Pre booked seats disaster irish rail kildare commuter line

DRice

I am sitting in a full carriage on the dublin to waterford train. The pre booked seats information has not flashed up yet ,yet it could any minute .trouble is I have already picked my seat based on the fact that its available to the best of my knowledge. I will be extremely put out if someone arrives insisting its "their seat" . How can I reasonably be asked not to sit in pre booked seats if it's a surprise for the minute as to whether my seat is prebooked. Seriously considering refusing to move on this basis.

uck51js9zml2yt

DRice wrote: »

I am sitting in a full carriage on the dublin to waterford train. The pre booked seats information has not flashed up yet ,yet it could any minute .trouble is I have already picked my seat based on the fact that its available to the best of my knowledge. I will be extremely put out if someone arrives insisting its "their seat" . How can I reasonably be asked not to sit in pre booked seats if it's a surprise for the minute as to whether my seat is prebooked. Seriously considering refusing to move on this basis.

What happened.

The next time book your seat.

whisky_galore

First world problems.

end of the road

DRice wrote: »

I am sitting in a full carriage on the dublin to waterford train. The pre booked seats information has not flashed up yet ,yet it could any minute .trouble is I have already picked my seat based on the fact that its available to the best of my knowledge. I will be extremely put out if someone arrives insisting its "their seat" . How can I reasonably be asked not to sit in pre booked seats if it's a surprise for the minute as to whether my seat is prebooked. Seriously considering refusing to move on this basis.

hi there.
if someone provided proof to you that their seat was reserved, then to be fair, it would have been unreasonable for you not to move. it's not the fault of the person who booked the seat, or your fault, that irish rail can't get something as basic as this working properly. but you would not have been entitled to remain in the seat, and there would have been no basis for you to have been able to do so as the seat was booked and proof was provided as such by the person who booked it. if no proof was provided what soever, then you would have a case.
for what it's worth, it's not possible for you to know whether the seat may have been booked originally unless there was information provided to show it, such as the system working like it should, or someone showing you their reservation, or a paper ticket being on the window. but if it is shown to you that it is booked, whether it be at the start or during the journey, then you have to move. it is only fair.

odyssey06

Are you sure? I thought you needed to be there 20 minutes before hand to claim your seat...
http://www.irishrail.ie/legal/online-tickets-terms-and-conditions

realdanbreen

I've seen strapping young fellas fit as fiddles asking older folk, men and women, to get up and stand because they had pre booked the seats. Come to think of it if a daughter of mine brought home one of them I'd boot the ponce out the door!

What would you do if your daughter was pregnant and some 50 year old man was in her pre-booked seat and refused to move?

If someone needs a seat on a train, they should book one.

Having said that, IE are mostly to blame. I don't understand why all tickets aren't sold with a seat number on them in the first place. Carriage A, seat 22 etc. It would cut out all this messing that happens with the names not being loaded on the LCD system.

Fattybojangles

Only a total scumbag wouldn't move out of a pre booked seat when shown it was pre booked personally I believe someone like that should be thrown off the train

Fattybojangles

Fattybojangles wrote: »

Only a total scumbag wouldn't move out of a pre booked seat when shown it was pre booked personally I believe someone like that should be thrown off the train

Agreed, however, I can kind of understand it up to a certain point. If you're first in the queue and first on the carriage with your pick of the seats and you sit down somewhere.......only for a name to pop up on the screen beside you as the train is pulling out of the station and all seats are full.

That's a regular occurrence by all accounts. I've seen it happen a good few times and I get maybe 4 trains per year.

Fattybojangles

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Agreed, however, I can kind of understand it up to a certain point. If you're first in the queue and first on the carriage with your pick of the seats and you sit down somewhere.......only for a name to pop up on the screen beside you as the train is pulling out of the station and all seats are full.

That's a regular occurrence by all accounts. I've seen it happen a good few times and I get maybe 4 trains per year.

