Rail enthusiasts will be all too familiar with the discomfort of boarding a train without a seat reservation, unsure if they’ll have to stand for the entirety of their journey.
However, travel guru Chelsea, also known as ‘Cheap Holiday Expert’, shared a video detailing how she and her partner James were ejected from their train at Preston Station due to a cancellation.
Despite managing to board another train, they had lost their seat reservations. If you’ve found yourself in a similar predicament, you’ll be pleased to hear that Chelsea and James have a free trick to ensure you never have to go without a seat reservation again.
In a TikTok video, James revealed: “Go to Twitter, now X, and chat to Avanti West Coast,” with Chelsea adding: “Or whatever network you’re on.
“I’ve been chatting to Kim from Avanti, and I was like ‘Kim, train’s cancelled, what do I do now?’ and she said ‘Get the 16:18’ and I was like ‘Can you get me a seat reservation on that? ‘ and she’s like ‘sure, here you are. Seat D3 and D4’.”
They then decided to test if the simple hack had actually worked, so the pair proceeded to catch their new train. “Oh my God, it’s so busy,” Chelsea exclaimed as they arrived at the crowded platform where queues had formed at each train door of people eager to board the train.
“I really really hope this seat reservation hacked has worked,” she continued.
Chelsea and her travel companion were astonished to find their seats were reserved all the way to their destination in Crewe, allowing them to travel in comfort despite the crowded train. “There’s no way we would’ve gotten a seat without [the hack],” said Chelsea.
A fellow social media user commented: “I’ve always been told they can only do it if there’s more than an hour/2 until the next one (GWR),” which led Chelsea to respond: “Will depend on what network, but Avanti have always been very on it for us! Always worth a punt! !”
Another added: “I work for Avanti support service, just a warning they sometimes (a lot) turn off the seat reservations depending if they think the service will be that busy, but definitely worth a go.”