Arend7
Traveller
587 comments
Posted 2 years ago
What a misery to try making “reservation only” in the UK. (e.g. Shrewsbury to Llanneli, the Heart of Wales line, a 4 hours ride). “Not possible with our self-service, try elswhere” says the activitated Interrail app. Tried Britrail.net, redirected to ACP rail. Looks succes full, money has been paid. But on the place where the wagon and seat numbers should be, the phrase “place reserved, use any seat”. That’s not a reservation, that’s a contradictionary.
Then I will arrive in Ireland. The international planners, and so also the interrail app planner, don’t work there. You have to put your voyages manually in the app. Mayby that doesn’t work in the QR-code, than the Irish won’t be funded through those red beaming-ups (in Austria the national train planner at is called Scotty) at card checks.
nltrainer
Traveller
1334 comments
Its far more easy as you now think; these trains are all NON-reserved and in fact several canNOT even be reserved. You just have to write in the used sectors manually if it does not appear automatic.
In the UK currently-probably due to covid anti-crowding measures, so may be suspended soon, the ONLY trains that NEED to be REServed are the hourly LNER direct trains Lon-Edinb. Just go to counter=free. In fact by going to any counter in UK you would already have had this reply too!
In IE-rep the main IC trains CAN be but do not NEED to be REServed.
You have hit the wrong site. Use the general Interrail.eu/eurail site-since some 6 monthes this also has a far more widely used community-but before you start complaining, first read the relevant Country Info on those sites!
Arend7
Traveller
587 comments
What's the difference between "NON-reserved" and "canNOT even be reserved". If a train is NON_reserved than they automaticcaly cannot be reserved in my logic. There are 3 possibilties 1. Non-reservable 2. Reservation possible 3. Reservation mandatory. I mostly use www.bahn.de as the first source. That's a widely respected and used site. Interrail.eu gives only 2 possibilities. 1. No reservation needed 2. Reservation mandatory. That is not complete information. It seems you do to. But a lot of trains in the UK are "reservation possible" e.g. Avanti . The official source for the UK trains is www.nationalrail.co.uk. They also give "reservation possible" trains and advises en redirects to ACP rail. From them I get the reservation mostly with correct seat numbers, corresponding with the "seat reserved" notifications in the train. But sometimes with "place reserved, use any seat"'when they don'get the seat information from the train company. And that's my problem.
Arend7
Traveller
587 comments
supplemental. The interail app speaks of NRT defined as Non Reservation Ticket. That is nonsense. It means Non-integrated Reservation Ticket. Ticket and reservation apart. As opposed to IRT (Integrated Reservation Ticket), reservation included in the ticket itself.
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
Hi!
I dont quite get your problem since you seem to know all that is important already (for instance the difference between NRT and IRT etc). I think we all know that Interrail is, hmm, how to say that politely, not the most-costumerfriendly company/product and ACP is trying to offer a lot of different products within a single sales system which probably isnt very easy hence leading to certain inconsistencies or unclear product names.
In this case I would assume that there is an area of seats for passengers with a reservation but these reserved seats are not allocated to a specific passenger. Similar to the "express reservation" area that can be found in some other countries (such as Austria), where you can buy an express reservation at short notice (ie after the trains departure at its first station) which "only" guarantees you a seat but not a specific one.
It has been a while since I've travelled in the UK (covid...) but I think I vaguely remember such a system from the East Coast. Meaning that all seats in a specific coach were marked as reserved (with these nice UK style paper strips tucked into the headrests) but you could sit there without a reservation too as long as no one claimed that specific seat.
In this specific case I would assume that it is best to contact Transport for Wales directly or just see how your journey turns out. I dont think there will be a problem at all.
Flo
Arend7
Traveller
587 comments
Obviously I do not know everything. Until now I never heard of express reservations (thanks for that).
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
Nevermind. Like I said above, I wouldnt worry too much.
Would be interesting to hear from your experiences.
How do you plan on getting to Ireland?
Arend7
Traveller
587 comments
ferry from Pembroke and back over Holyhead
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
Oh sweet I only know the Holyhead <> Dublin route :)
Risberg
Traveller
43 comments
"But on the place where the wagon and seat numbers should be, the phrase `place reserved, use any seat´. That’s not a reservation, that’s a contradictionary." Just to compare: That's the case on all Amtrak trains (in the USA). You need a reservation, but you haven't reserved a specific seat in a specific car.
Arend7
Traveller
587 comments
The Amtrak system to passengers is very unusual in Europe. Possibly travel agents use it to have a wagon for resales in individual seats to passengers. My travel agent told me they just didn't get information from the train company and gave a me refund.
MisterSteve
Traveller
896 comments
On the Heart of Wales line finding the correct coach is usually not a problem - because the "trains" normally only have ONE. About 70 seats, no a/c, not enough luggage space if all seats are used, which is a rare event. And I've never known them to have reservations. On trains in Britain where reservations are possible there is no charge but the system is not linked to any of the European systems. ACP act as an official agent and probably have a contact in Britain they can ask - and then they charge you a ridiculous amount of money for their work. Since covid some companies where reservations are an issue have set up ways of getting them through email but mostly they just leave about 10% of seats unreservable at any time (and much of the time a lot more won't be reserved). Travelling alone I've never bothered with reservations.