That would be annoying but once the person comes along shows you they've pre booked the seat you should be up simple as that.

cython

odyssey06 wrote: »

Are you sure? I thought you needed to be there 20 minutes before hand to claim your seat...
http://www.irishrail.ie/legal/online-tickets-terms-and-conditions

And if you board at a station other than where the train starts from you could be there 40 mins beforehand, but you still can't claim your seat until the train gets to your station. In that scenario the system should say "reserved from station X" to warn passengers boarding earlier, but that assumes it's working.

Fattybojangles

cython wrote: »

And if you board at a station other than where the train starts from you could be there 40 mins beforehand, but you still can't claim your seat until the train gets to your station. In that scenario the system should say "reserved from station X" to warn passengers boarding earlier, but that assumes it's working.

It usually does say reserved from station x in fairness

Isambard

Fattybojangles wrote: »

It usually does say reserved from station x in fairness

I've only ever seen a name shown.

splinter65

Isambard wrote: »

I've only ever seen a name shown.

No it always says which station it’s booked from if not the station of origin.

Losty Dublin

Try traveling on the Enterprise where a passenger who books on Irish Rail gets an allocated seat on both legs while a passenger who booked on Translink has to take whatever is free.

Jem72

Fattybojangles wrote: »

Only a total scumbag wouldn't move out of a pre booked seat when shown it was pre booked personally I believe someone like that should be thrown off the train

Typical online black and white reaction.

Consider these two people

Passenger 1 books a return from Dublin to Cork for 40 euro two weeks in advance and gets a booking for free.

Passenger 2 has to make a short notice trip and pays 89 euro for a walk up fare 40 minutes before departure. He doesn't get a booking but boards the train nice and early and carefully picks a seat with no reservation.

Passenger 1 arrives 2 minutes before departure and insists on taking his seat even though there is no indication that the seat is booked thanks to Irish Rail's carelessness and the conditions of carriage state that bookings at terminal stations must be occupied 20 minutes before departure.

If Passenger 1 ends up standing, he gets his money back. If Passenger 2 ends up standing through no fault of his, he gets nothing - despite spending more than twice as much on his ticket. If Passenger 1 stands, Irish Rail end up paying for their screw-up and if this happens often enough, they might have an incentive to fix the situation. If Passenger 2 stands, he firmly resolves never to use the train again after paying 45 euro to stand between Dublin and Cork and Irish Rail don't pay for the mistake.

Neither passenger is a scumbag - Passenger 2 clearly does not have to give his seat up according to the conditions of carriage. They are both paying customers being very badly served by Irish Rail.

Fattybojangles

Jem72 wrote: »

Typical online black and white reaction.

Consider these two people

Passenger 1 books a return from Dublin to Cork for 40 euro two weeks in advance and gets a booking for free.

Passenger 2 has to make a short notice trip and pays 89 euro for a walk up fare 40 minutes before departure. He doesn't get a booking but boards the train nice and early and carefully picks a seat with no reservation.

Passenger 1 arrives 2 minutes before departure and insists on taking his seat even though there is no indication that the seat is booked thanks to Irish Rail's carelessness and the conditions of carriage state that bookings at terminal stations must be occupied 20 minutes before departure.

If Passenger 1 ends up standing, he gets his money back. If Passenger 2 ends up standing through no fault of his, he gets nothing - despite spending more than twice as much on his ticket. If Passenger 1 stands, Irish Rail end up paying for their screw-up and if this happens often enough, they might have an incentive to fix the situation. If Passenger 2 stands, he firmly resolves never to use the train again after paying 45 euro to stand between Dublin and Cork and Irish Rail don't pay for the mistake.

Neither passenger is a scumbag - Passenger 2 clearly does not have to give his seat up according to the conditions of carriage. They are both paying customers being very badly served by Irish Rail.

