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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?

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....

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

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.

From their website...my emphasis



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.

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

From XC tweets....looks like a service failure...



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

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

Try it from OXF-SOU first.....otherwise weekend First upgrade on train no seats....?

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)  ::)

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  ;D

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  ::) ::)

Good to hear! A big tick for XC 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

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  ;D

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!

Those reservable during the journey specify this.

So you do take pot lucjk if you choose to sit in one - but I agree, there is a debate as to whether this should happen. However, if it didn't, I suspect it would be fully reservable, and thus booked before departure - thus unavailable to anyone boarding. So only slightly better in that it might not be booked during its journey. But not much. But definitely a benefit for those joining without a reservation.

I know what you mean Oxonhutch.  There are some seats which are cannot be reserved under the 10 minute rule - but I don't know which ones they are!

Oh, there are more of that kind than can be reserved. They are all in one coach, I think.

Four car XC Voyagers have reservable seats in every coach. Five car have one unreserved coach, B.

There are also 4 unreservable seats in coach C on the right as you enter from the toilet end. Coach D has 8 unreservable seats at the cycle storage end. 2 to the left and 6 to the right as you enter from that end. Coach A (1st Class) is fully reservable, as is Coach F (former Quiet Coach).

On four car XC Voyagers I always try and seek out one of these 12 unreservable seats if I don't have a reservation, especially on longer journeys. There's no way then that you'll have to move later in the journey should someone have made a '10 minute reservation'.

I don't suppose C & D Coaches are oriented such that these seats are at ends that abut each other?....

Sadly not. Which is why, if I'm heading to Brum or beyond from Bristol I tend to choose one of the services which start at Bristol TM. Plenty of time then to bag one of the unreservable seats.

Seat plans here:

http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/media/61862/voyager_seat_plan.pdf

On XC trains seats in coaches A and C can be reserved on the day and will contain a message along the lines of "May be reserved en-route, available xxx to xxx". If additional reservations are made then then the train will be called using all the power of 56k modems and the stations contained in the message will be updated. Reserved seats in any other coaches cannot be added to after the closing of reservations the night before.

The 10 Minute Reservation system does sometimes take reservations from Stations AFTER the train has already left them... (I've tried it, it does work and it did upset someone as First Class was full and standing; hence why I tried it)

I don't actually use the website to look up how it works. The format works like this:

TMR <Boarding Station Code> <End/Interchange Station Code> <Time train leaves in 4 digit military time> <Optional 1ST for First Class Seating>

So it looks like this when written down:

Standard Class:	TMR BRI EXD 1444
First Class:	TMR BRI EXD 1444 1ST

Would give you a reservation for the 14:44 from Bristol Temple Meads - Exeter St Davids.

I've just tried it for the 20:29 from Bristol Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads in First Class. That train has already left BPW.

This is what happened :D

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7_oRFBFK36k/VEqqOSMzu6I/AAAAAAAAkhg/cidAQPk_zVk/w325-h577-no/Screenshot_2014-10-24-20-32-15.png)

As the train is in Bristol area, it shouldn't take long to download via it's GPRS Modem. ;D

You forgot to say to what number you send the text....by deduction, I assume it to be 88008

Yes I did, my bad. Yes in all cases the text goes to 88008 :-)

XC now also offer Advance Tickets up to 15 minutes before the train leaves ;D

Admin Note: edited to fix quotes - bobm

4 weeks later and it's still not been addressed ??? ???