Reserving intercity seats on a family ticket

[TomB]

Hi everyone,

Relations of mine want to come up and visit from Cork just before Christmas. One adult three kids. They rang up woman in Kent Station who said

'it'll be 11 euro extra each to book seats and sure why would you want to as the trains from dublin will be really quiet the saturday before christmas'

(I kid you not)

Anyway, surely if I get on to IE Abbey St. they can reserve standard class seats for a family ticket, without getting 1st class? Just thought I'd ask here first as ringing Abbey St. always makes me want to cry, they're so feckin useless.

[TomB]

I rang the IE helpline this morning to ask about this.

The answer I got was that it is impossible to book standard class seats with a family ticket. The reason I was given was that because it is a 'reduced rate ticket', it's on a first-come-first-served basis. I was also told that there are no plans to bring in seat booking for family tickets in the future.

I see where they're coming from, but I think this is a bit unfair. The more people that are travelling in a group, the earlier you have to arrive to get seats together. Being able to reserve seats is a great incentive to take the train -- otherwise you're adding about 40 mins to the journey each way (as you have to arrive early to ensure a seat) and the car looks more and more attractive.

If you have a family with young children you really have to make sure you're sitting together.

It would be great if this could be added to the P11 list of gripes against IE on the website, if others agree.

[Jister]

thinking of bringing the kids to dublin zoo in the new year and its disappointing that I won't be able to book 4 places together. I'll probably drive now.

we went to spain a while back and paid something like €8 so that we get 4 seats together, which is quite nominal.

[Derek Wheeler]

Thomas can you confirm if you can book seats for 1 adult and 3 children outside of the family ticket concept.

[Mark Gleeson]

Online gizzmo comes with

Please note certain discounted group tickets such as the family ticket can only be purchased at the booking office at your local station

Up to 6 on one booking any combination

[Derek Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Online gizzmo comes with



Up to 6 on one booking any combination

Just checked it myself. You can book 1 adult and 3 kids. Discounted tickets aren't pre-bookable.

Load of baloney. Lazy IT. Database should read 1 adult and 3 kids and return the family ticket price. No excuses. Prebooking a seat should not have a penalty for discounted group rates, once it falls within the limits of the online booking system of 6 in one booking. However I would suggest that the first booking page should include family tickets in its section on how many passengers.

Just lazy IT.

So, just to confirm it. You can books seats for yourself and the kids, but you cannot avail of the family ticket price. You pay standard return fair at adult and child rates.

It is unfair. The idea of the family discount is to attract passengers. Not applying it to online booking is neanderthal, counter productive and defeatist in the extreme, especially when one considers that web transactions for booking all sorts of things is now the way it is.

[TomB]

Originally Posted by Derek Wheeler

Thomas can you confirm if you can book seats for 1 adult and 3 children outside of the family ticket concept.

Yes you can, and it's only 8.50 euro cheaper, so that's obviously what I'm going to do.
But if the two parents were travelling, as they normally do, that would be 67 euro more expensive...

To put it into numbers:

Monthly family return Dub-Cork: €118
1 Adult 3 kids: €126.50
2 Adults 3 kids: €185.50

I just think as a general rule, you should be offered the cheapest fare possible.

edit: ya beat me to it, derek!