I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
would be handy.
I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
group together.
But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
to help.
Crock of shite.

Ken <ken@birchanger.com> wrote:
> I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
> remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
> Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
> I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
> would be handy.
> I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
> other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
> of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
> other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
> group together.
> But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
> Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
> far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
> to help.
> Crock of shite.

I haven’t tried it with a Rover, but twice now I’ve booked seats on LNER
from Edinburgh to London and back with Interrail passes and they’ve been
exemplary, checking which E* we were reserved on and choosing sensible
connection times. The second time we were booked in priority seats in both
directions - perhaps the booking clerk noticed that we were using senior
Interrail passes!

Sam

--
The entity formerly known as Sam.Wilson@ed.ac.uk
Spit the dummy to reply

On 27/06/2023 11:38, Ken wrote:
> I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
> remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
> Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
> I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
> would be handy.
> I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
> other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
> of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
> other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
> group together.
> But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
> Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
> far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
> to help.
> Crock of shite.

I'm afraid that the only way to do this is at a (soon to be closed)
manned ticket office.

I'm also not sure that all rover and ranger tickets are available from
anywhere but the (soon to be closed) manned ticket offices.

On Tue, 27 Jun 2023 19:35:42 +0100, Coffee
<martin.coffee@round-midnight.org.uk> wrote:

>On 27/06/2023 11:38, Ken wrote:
>> I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
>> remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
>> Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
>> I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
>> would be handy.
>> I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
>> other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
>> of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
>> other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
>> group together.
>> But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
>> Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
>> far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
>> to help.
>> Crock of shite.
>
>I'm afraid that the only way to do this is at a (soon to be closed)
>manned ticket office.
>
>I'm also not sure that all rover and ranger tickets are available from
>anywhere but the (soon to be closed) manned ticket offices.

I threw LNER's ticket office at NCL into a tizzy on Mon 29 May when I
walked in and asked for a *NE Round Robin* ranger for Tues 30 May.

"Wot's that? Oh, the one about £10?"

Sez I, "I don't fink so..."

The true cost was £59.30 and eventually purchased... a great day
NCL-CAR-LDS-NCL, though TPE had already cancelled all services north
towards NCL for the final leg.

XC's (LDS-NCL) were severely delayed for some strange reason... no
ticket check on board... open gates at NCL.

Blimey.

What a way to run a transport system.

Nobody <jock@soccer.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 27 Jun 2023 19:35:42 +0100, Coffee
> <martin.coffee@round-midnight.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> On 27/06/2023 11:38, Ken wrote:
>>> I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
>>> remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
>>> Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
>>> I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
>>> would be handy.
>>> I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
>>> other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
>>> of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
>>> other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
>>> group together.
>>> But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
>>> Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
>>> far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
>>> to help.
>>> Crock of shite.
>>
>> I'm afraid that the only way to do this is at a (soon to be closed)
>> manned ticket office.
>>
>> I'm also not sure that all rover and ranger tickets are available from
>> anywhere but the (soon to be closed) manned ticket offices.
>
> I threw LNER's ticket office at NCL into a tizzy on Mon 29 May when I
> walked in and asked for a *NE Round Robin* ranger for Tues 30 May.
>
> "Wot's that? Oh, the one about £10?"
>
> Sez I, "I don't fink so..."
>
> The true cost was £59.30 and eventually purchased... a great day
> NCL-CAR-LDS-NCL, though TPE had already cancelled all services north
> towards NCL for the final leg.
>
> XC's (LDS-NCL) were severely delayed for some strange reason... no
> ticket check on board... open gates at NCL.
>
> Blimey.
>
> What a way to run a transport system.

Sadly, yes. It's a nationalised railway.

In message <siel9ilame47h9n744kti1qjhvuv0abggb@4ax.com>, at 11:38:50 on
Tue, 27 Jun 2023, Ken <ken@birchanger.com> remarked:

>I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
>remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
>Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
>I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
>would be handy.

>I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
>other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
>of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
>other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
>group together.

Many booking sites allow you to select specific seats (when booking
regular tickets) but normally only on *their own* trains. I suspect
there isn't [yet] an API for them to communicate other than a request
for a seat, any seat, from a different TOC's backoffice.

>But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
>Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
>far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
>to help.

Many TOCs have call centres which will arrange for specific trains to be
met with wheelchair ramps, and it doesn't seem a huge stretch for those
same people to be enabled to book seat reservations for situations such
as yours.

Similarly the functionality you desire should be able to be added to:

<https://support.thetrainline.com/en/support/solutions/articles/7800000
0645-can-i-amend-my-seat->

>Crock of shite.

