Great Western Coffee Shop

I am planning on taking a trip to Cornwall (BTH to SAU) on the weekend of 6 and 7th December as part of a family group of 5. 

Journey planner shows that their will be a bus from PLY to LSK, which is a pain but one I can live with as we will be on a sociable leisure trip in no rush and the train still beats the car (and you can't physically fit 5 people in my car when you are using the required child seats anyway). 

Now Advanced fares are not available, but with a F&F railcard the offpeak fare isn't too bad so that hasn't put me off taking the journey (although it is a shame that Advanced First fares are not available because this is just the kind of journey where I would be prepared to pay a moderate premium for first class). 

What has put me off is that seat reservations do not seem to be available either (not even on the IC BTH-PLY leg).  This is a pain because we need to book seats together to make a long journey sociable and enjoyable.

I assume that the seat reservations are not available because the timetable is still at risk of change (heres hoping that the Engineering work will be cancelled completely) but does anyone have any clue as to when they will release the seat reservations?  I had assumed that they were released at the same time as the advanced fares, but that is clearly not the case because advanced fares are apparently released already (presumably with zero quotas) at least according to http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/44703.aspx  (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/44703.aspx)

Thanks

Have you tried splitting the journey, both to see if that unlocks reservations and also to drill down on the cost of the fares?

Remember, you also have the option of Weekend First upgrade on your chosen dates.

If you message me the journey details, I should be able to see if there is a particular train that is causing reservations to be unavailable.