Yeah that's great if passenger 1 has proof the seat is booked and passenger 2 does not give it up then passenger 2 is a scumbag simple as that if you want a seat that bad book it yes irish rails booking system is a joke but it doesn't mean that when shown proof of a booking you should simply be a scumbag and ignore it and make the person who took time to book a seat stand that's incredibly selfish.

Del.Monte

Fattybojangles wrote: »

Yeah that's great if passenger 1 has proof the seat is booked and passenger 2 does not give it up then passenger 2 is a scumbag simple as that if you want a seat that bad book it

Just who do you want to throw a 'scumbag' off the train - the Gourmet Rail operative; the train host or the driver? Should they be allowed to administer a good beating to the offender as well? :rolleyes:

Fattybojangles

Del.Monte wrote: »

Just who do you want to throw a 'scumbag' off the train - the Gourmet Rail operative; the train host or the driver? Should they be allowed to administer a good beating to the offender as well? :rolleyes:

In an ideal world yes a beating would be appropriate I feel though scumbag behaviour of this kind does strengthen the arguement for a transport police in Ireland a different days discussion I accept.

harr

Happened to my parents a few weeks back ...getting train out of Dublin after a Hosptial appointment. They were nice and early for train and got settled into free seats no name on seats.
About 5 minutes before departure names pop up and the train is full ... two young enough business men arrived at my parents seat and insisted in the getting seats. My parents both 75 moved for them and had to stand as remaining seats were full... thankfully two teenagers gave up seats so my folks could sit.
The reason they moved was because they were unsure if they actually had to or not.. the cheek of one of the ****ers who smartly told them that they didn’t even pay for the ticket like them.

Jem72

Yet, apparently some people would consider your parents "scumbags" if they refused to leave their seats and would deserve a beating.

Personally, if I found myself in that situation as one of the people who'd booked the seat, I'd say fair enough, I'll stand for a bit, and make sure I was a bit earlier the next time. If I had turned up 20 minutes early, I'd claim my refund and be pleased with my free journey.

It is clearly stated in the conditions of carriage that you must be available for boarding at least 20 minutes before departure if you wish to claim your reserved seat at a terminal station. (Section 43.6).

http://www.irishrail.ie/media/conditionsoftravel1.pdf?v=ge3dnca

Fattybojangles

harr wrote: »

Happened to my parents a few weeks back ...getting train out of Dublin after a Hosptial appointment. They were nice and early for train and got settled into free seats no name on seats.
About 5 minutes before departure names pop up and the train is full ... two young enough business men arrived at my parents seat and insisted in the getting seats. My parents both 75 moved for them and had to stand as remaining seats were full... thankfully two teenagers gave up seats so my folks could sit.
The reason they moved was because they were unsure if they actually had to or not.. the cheek of one of the ****ers who smartly told them that they didn’t even pay for the ticket like them.

Yeah proper order the seats were booked not those 2 mens fault irish rail didn't have the names up earlier and they have a point they paid for their ticket why should they stand?

odyssey06

Fattybojangles wrote: »

Yeah proper order the seats were booked not those 2 mens fault irish rail didn't have the names up earlier and they have a point they paid for their ticket why should they stand?

Are you just deliberately ignoring everyone who brings up the Terms and Conditions of the booking?

Fattybojangles

Jem72 wrote: »

Yet, apparently some people would consider your parents "scumbags" if they refused to leave their seats and would deserve a beating.

Personally, if I found myself in that situation as one of the people who'd booked the seat, I'd say fair enough, I'll stand for a bit, and make sure I was a bit earlier the next time. If I had turned up 20 minutes early, I'd claim my refund and be pleased with my free journey.

