Seat plans on CrossCountry Trains

Agrajag

Anyone know of seat plans on Crosscountry trains now they are run by Arriva?
I have seen this posting http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=448039
with links to Virgin's voyagers.
Did Arriva inherit these trains, or did they bring their own?

I am travelling next week, and want to book seats, but am quite particular as to where I sit, and am worried when I buy the ticket I will just get a number with no idea of location.

Thanks

Crabman

Arriva inherited the Virgin Voyager trains and planned to increase the number of seats by getting rid of the on-board shop.

They will also be bringing some old HST trains back into service (refurbished).

Looked at their website but couldn't see any seat plans. Not sure how you're expected to reserve a particular seat if they don't provide details!

testertrev

The booking office at my local station (Tiverton Parkway) has seating plans of voyagers so presumably others will too. If you can get to a station to book then you should be able to ask for certain seats. You should be able to get a better fare the sooner you do it.

HTH

dzug1

If you book online you can request a type of seat (forward, backward, airline...) but not a particular one - and there's no guarantee they will meet it.

Agrajag

Thanks all.

Looks like my best bet is to nip down to Guildford staion now, possibly armed with my printed plan from that previous link

MarkyMarkD

Crabman wrote: »

Arriva inherited the Virgin Voyager trains and planned to increase the number of seats by getting rid of the on-board shop.

They will also be bringing some old HST trains back into service (refurbished).

Looked at their website but couldn't see any seat plans. Not sure how you're expected to reserve a particular seat if they don't provide details!

They are not now getting rid of the on-board shops, at least according to Wikipedia, so the seating plans will probably not change.

You can't specify a particular seat in any case, so isn't the discussion somewhat academic?

Crabman

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

They are not now getting rid of the on-board shops, at least according to Wikipedia, so the seating plans will probably not change.

Interesting. According to the DfT, the increased passenger capacity was one of the reasons Arriva was awarded the CrossCountry franchise. The refurbished HST units will provide most of it though the original proposals did include modifying the existing Voyager fleet to assist in this respect.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/statecrosscountryrail

ticketcollector

You can specify a particular seat when booking at a ticket office. Its in the hidden options on the booking office system.

Agrajag

Well I have seat D60A on the way out,
and C49A on the way back
Both supposedly table seats with powerpoints, booked at the ticket office (with some rather long silences when the ticket guy clicked lots...)
According to the old plans, D60A an 'airline' seat right by the shop, so they may have re-arranged it a bit. I will have to wait and see

MarkyMarkD

Crabman Yes, I have seen that point made elsewhere. Effectively Arriva have pulled a fast one on Virgin in this regard. The explanation on Wikipedia is that the costs of removing, and refitting the shops at end of lease, is prohibitive. But they would have known that before tendering misleadingly, one would imagine.

ticketcollector It's interesting to note that you can reserve specific seats. Given that, you wonder why it isn't sold as an "extra cost option" as it is with the airlines. Do the TOCs not like making money or something? :rolleyes: IMHO, table seats are definitely worth a premium if you are travelling a long way in a group.

ticketcollector

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

ticketcollector It's interesting to note that you can reserve specific seats. Given that, you wonder why it isn't sold as an "extra cost option" as it is with the airlines. Do the TOCs not like making money or something? :rolleyes: IMHO, table seats are definitely worth a premium if you are travelling a long way in a group.

Well to be honest, it is more then likely way way too complicated for them to implement that into the reservation system.
Considering that most booking office staff don't get trained in how to reserve specific seats, just what the machine auto issues, and when you ask for a specific seat its not on the script and "ARGGHH BRAIN CANT COPE HELP".
There are also way too many different ticket systems as well and again that's going to be way too complicated to implement a charging system.

Oh and some TOCs actually charge you up to £5 for a reservation without an advance ticket. Though most offer them complimentary.