purchasing seats on British trains

Ruth - Have you already bought the train passes ? What time of year are you thinking of traveling ? How many people will be traveling ? What are the ages of the travelers? Years ago I used a Brit-Rail pass and I think the seat reservation was £5. Now when I travel I buy p2p tickets.

We have always used BritRail passes and never made reservations. Only had to stand for one short leg of one trip.
(and that's with more than 40 trips to the UK)

Hi Joel no, we haven't purchased the passes yet, but planned to do so soon, while the "one day free" offer is still available. There will be 3 of us, 2 adults and one child (we can get the child's pass for free with an adult pass). We will be traveling mid-July to early August. Pretty standard trips - London to York, York to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to London, London to Holyhead. We might take an additional day trip to Brighton or somewhere as well. What is a 2p2 ticket? Thanks!

Ruth, If making seat reservations is easy and free/cheap, I don't see a downside. If nothing else, it will ensure your family sits together. As far as crowded trains go, be wary of trains running into or out of cities in prime commuting time. Those, and trains serving sporting events, are, I think, likely to be the most crowded.

I believe that Joel was refering to point-to-point tickets -sometimes abbreviated p2p. These are tickets for a specific train at a specific time to a specific destination. If bought well in advance (usually about 12 weeks ahead of time) they can be a major savings for those bought on the day of travel or close to it. I have always enjoyed the flexibility of the BritRail pass. For example we often stop in York for a night or two on the way to Edinburgh. Or we have combined Dover and Canterbury into 1 day trip without having to worry about when we traveled- just hop off and then back on when we want. Same way if we get somewhere and don't need as much time (or want to stay a bit later). They are also great when you consider weather and other things (strikes, engineering works, etc.) that can make you want to change travel dates.

Ruth, my husband and I also enjoy using the BritRail Flex pass for the same reason Toni mentioned - freedom to come and go when and where you want. As for making seat reservations, what we will be doing this fall is make our reservation for the next leg of our trip when we arrive at the first stop - ie, when we arrive at the York rail station we will make our seat reservation for the train to Edinburgh two days later, and when we arrive at the Edinburgh station we will make our reservation for the trip back to London 5 days later, etc. If you make the seat reservations in person, there is no charge. There was only one time that we were unable to hop on the first train we saw from London to Edinburgh, so we just waited for the next one. This trip will involve some weekend train trips so that is why we're even bothering with reservations, and we also try to time things so we'll miss their commuting rush hour.

Ruth - Sorry, Yes p2p is an abbreviation I use for point to point tickets. As others have mentioned the flexibility of the Brit Rail pass is nice. I am one of the unfortunate travelers that tend to over plan (having to be in a certain place on a certian day) so therefore I don't use the flex pass much anymore. You can go to eastcoast.co.uk for ticket prices for the cities you will be traveling for 2 adults and one child. If you can commit to specific dates and times the savings can be quite nice.

Ruth You say , "child". If under 5 they are free; over 16 is considered an adult on British railways unless the person holds a 16-25 card (previously known as a Young Persons Card). EDITed for clarity...