It's a work in progress, Sir.
--
Roland Perry

On Tue, 27 Jun 2023 18:26:33 -0000 (UTC), Sam Wilson
<ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> wrote:

>Ken <ken@birchanger.com> wrote:
>> I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
>> remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
>> Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
>> I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
>> would be handy.
>> I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
>> other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
>> of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
>> other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
>> group together.
>> But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
>> Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
>> far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
>> to help.
>> Crock of shite.
>
>I haven’t tried it with a Rover, but twice now I’ve booked seats on LNER
>from Edinburgh to London and back with Interrail passes and they’ve been
>exemplary, checking which E* we were reserved on and choosing sensible
>connection times. The second time we were booked in priority seats in both
>directions - perhaps the booking clerk noticed that we were using senior
>Interrail passes!
>
>Sam
That sounds like progress. It's a pity that XC's call centre can't be
so helpful.

As others have pointed out there will be a lot of things we can't do
when they close the ticked offices.

On Wed, 28 Jun 2023 07:43:59 +0100, Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk>
wrote:

>In message <siel9ilame47h9n744kti1qjhvuv0abggb@4ax.com>, at 11:38:50 on
>Tue, 27 Jun 2023, Ken <ken@birchanger.com> remarked:
>
>>I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
>>remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
>>Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
>>I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
>>would be handy.
>
>>I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
>>other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
>>of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
>>other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
>>group together.
>
>Many booking sites allow you to select specific seats (when booking
>regular tickets) but normally only on *their own* trains. I suspect
>there isn't [yet] an API for them to communicate other than a request
>for a seat, any seat, from a different TOC's backoffice.
>
>>But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
>>Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
>>far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
>>to help.
>
>Many TOCs have call centres which will arrange for specific trains to be
>met with wheelchair ramps, and it doesn't seem a huge stretch for those
>same people to be enabled to book seat reservations for situations such
>as yours.
>
>Similarly the functionality you desire should be able to be added to:
>
> <https://support.thetrainline.com/en/support/solutions/articles/7800000
>0645-can-i-amend-my-seat->
>
>>Crock of shite.
>
>It's a work in progress, Sir.

Is there work in progress?

It is what you'd describe as a solved problem. Airlines have managed
for decades.

Ken <ken@birchanger.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 27 Jun 2023 18:26:33 -0000 (UTC), Sam Wilson
> <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Ken <ken@birchanger.com> wrote:
>>> I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
>>> remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
>>> Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
>>> I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
>>> would be handy.
>>> I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
>>> other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
>>> of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
>>> other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
>>> group together.
>>> But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
>>> Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
>>> far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
>>> to help.
>>> Crock of shite.
>>
>> I haven’t tried it with a Rover, but twice now I’ve booked seats on LNER
>> from Edinburgh to London and back with Interrail passes and they’ve been
>> exemplary, checking which E* we were reserved on and choosing sensible
>> connection times. The second time we were booked in priority seats in both
>> directions - perhaps the booking clerk noticed that we were using senior
>> Interrail passes!
>>
>> Sam
> That sounds like progress. It's a pity that XC's call centre can't be
> so helpful.
>
> As others have pointed out there will be a lot of things we can't do
> when they close the ticked offices.
>

Supposedly, staff will still be available to help with complicated
bookings, as has happened with LU. They can help confused passengers use
the TVMs, and also do some things that passengers can't. It seems to work
pretty well, so that's the model being adopted for national rail.

In message <p1qn9il2flasbf08vqg2ama0s3oir64tik@4ax.com>, at 08:59:36 on
Wed, 28 Jun 2023, Ken <ken@birchanger.com> remarked:
>On Wed, 28 Jun 2023 07:43:59 +0100, Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk>
>wrote:
>
>>In message <siel9ilame47h9n744kti1qjhvuv0abggb@4ax.com>, at 11:38:50 on
>>Tue, 27 Jun 2023, Ken <ken@birchanger.com> remarked:
>>
>>>I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
>>>remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
>>>Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
>>>I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
>>>would be handy.
>>
>>>I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
>>>other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
>>>of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
>>>other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
>>>group together.
>>
>>Many booking sites allow you to select specific seats (when booking
>>regular tickets) but normally only on *their own* trains. I suspect
>>there isn't [yet] an API for them to communicate other than a request
>>for a seat, any seat, from a different TOC's backoffice.
>>
>>>But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
>>>Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
>>>far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
>>>to help.
>>
>>Many TOCs have call centres which will arrange for specific trains to be
>>met with wheelchair ramps, and it doesn't seem a huge stretch for those
>>same people to be enabled to book seat reservations for situations such
>>as yours.
>>
>>Similarly the functionality you desire should be able to be added to:
>>
>> <https://support.thetrainline.com/en/support/solutions/articles/7800000
>>0645-can-i-amend-my-seat->
>>
>>>Crock of shite.
>>
>>It's a work in progress, Sir.
>
>Is there work in progress?
>
>It is what you'd describe as a solved problem. Airlines have managed
>for decades.