It is clearly stated in the conditions of carriage that you must be available for boarding at least 20 minutes before departure if you wish to claim your reserved seat at a terminal station. (Section 43.6).

http://www.irishrail.ie/media/conditionsoftravel1.pdf?v=ge3dnca

If I book a seat I'll be sitting in my seat thank you very much that's the whole point of booking a seat why should someone who just shows up on the day get priority over someone who took the time to book a seat? Why have seat booking at all if someone can just sit in your seat? Maybe people who are working and have booked a seat haven't time to be there 20 minutes before train leaves but to hell with them in favour of someone who has nothing better to do other than be really early for a train?

odyssey06

Fattybojangles wrote: »

If I book a seat I'll be sitting in my seat thank you very much that's the whole point of booking a seat why should someone who just shows up on the day get priority over someone who took the time to book a seat? Why have seat booking at all if someone can just sit in your seat? Maybe people who are working and have booked a seat haven't time to be there 20 minutes before train leaves but to hell with them in favour of someone who has nothing better to do other than be really early for a train?

You should write a strongly worded letter to Irish Rail explaining the unfairness of their clearly stated booking T & Cs.

Back in the real world, those are the terms and conditions of the booking. If you don't like it fly or hire a limo.

Fattybojangles

odyssey06 wrote: »

Are you just deliberately ignoring everyone who brings up the Terms and Conditions of the booking?

Not at all how do you know they hadn't been on train looking for their pre booked seats for a few minutes before finding people sitting in them?

Fattybojangles

odyssey06 wrote: »

You should write a strongly worded letter to Irish Rail explaining the unfairness of their clearly stated booking T & Cs.

Back in the real world, those are the terms and conditions of the booking. If you don't like it fly or hire a limo.

It says you have to be available for boarding 20 minutes before it leaves not in the seat

odyssey06

Fattybojangles wrote: »

It says you have to be available for boarding 20 minutes before it leaves not in the seat

Be available in your seat. Problem solved. What are you mulling around for on the platform if you can be available for boarding you can take your seat.

Quackster

harr wrote: »

Happened to my parents a few weeks back ...getting train out of Dublin after a Hosptial appointment. They were nice and early for train and got settled into free seats no name on seats.
About 5 minutes before departure names pop up and the train is full ... two young enough business men arrived at my parents seat and insisted in the getting seats. My parents both 75 moved for them and had to stand as remaining seats were full... thankfully two teenagers gave up seats so my folks could sit.
The reason they moved was because they were unsure if they actually had to or not.. the cheek of one of the ****ers who smartly told them that they didn’t even pay for the ticket like them.

In fairness, they could have bought seat reservations for a small fee and avoided that hassle.

Am a frequent traveller on the Dublin/Mallow/Tralee route. The reservations system always works perfectly on the Mark 4 sets in my experience but the regularity with which I find someone in my seat, especially when boarding at Mallow, is mind-boggling.

Still no call for rudeness though, unless the seat-hogger has been rude to you first.

Fattybojangles

odyssey06 wrote: »

Be available in your seat. Problem solved. What are you mulling around for on the platform if you can be available for boarding you can take your seat.

Do not sit in pre booked seats problem solved I really cant understand the arrogance and entitlement of some people who think they can just sit in someone's pre booked seat no problem.

odyssey06

Fattybojangles wrote: »

Do not sit in pre booked seats problem solved

How do you know which ones are pre-booked, if 20 minutes before boarding the pre booking information isn't displayed?

Strumms

harr wrote: »

Happened to my parents a few weeks back ...getting train out of Dublin after a Hosptial appointment. They were nice and early for train and got settled into free seats no name on seats.
About 5 minutes before departure names pop up and the train is full ... two young enough business men arrived at my parents seat and insisted in the getting seats. My parents both 75 moved for them and had to stand as remaining seats were full... thankfully two teenagers gave up seats so my folks could sit.
The reason they moved was because they were unsure if they actually had to or not.. the cheek of one of the ****ers who smartly told them that they didn’t even pay for the ticket like them.

Not ideal, similarly though would your folks or one of yourselves maybe have had the foresight to think...hey...stressful day, hospital appointment, be tired etc...let’s book seats to ensure we get the appropriate levels of rest and comfort ?

