Will I get a seat on unreserved seat, off peak tickets Bristol Temple Meads to York in late June?

should I be concerned that we might be looking at the possibility that we may not be able to get seats?

No.

Apart from anything scores of people will be getting off at BTM so their seats will be empty and many not be reserved. Even reserved seat may well be unoccupied.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated!!

I would advise avoiding the middle section of the train as they are usually busier than those near the ends.

Thank you. Will definitely avoid the middle . The info is very much appreciated.

No problem. I have done that journey many times.

Again I reckon you will be fine

Thank you for the help.

just to be aware - the first class area on those 'orrible pink doored trains is tiny. Agreed that the ends are better than the middle

Whilst I would normally agree with the above, are you travelling on Monday 26th June? If so, then I would strongly recommend that you make seat reservations for that train. The Glastonbury festival is that weekend and that Monday is when most of the 200,000+ people go home. Whilst everyone goes in different directions at different times and by car and coach as well, plenty will take the train. I guarantee a train at 11am on that day will be packed.

That’s a good point

Thankfully I will not be traveling on that date. However, thanks for the information as it is much appreciated.

Follow up related question — having a train ticket for a certain train isn’t a guarantee of a seat?? Is that true??

I have a ticket from Bath to Conwy but no seat #s assigned.

Oh, so DS has actually gone ahead and purchased one then, before the final schedules were out. I wasn't sure if he was still waiting.

On Cross Country I was surprised, above, to see that as any Cross Country advance fare should include an assigned seat. I think he has purchased too soon.

As regards DS I think the same has happened to him. On the long haul TfW service from Newport to (from memory, Crewe, on his route) I would have felt far more comfortable if he had waited for final timetable release (due today) at which stage a seat would have been allocated. The 'Marches' line as it is known is noted for it's short trains and heavy loadings. And he is joining at an intermediate station.
I would never travel long distance on that line without a seat reservation.
It certainly was not my advice to book yet- and I have been monitoring the situation for weeks to give him the best journey possible, and get ticket timings right (and best available fare).
Early on a Sunday morning he may well get away with it, and not have to stand, but what has happened has happened. There wasn't a rush to book- that was a perceived, not actual rush. Today is still 6 weeks away from his journey date, many people just buy on the day.
You can only give people advice, based on long experience.
EDIT- the advice now to DS (and the original poster) is that at the first manned station they come to on their UK travels (Bath for DS, Bristol for the OP, or elsewhere) get a free seat reservation issued for that ticket, before the day of your travel, and then you are assured of a seat.
2ND EDIT- I have now updated DS's original post with the correct and final (we hope) timings for his Bath to Conwy ticket on 21 May (which were released overnight)- if these are different to how he has been ticketed, then these timings supercede the ticketed ones and he should travel on the closest trains to those ticketed. He does not need a re-issued ticket.

a ticket is a contract to provide you transportation between the named points. It does not guarantee a seat. Seat reservations do that. Many local trains do not offer seat reservations, similar to a bus. If no seats are vacant somebody stands until there is when somebody gets off at an intermediate stop. Some people prefer to stand, in my experience.

A ticket doesn't even guarantee you a train. If they can't get you there by train it might be a later train, or other operator's train, or bus or coach or even taxi. Except during a strike, then all bets are off and they refund the ticket with no further obligation.

When I've travelled on CrossCountry trains I've noticed there is usually an unreserved coach in the train somewhere.
Also loads of people get off at Bristol Temple Meads so I imagine you'll be okay.

isn31C, how would I go about updating my e-tickets (on my phone) upon arrival to the UK? I will be arriving at LHR and taking the train to Bath from Paddington prior to my journey several days later from BTM to York. Can I update my tickets for seats at Paddington? Since the line is Cross Country, must I visit a Cross Country office to do so? Thank you for any assistance in this regard.

If you booked online directly with Cross Country you ought to be able to assign yourself a seat when they become available via your Cross Country account. Go to 'View your bookings' then amend. Better if you can than waiting.