Airlines have always been ahead of the curve (perhaps because their
fares are typically two orders of magnitude higher than trains, so
they can afford to pamper their customers).

Back in 1988 I could get real-time arrival information for Heathrow and
Gatwick via Prestel. National Rail didn't even do a pilot of it until
1999 (on GNER, which was helpful because that was my TOC at the time).
--
Roland Perry

On Wed, 28 Jun 2023 01:02:29 -0000 (UTC), Recliner
<recliner.usenet@gmail.com> wrote:

>Nobody <jock@soccer.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, 27 Jun 2023 19:35:42 +0100, Coffee
>> <martin.coffee@round-midnight.org.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> On 27/06/2023 11:38, Ken wrote:
>>>> I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
>>>> remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
>>>> Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
>>>> I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
>>>> would be handy.
>>>> I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
>>>> other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
>>>> of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
>>>> other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
>>>> group together.
>>>> But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
>>>> Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
>>>> far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
>>>> to help.
>>>> Crock of shite.
>>>
>>> I'm afraid that the only way to do this is at a (soon to be closed)
>>> manned ticket office.
>>>
>>> I'm also not sure that all rover and ranger tickets are available from
>>> anywhere but the (soon to be closed) manned ticket offices.
>>
>> I threw LNER's ticket office at NCL into a tizzy on Mon 29 May when I
>> walked in and asked for a *NE Round Robin* ranger for Tues 30 May.
>>
>> "Wot's that? Oh, the one about £10?"
>>
>> Sez I, "I don't fink so..."
>>
>> The true cost was £59.30 and eventually purchased... a great day
>> NCL-CAR-LDS-NCL, though TPE had already cancelled all services north
>> towards NCL for the final leg.
>>
>> XC's (LDS-NCL) were severely delayed for some strange reason... no
>> ticket check on board... open gates at NCL.
>>
>> Blimey.
>>
>> What a way to run a transport system.
>
>Sadly, yes. It's a nationalised railway.
>
Did they fire all the previous staff?

Charles Ellson <charlesellson@btinternet.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 28 Jun 2023 01:02:29 -0000 (UTC), Recliner
> <recliner.usenet@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Nobody <jock@soccer.com> wrote:
>>> On Tue, 27 Jun 2023 19:35:42 +0100, Coffee
>>> <martin.coffee@round-midnight.org.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 27/06/2023 11:38, Ken wrote:
>>>>> I'm planning another ALRR for next month, dodging a strike day by
>>>>> remaining north of the border pr 24 hours. I plan to catch a smelly
>>>>> Voyager from St. Austell to Edinburgh, a journey of over 9.5 hours.
>>>>> I'm travelling with Mrs. Trolleybus so thought a seat reservation
>>>>> would be handy.
>>>>> I know of no online way to reserve a seat without buying a ticket
>>>>> other than by using GWR's site. This all worked and I now hold a pair
>>>>> of seat reservations. For single seats with tables, one behind the
>>>>> other. There seems to be no way to ask for reservations that keep the
>>>>> group together.
>>>>> But I thought I'd try calling XC. The person had never heard of a
>>>>> Rover and couldn't understand why I wanted to book seats when I, so
>>>>> far as she's aware, have no travel tickets. In any case she was unable
>>>>> to help.
>>>>> Crock of shite.
>>>>
>>>> I'm afraid that the only way to do this is at a (soon to be closed)
>>>> manned ticket office.
>>>>
>>>> I'm also not sure that all rover and ranger tickets are available from
>>>> anywhere but the (soon to be closed) manned ticket offices.
>>>
>>> I threw LNER's ticket office at NCL into a tizzy on Mon 29 May when I
>>> walked in and asked for a *NE Round Robin* ranger for Tues 30 May.
>>>
>>> "Wot's that? Oh, the one about £10?"
>>>
>>> Sez I, "I don't fink so..."
>>>
>>> The true cost was £59.30 and eventually purchased... a great day
>>> NCL-CAR-LDS-NCL, though TPE had already cancelled all services north
>>> towards NCL for the final leg.
>>>
>>> XC's (LDS-NCL) were severely delayed for some strange reason... no
>>> ticket check on board... open gates at NCL.
>>>
>>> Blimey.
>>>
>>> What a way to run a transport system.
>>
>> Sadly, yes. It's a nationalised railway.
>>
> Did they fire all the previous staff?
>

The TOCs no longer have to worry about fare income or customer
satisfaction.