My wife and I are traveling for York to Bath connecting through Bristol as replies to a previous post recommend. Using both the UK National Rail website and the Cross Country website, I have been unable to get them to secure reservations for seats. Does this route not reserve seats, am I doing something wrong, or is there some trick to getting seats. There two old American tourists can't risk not having seats. Any recommendations or explanation would be appreciated.
Posted by
Lake District, England
8132 posts
You are at least two weeks too early for the XC reservations, they will sell tickets but not reservations until times are confirmed by Network Rail. XC are well behind on their reservations currently.
Just be patient.
I had previously bookmarked this query to chase reservations, but wasn't expecting a follow up from you so soon.
And even then, as has happened to me this morning, reservations can be suspended if a train is very busy or there are computer problems.
People who thought they had reservations didnt, and first class had to be declassified to assist with the issue, but we still had at least 6 cars of people on a 4 car train.
The Bristol to Bath local trains do not have, and do not need reservations.
Posted by
London
358 posts
Here is the official blurb from Cross Country - without knowing exactly what you have ordered or when this is for, it's hard to give a thorough answer. I would expect Bath to York to allow reservations.
START
How do I reserve a seat?
Online seat reservations
For all Advance train tickets booked on our website or app our system will automatically reserve a seat free of charge. For Anytime fares the site will ask whether you want a seat reserved for a CrossCountry journey. This is in case you have not made a decision on when you want to travel or would prefer not to be tied down to a particular train. If travelling on a CrossCountry Train you can also use the ten minute reservations text message facility.
We are not always able to reserve seats. This could be because:
the train services you are travelling on do not offer seat reservations e.g. if it is a short journey.
the train on which you wish to travel is full at the time of booking.
the seat reservations may not have been released yet. This is done up to 12 weeks ahead of travel.
Even without a seat reservation your tickets are still valid and you can sit in any vacant unreserved seat for the appropriate class of travel for your journey.
Reserving a seat after making a booking
You can use our Ten Minute Reservation service, more details can be found here, alternatively, can visit your local station and arrange a reservation. This is subject to the Terms and Conditions of the ticket and availability is not guaranteed.