes-every-weekend-from-31-august-to-10-november

So, if the strikes happen (and it is now too late, logistically) to cancel next weekend's Strikes you will have to make a new seat reservation on the LNER link above.
Note that even if your booked train is one of those running then what has technically happened is that the train has been cancelled and then reinstated, so your existing reservation will not now exist, although the ticket is still valid.

So do that about 6 to 7 days before travel (no sooner) when the confirmed timetable is released. As you have a LNER only ticket you are not allowed to use Cross Country, or Trans Pennine Trains who also run from Edinburgh to York (changing at Newcastle).

If your journey is in September we don't actually know yet if LNER will be able to run any trains. The trains were scheduled to be diverted via Carlisle due to engineering work. Whether enough crew will be available to do that is an open question. There is a chance you will be on a bus from Edinburgh to Newcastle.

The above thread will be updated next weekend to reflect the actual situation, and thence when there is any further news for as long as the strikes happen. Hopefully a deal will be struck a week or two in but time will tell on that.

Thank you VAP and isn31c for your replies. Our trip is mid October so hopefully the strikes will be settled by then. Thanks again for all the information.