Seat Reservations

d8boy · 13-08-2006, 21:43

I had my first experience with the girls in canary yellow at Heuston on Friday on the 17:00 to Cork. They were thorough and helpful and not allowing anyone without a reservation onto the coach with the reserved seats. While there appeared to be a long manifest of reservations, by 16:58 many seats were still unoccupied and the canary girls told passengers standing in the vestibules that they could occupy the seats just before they stepped off the train. At 16:59 4 people with reservations arrived and had a stand-up row with the people occupying their seats. One of the 4 went off in search of someone in authority but the 4 interlopers were left undisturbed. I'm not sure who was correct - the online booking system asks you to collect your tickets at least 20 minutes before departure. This seems a bit excessive but it does sort of imply that if you board one of the busiest trains of the week just one minute before departure that your seat may be gone. On the other hand I seem to recall that in Germany you are not allowed occupy an unoccupied seat with a reservation until 5 minutes *after* departure, presumably to allow the real owner to find it.
It would appear that many IE staff regard to whole seat resevation malarky as none of their business, hence the need to employ additional station staff soley to deal with reservations. This was confirmed on the way back boarding the 17:30 Cork to Dublin. I asked the ticket checker where Coach A was and was told "those reservations are only for the new trains, you can sit anywhere you like". We found Coach A at the back and all the passengers with reservations dutifully seated themsleves according to their tickets, but no-one came around to check, and the reservation stickers over the seats related to a journey on Saturday morning...
It's a real pity because with air travel becoming more hassled by the month a weekend break by rail is an attractive proposition. Up to now I was often deterred by the prospect of having to queue for ages just to be sure of getting a seat on a Friday or Sunday but seat reservations remove this hassle. There is a real opportunity for IE to market itlself as the more elegant and less stressful alternative - but only if they can get this right.

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13-08-2006, 21:43	#35
d8boy Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Dublin Posts: 12	I had my first experience with the girls in canary yellow at Heuston on Friday on the 17:00 to Cork. They were thorough and helpful and not allowing anyone without a reservation onto the coach with the reserved seats. While there appeared to be a long manifest of reservations, by 16:58 many seats were still unoccupied and the canary girls told passengers standing in the vestibules that they could occupy the seats just before they stepped off the train. At 16:59 4 people with reservations arrived and had a stand-up row with the people occupying their seats. One of the 4 went off in search of someone in authority but the 4 interlopers were left undisturbed. I'm not sure who was correct - the online booking system asks you to collect your tickets at least 20 minutes before departure. This seems a bit excessive but it does sort of imply that if you board one of the busiest trains of the week just one minute before departure that your seat may be gone. On the other hand I seem to recall that in Germany you are not allowed occupy an unoccupied seat with a reservation until 5 minutes after departure, presumably to allow the real owner to find it. It would appear that many IE staff regard to whole seat resevation malarky as none of their business, hence the need to employ additional station staff soley to deal with reservations. This was confirmed on the way back boarding the 17:30 Cork to Dublin. I asked the ticket checker where Coach A was and was told "those reservations are only for the new trains, you can sit anywhere you like". We found Coach A at the back and all the passengers with reservations dutifully seated themsleves according to their tickets, but no-one came around to check, and the reservation stickers over the seats related to a journey on Saturday morning... It's a real pity because with air travel becoming more hassled by the month a weekend break by rail is an attractive proposition. Up to now I was often deterred by the prospect of having to queue for ages just to be sure of getting a seat on a Friday or Sunday but seat reservations remove this hassle. There is a real opportunity for IE to market itlself as the more elegant and less stressful alternative - but only if they can get this right.