I have to say FGW^▸ (First Great Western) that I do resent the snugger feel when I catch a 1.5 1st stock on the way into and out of PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) in the rush, but what I really miss is my 1st quiet coach.  I hate half telephone conversations - a couple of days ago, I swear someone was starting to divorce his wife by phone - it was awful.  Please FGW, give us premium season ticket purchasers our quiet zone back - we deserve better in this regard - thanks.

I was there and it appeared to me that lessons had been learned from last week - I was there too - only got home at 21h45 that night.  There were lots of staff around giving out information that they were receiving from the outside - radios and phones.  Water was being handed out. I got a bottle - thank-you! Nice FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff member heading for Platform 12 gave me the tip that services were about to start in 45 minute - it was 16h10.  That stopped me heading for Waterloo. Another very helpful FGW man on the gate line kept me informed as per progress and tipped me the nod when the first Reading fast was about to leave.  I even got a seat - and thanks for the water BTW^▸ (by the way). 

My impressions were well done tonight FGW.  Your analysis of last Friday's disaster bore good fruit.  Communication was obviously incoming from NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and was being relayed to us that politely asked. Only 40 minutes late - some poor family in Ealing will be waiting too long, for ever, tonight.

Thank-you for the replies so far.

I posed the question because the advice from Customer Services implied that - even without a delay to a booked service - FGW^▸ (First Great Western) would honour travel by any reasonable connection, and that a FGW (RDG^‡(resolve)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)) Seat Reservation in this circumstance was just fluff generated by the system; i.e. it would always be ignored.

The answers so far seem to imply that FGW's stance is not publically 'official' but rather a de facto discretional easement.

Does this apply to all Advance journeys with a longer onward (Advance Ticket - seat reservation) leg?  I find my journey to be more comfortable (and certainly less stressful) if I can assure myself that I have adhered to all of the rules of the game!

Regards,

A family member has just travelled from Reading to York on an Advance Ticket with seat reservations on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) (RDG^‡(resolve)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)) and ECR (KGX-YRK). The reserved connection from RDG was running late (signal problems around Newbury) and the connection time across London was tight at 50 min (via H+C/Circle).

They enquired as to when travel was possible ex-RDG if the booked service (as per seat reservation) was running late, and was told by Customer Services (main concourse RDG) that the only fixed train leg was the long one (KGX-YRK).  The seat reservation on FGW was just generated by "an imperfect system" and that travel from RDG-PAD was available by any reasonable FGW train.

Travel was undertaken using an earlier FGW service to PAD but a lack of ticket inspection en route meant that the advice was untested on the train.  Can anyone vouch for the RDG Customer Service advice; and perhaps point me to an authoritative source as to its veracity. Many thanks.