10 minute seat reservations

[whole diary]

[johoare]

I am trying to use the SMS seat reservation system for Cross Country trains.. On their site it lists the trains that this facility is available on but it bears no relation to the timetable.. Does anyone know any way around this or what I may be doing wrong?

The train is the 20.53 Reading to Southampton Central today but it is only giving me a 20.41 option around that time?

[ChrisB]

I thought you could only use it within a short (1 hour or so) time before arrival?

I know they advertise it as "15 minute reservation" before your train arrives, but in practice it works for at least an hour before, sometimes better than that which makes me think its only once the train is in service....

[johoare]

It just says it's for reserving seats on the day of travel (as far as I can see)

[bobm]

I have just tried it for the 20:53 (17:27 from Manchester to Bournemouth) and it says "There is no seat availability for your requested journey".

I have had that message before when a) the train had no reservations left or b) when it was formed of a train which didn't have working electronic reservations.  So not very helpful.

As ChrisB suggests it might be worth trying again after 17:30 once the train is on its way.

[ChrisB]

From their website...my emphasis

If signed in our website, you can also add a seat reservation to an existing booking with CrossCountry up to 15 minutes before you travel.

Our Ten minute reservation SMS service is designed to allow reservations to be made on the day of travel only, and up until ten minutes before the departure time of the train from your station. However, the earlier you are able to book, the more likely we are to be able to meet your reservation request.

Are you logged in?....try and book it via their website rather than the text option. I agree I can see what you see when using that webpage....

Failing that, a tweet to them or call their customer services - it might not be working.

[johoare]

ChrisB - The ticket was booked (via machine) at Southampton Central so even if I log into my account I can't add a reservation..

Bobm... Did you text 20.53 (plus all the other stuff) to Cross Country? I think it's confused due to changes to those trains today (diverted between Basingstoke and Southampton Central arriving half hour late).. I am wondering if texting 20.41 (etc etc) would do the trick instead as that is the time the system thinks the train is running .. Failing that I will tweet them (I can finally do twitter now :-))

I tried changing the departure to Manchester Picadilly and it did show the correct train btw

[ChrisB]

From XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) tweets....looks like a service failure...

See what you're referring to....services are xx41 Mon-Fri with later departure on weekends if engineering works

We'll make sure this is recorded & passed on to the relevant people so it can be addressed - though I'm afraid in the meantime, there isn't an alternative we can use to book, I'm afraid. Perhaps worth trying to book via TMR from Oxford? Just trying to think out of the box as a short term workaround

Looks like a failure of their software supplier with train running data....

[johoare]

Marvellous (not).. Anyone have any idea of how busy that train might be then?

[ChrisB]

Try it from OXF^» (Oxford - next trains)-SOU first.....otherwise weekend First upgrade on train no seats....?

[johoare]

It's actually a 20.46 departure Monday to Friday but guess the 20.41 might be arrival time at Reading (just to confuse people further)  

[johoare]

ChrisB, between both you and I tweeting Cross Country they have tried the reservation on their online system and appear to have booked a seat for my son.. Not sure how it's possible for him to prove it but I will find out. Thank's for your help on this 

[johoare]

Reservation text now received so all good.. Now all I need is his connecting train to make it to Reading on time as last Sunday it looks as if it arrived a minute after the Southampton train left.. We may have to go for the good old "getting the train half hour before just to make sure you make the connection" trick 

[ChrisB]

Good to hear! A big tick for XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) twitter team, in my experience, more helpful than customer services, oddly.

Poss best to go for 30min earlier connection. I know it's a pain, but poss best now they've pulled out the stops for you

[johoare]

Yes they were quite impressive.. and I agree.. it's worth the extra half hour since the seat is now reserved.. Although since it's an advertised connection and if he had missed it my son would have been potentially an hour late and so due compensation... Still not worth arriving an hour late in Southampton for 

[Oxonhutch]

I don't know if I have got this right...
           ... but one could plonk oneself in a seat marked "Available" on a long journey on a nearly full train when suddenly your seat changes to "Reserved from X" and you are now asked to vacate it and potentially stand for the rest of the journey.  This doesn't seem right to me.

To my mind, if a seat needs reserving, it should be reserved before the train starts its journey - and indicated to everyone as such. Just my 2^d-worth but I've probably got the wrong end of the stick!