Can you reserve a seat with a free child ticket for trains in the UK?
I'm trying to book train tickets from Edinburgh to London, we have a child who just turned 4. Whenever I go to reserve seats I'm given the option to reserve only 2 seats and not one for the child who will travel free.
How do I reserve 3 seats? One option that works is that I select Child's age to be 5 and then I'm given an option to reserve the third seat but obviously I have to pay child fare then when my child can enjoy free travel. I'd rather pay the child fare and guarantee a seat if its more trouble to get a seat right when we board.
I have tried at TheTrainLine and VirginTrains websites so far.
Best Answer
Part of the point of the free travel is that the small child is assumed not to require a seat. You will not be able to reserve a seat for them without paying a fare. Obviously if there are spare seats when on board they can use them.
Worth considering a Family and Friends railcard. In my experience it is cheaper to buy an adult and child ticket with the card than just the adult ticket alone without. It might well pay for itself on this journey alone.
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Can you reserve a seat for a child on a train?
Reservations for childrenSeats may be reserved for children, but for a child under 5 years of age a seat may be reserved only if an appropriate child rail ticket is held.Do under 5s get a seat on a train?
The current rules mean under-fives travel for free but train companies are not obliged to guarantee them a seat. Train companies which reserve seats for free for under 5s: Great Western Railway.What age do children travel free on trains UK?
All children aged five and under can go free on all trains in the UK, provided they're with a fare-paying passenger. National Rail does stipulate that they "may only occupy a seat which is not required by a fare-paying passenger".Are trains free for children UK?
Children aged 5 to 15 inclusive get half-price fares for most tickets across the UK rail network. If your child is 4 or under, they can travel for free alongside a fare-paying parent or guardian.How to make Fake Train Tickets to go Anywhere in England
More answers regarding can you reserve a seat with a free child ticket for trains in the UK?
Answer 2
National Rail's summary of child fares makes the issue much clearer, at least to me:
Children under five years of age may accompany fare-paying passengers free of charge, unless the Train Company you want to use specifies otherwise in their notices and other publications. However, children under five years of age who are travelling free may only occupy a seat which is not required by a fare-paying passenger.
Since their seat is not merely not guaranteed, but subject to withdrawal at any time, it's clear why you can't reserve one. If you want your child to have a reservation (or even the right to occupy their seat for the whole journey!) then paying the child fare seems like the way to go.
Answer 3
The option I took a few months ago (with a 4 year old too big for long periods on a lap) was simply to put her in my reserved seat and sit on the floor/stand/perch on the edge of her seat. As an (able-bodied) adult the discomfort of having to do this is minor compared to the discomfort of dealing with a grumpy small person. I was booking a long journey with several legs, some of which didn't even have reservations, but I'd have had to pay for her all the way through or juggle ~16 tickets for the 2-person round trip (which isn;t handy when you're carrying a child and large rucksack through the barriers with little time to spare).
Carriages with reserved seats in them tend to be rather full, due to the way reservations are assigned to seats, so if you're averse to paying for a child's seat, you might find you're better off in a carriage without reserved seats. That's a gamble of course. It's common, though annoying, for people to reserve a seat and then sit elsewhere (very common on my intercity commute). But if you have an "advance" ticket you will have a reservation and are supposed to sit in that seat by ticket validity rules.
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