Attitude of the ticket holders not great but too maybe it’s a case of with the broken system they are used to getting on the train and finding people occupying their booked seats and after a hard days work just want to sit down with a drink, read of the paper and relax, instead of spending time negotiating with folks occasionally occupying their seats...just trying to see it from both sides.

Fattybojangles

odyssey06 wrote: »

How do you know which ones are pre-booked?

It usually says it over the seat the odd time it doesn't and the point I'm making is on those rare occasions when shown proof the seat is pre booked out of basic decency and manners you should move and if you dont you are a scumbag

odyssey06

Fattybojangles wrote: »

It usually says it over the seat the odd time it doesn't and the point I'm making is on those rare occasions when shown proof the seat is pre booked out of basic decency and manners you should move and if you dont you are a scumbag

And if it doesn't flash up? And Person A is sitting in a seat 5 minutes before departure. All seats are full. And Person B turns up with pre booked ticket for that seat.
Person B's booking is now void.
If Person B turned up 20 minutes before hand, their booking is valid.
Decency, manners, scumbag have nothing to do with it.

Now, Person A might still give the seat to Person B, if e.g. they see Person B is pregnant or elderly. Or vise versa.

Fattybojangles

odyssey06 wrote: »

And if it doesn't flash up? And Person A is sitting in a seat 5 minutes before departure. All seats are full. And Person B turns up with pre booked ticket for that seat.
Person B's booking is now void.
If Person B turned up 20 minutes before hand, their booking is valid.
Decency, manners, scumbag have nothing to do with it.

Now, Person A might still give the seat to Person B, if e.g. they see Person B is pregnant or elderly. Or vise versa.

If person B was available for boarding 20 minutes before the off it's their seat prove they weren't available.

odyssey06

Fattybojangles wrote: »

If person B was available for boarding 20 minutes before the off it's their seat prove they weren't available.

If they weren't in the seat, prove they were. No one is a scumbag for not moving from a seat if the booker isn't there 20 minutes before hand to claim.

Look the real failing here in manners and conduct here is Irish Rail. They should set aside carriages for reservations so everyone knows the seats in this carriage are likely to be reserved. Current system is a joke.

Strumms

I might today have EVERY intention to get to my seat 20 minutes before departure, but shît happens, meeting or appointments run late, roadworks on the way to the station, puncture, whatever... but my booked seat should still be my booked seat...yes the display should fûckin work.. if it doesn’t the staff should at least have the foresight to put a plan B into action to enable the customer to avail of the service, it is THEIR FAILURE not to notify customers.... There should be a plan B....placing a ‘booked’ placard on the seat.

Also plenty of people turn up at stations on the course of the journey so 20 minutes won’t be an aid to them... a placard with ‘booked seat...do NOT occupy’ would be beneficial for when the electronic sign isn’t working.

ebbsy

Fattybojangles wrote: »

Only a total scumbag wouldn't move out of a pre booked seat when shown it was pre booked personally I believe someone like that should be thrown off the train

And while it was moving as well.

harr

Strumms wrote: »

Not ideal, similarly though would your folks or one of yourselves maybe have had the foresight to think...hey...stressful day, hospital appointment, be tired etc...let’s book seats to ensure we get the appropriate levels of rest and comfort ?

Attitude of the ticket holders not great but too maybe it’s a case of with the broken system they are used to getting on the train and finding people occupying their booked seats and after a hard days work just want to sit down with a drink, read of the paper and relax, instead of spending time negotiating with folks occasionally occupying their seats...just trying to see it from both sides.

