Kember.net

Seat reservations for National Express / GNER

Posted 18 December 2007, 14:14. (Filed under: by Andrew)

I know that not many people read my website, but if this saves one poor soul from having to dangle on the end of as many automated phone systems as I’ve just done, then it’s worth it.

The advice comes in separate chunks for easy digesting:

Lots of train tickets come with automatic seat allocation and reservation- check your tickets. The following is for those who don’t have reservations.

  1. If you’re travelling on the train at Christmas, book seats.
  2. If you booked tickets with National Express (was GNER) by phone call them on 08457 225225 to reserve seats.
  3. If you booked tickets with National Express (was GNER) on the new, National Express website, phone 08457 225111 to reserve seats. You may also be able to do it online, I don’t know.
  4. If you booked tickets with GNER (now National Express) using their old-style booking system (run by thetrainline.com) then you have two choices:
    1. Go to any station that has a ticket office and reserve your seats there.
    2. Phone the Indian call centre run by thetrainline.com. I didn’t even bother getting the phone number for this one.

Note: At this time, National Express are advertising their customer service number as 08457 225333. This just rang for 10 minutes, then cut out on me. Your mileage may vary.

Epilogue: I got most of this information from National Express customer support, who were, once I got through to them, very efficient and helpful. Hopefully there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

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