If you booked through another company than Cross Country then visit any ticket office, like Paddington or Bath (which are Great Western)- any office can do it.
Funnily enough I've just been reading an article tonight on how some (but not all) train companies are releasing full price tickets before seats are available.
Personally I'd be nervous at not having a seat, because while the train empties at BTM, it fills up again at Birmingham and has quite a few more stops before York.
There doesn't seem to be a date on their website of what date advance fares are currently up to, which isn't much help.
If you did book through XC I'd try again on the app to book a seat in maybe 3 or 4 weeks time.

I travel regulary on Cross Country Leeds <-> Bristol, the trains are short and routinely rammed with standing room only. Get yourself a seat reservation.

Laughing Spam Fritter, are those Leeds - Bristol trains usually the 4 carriage or 5 carriage ones? Operation Princess really did for us. Remember those lovely long trains of Mk 3 stock?

And news this week that XC intend to get rid of their few HST's by the Autumn, presumably due to the Avanti voyagers being released when the Avanti Class 80x trains arrive in revenue service.

As XC finally starts to increase its COVID reduced schedules, doubling up of Voyager units is bound to be done less. The HST retirement will primarily be DfT driven, as it is on GWR, to meet cost reduction targets.

"are those Leeds - Bristol trains usually the 4 carriage or 5 carriage ones? "

Mainly 4. I once had to change at Brum New st due to an over running meeting and not being able to catch my normal train and 3 carriage once tipped up and clearly not everyone waiting was going to get on, its an awfully under rescouced route, with little viable alternative.

Back in the '80s, I semi-regulary commuted from Lincoln to Swansea either changing at Sheffield or Derby in the good old days of British Rail. Once changing at Derby the train was completely full and not every could get on, including YT. Then the announcement over the tannoy came telling everyone waiting for that service as a relief train was being organised and about 20 mins or so later a loco drew into the platform with a rake of empty coaches duplicating the full service. Folk used to complain and moan about BR, but not everything is better now and I can't imagine that happening today. It will be the same with the BBC, folk don't know what they miss until its no longer there.

The biggest mistake was getting rid of the Great Central, there would have been no need for HS2 if that still existed.

The HST retirement will primarily be DfT driven,

yup, there's no nationalised railway here

Noisy and smokey they were, but I miss the old HSTs. They have been gone off the EMR / Midland Main Line for a while now - sorely missed.

4 carriage Voyagers eh? too bad. No Supers then.... jumping on soapbox - what they did in Operation Princess was a travesty. And then to think that these Voyagers and Super Voyagers would fill the void? I have always detested the tin cans. bah! humbug!

jumping off soapbox. feel a little better now...

I’m a bit confused about seat reservations. We are planning a few trips with changes that use different rail companies. Eg, we want to travel Bristol - Newport (Great Western) and Newport - Ludlow (TFW). I checked both of those company websites and they say seat reservations are not available. I guess this is correct and we take our chances that we’ll have to stand?

GWR for both trains allows reservations. You can get for both at the GWR website. Or in any station.

The Bristol to Newport train is less than 40 minutes, Not too long to stand.

But the simple answer is to travel off peak - avoid the crowds and there will be plenty of seating.

Ethel - if you have different questions than the original poster (OP) it is better to start your own thread - then you get the notifications instead of the OP for answers, and there is no confusion between the questions, and all the answers will be directed to your question....

Ethel,
I have checked the TfW website this morning, you are right that they are temporarily not making seat reservations. No idea why, they were last time I looked.
For the journey to Conwy get yourself on the 1139 Newport to Holyhead train, and alight at Llandudno Junction as that is the morning train which is Loco Hauled (all the others are DMU 2 or 3 car), so is a longer train than the others, more capacity, more seats and a generally better quality experience.
There are 4 loco hauled trains on that route scattered through the day.
It's a 55 minute wait at the Junction for the next train across the bridge into Conwy, so taxi or bus it.