What's the point of reserving a seat when purchasing an Off-Peak/Anytime train ticket with National Rail?
score:8
The point in reserving a seat is so that you are guaranteed (ish) a seat to sit in. It's especially useful in larger groups that wish to sit together. It does not limit you to that particular train.
The National Rail Enquiries page on reservations says:
When are reservations compulsory?
- On some routes around Bank Holidays. Sometimes you can only join a train if you hold a reservation or boarding pass. Customers are advised to reserve seats as early as possible.
- When travelling on overnight sleeper services.
- When travelling with an Advance ticket.
It makes no reference to reservations restricting ticket validity. None-advance tickets make no reference to any reservations on the ticket, so there would be no way for anyone to know you have a reservation if you don't show them. Especially as reservations can be made after buying and collecting the ticket, there is no way the ticket could show this.
In addition, I travel on trains several times a week. I've not used reservations (that I have made) many times, and had no issues, and anecdotally, I'd say that over half of seat reservations are not used. I've also heard it said that you can reserve seats on multiple different trains (on the same section of the journey) with the same ticket - there's no way you could be on them all.
Upvote:7
No the validity of the ticket is not affected and moreover you may sit where you want on the actual train
However if it is a busy train with no available seats (and this does happen off peak) you are entitled to your reserved seat, and this will be enforced by the train guard (in theory).
In practise though I usually have no wish to eject someone less able to stand than myself.
A second point is that a lot of purchasers of those tickets have no wish for flexibility anyway but inventory management has prevented them from buying cheaper inflex tickets. It would be slightly perverse if the cheapest tickets came with a guaranteed seat but the more expensive tickets might leave you stood on your feet (when they are both bought well in advance).
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