Hi all,
I wanted to share this in case it helps others.
For context, this is the fourth trip in Europe that I plan, and in all of them we have used trains to move around. Our Spain trip is a bit more rushed than is typical for us, but there is no other way to do it and be able to include our daughter with us. For this reason we have two very early trains, from Madrid to Granada (on RENFES AVE) and from Sevilla to Barcelona on Iryo. Because of the early morning hour, we chose to travel in first class to have more space, and more comfortable seats to be able to sleep a bit and make up for the super early rise. There are seven people in our party, our family of four and our son's girlfriend with her parents.
Because our trip is in January, very close to the time table change, I had to wait until the end of October to purchase our tickets. The difference between buying Infinita (First Class) and Infinita Bistró (First Class with seat choice included and breakfast brought to the seat) was 30 euros when you accounted for paying to select our seats in Infinita Class. In addition, I had to buy at the tickets in two transactions because trying to purchase the seven tickets increased the price significantly. I decided that 30 euros for a train breakfast was too much and purchased the Infinita Class tickets and paid for seat selection.
Yesterday I was researching what they sell on the train, and also what options for bakeries, etc there would be close to our hotel, so that we could bring breakfast with us. In doing so I decided to check what the price of the trip, a month out, would be now. To my surprise, Infinita was a couple of euros cheaper, and Infinita Bistró more than 20 euros cheaper, bringing the new prices less than seven euros more for Infinita Bistró vs the Infinita we purchased.
I decided to email the company to see if we could upgrade our tickets by paying the difference. They responded in less than half an hour, and told me that we could and how to do it. It was very easy. You get a code for changes on your ticket in your original confirmation email. With this code, you can enter your reservation and make changes, including upgrades. For 26 euros total, I changed our four tickets for the Infinita Bistró fare that now does include breakfast. So we were able to add breakfast, drinks (and apparently a snack) for 6.50 per person. The system randomly assigned seats, which I was easily able to change. The system also assigned the same type of breakfast to all. For that I emailed again, and they responded very quickly again saying that I could request the menu changes via email.
I have not traveled yet, but the experience has been good so far. I purchased tickets directly with their website. (In all fairness, I dd the same for RENFE tickets from Madrid to Toledo, and from Madrid to Granada, and did not have trouble purchasing them).
Happy Travels all.