They got to train in plenty of time loads of empty seats they were just unfortunate to sit in these particular seats. If terms and conditions are to get to pre booked seats 20 minutes before departure then people should know this.
In fairness it could have been booking system fault as names didn’t show on display. How close to departure can you book seats?

harr

Strumms wrote: »

I might today have EVERY intention to get to my seat 20 minutes before departure, but shhappens, meeting or appointments run late, roadworks on the way to the station, puncture, whatever... but my booked seat should still be my booked seat...yes the display should fûckin work.. if it doesn’t the staff should at least have the foresight to put a plan B into action to enable the customer to avail of the service, it is THEIR FAILURE not to notify customers.... There should be a plan B....placing a ‘booked’ placard on the seat.

Also plenty of people turn up at stations on the course of the journey so 20 minutes won’t be an aid to them... a placard with ‘booked seat...do NOT occupy’ would be beneficial for when the electronic sign isn’t working.

Would the system not work better if they had everyone who pre books in same carriage ?

Strumms

harr wrote: »

They got to train in plenty of time loads of empty seats they were just unfortunate to sit in these particular seats.

But if the person boarding with a prebooked seat is boarding in a station not at the beginning of the line, 20 minutes is fûck all use, he or she is just standing around on a platform.

The only way to sort it is either with placards or getting the system to work as designed.

Strumms

harr wrote: »

Would the system not work better if they had everyone who pre books in same carriage ?

That’s an excellent suggestion I think, it would HELP certainly.

OSI

OSI wrote: »

Never seen a station noted. Half the time it doesn't even show a name, just a bunch of numbers.

Think that's the booking reference if you don't want your name to be displayed or leave that section blank.

harr wrote: »

Would the system not work better if they had everyone who pre books in same carriage ?

They know in advance how many carriages there will be and how many seats. It cannot be that difficult to design a system that allocates, say, the first 200 tickets a designated seat in carriage A, B or C. After that, make it so only standing tickets are available. It's not exactly rocket science.

splinter65

harr wrote: »

Happened to my parents a few weeks back ...getting train out of Dublin after a Hosptial appointment. They were nice and early for train and got settled into free seats no name on seats.
About 5 minutes before departure names pop up and the train is full ... two young enough business men arrived at my parents seat and insisted in the getting seats. My parents both 75 moved for them and had to stand as remaining seats were full... thankfully two teenagers gave up seats so my folks could sit.
The reason they moved was because they were unsure if they actually had to or not.. the cheek of one of the ****ers who smartly told them that they didn’t even pay for the ticket like them.

Your parents have the facility as FT pass holders to pre book seats online at a small cost of 6 euros each which would avoid these situations in future. It just requires a bit of pre planning when making travel arrangements.
They can also go to the ticket office before they board and upgrade to first class for a further supplement.

Del.Monte

splinter65 wrote: »

Your parents have the facility as FT pass holders to pre book seats online at a small cost of 6 euros each which would avoid these situations in future. It just requires a bit of pre planning when making travel arrangements.
They can also go to the ticket office before they board and upgrade to first class for a further supplement.

Ah yeah, blame the pensioners not the crap system or the ignorant business types with their lack of manners and sense of entitlement. As for upgrading to 1st Class - Lol, what trains do you travel on? Some of the more obnoxious posters here would do well to remember their own aged relatives and the fact that they too will be in the OAP category eventually.

splinter65

Del.Monte wrote: »

Ah yeah, blame the pensioners not the crap system or the ignorant business types with their lack of manners and sense of entitlement. As for upgrading to 1st Class - Lol, what trains do you travel on? Some of the more obnoxious posters here would do well to remember their own aged relatives and the fact that they too will be in the OAP category eventually.

Somehow you’ve managed to find me blaming the pensioners.
Sitting in the seat you paid to reserve is not having a “sense of entitlement”.
It’s getting the service that you paid for.
If you leave your car into the garage for a service, go back to pick it up, pay for it and find next week that the oil hasn’t been changed, then would you complain or would that be too much like having “a sense of entitlement “?
If the pensioners have a problem with being turned out of the seats by the businessmen then they need to complain loudly to Irish Rail.
Avoiding this unfortunate situation in the future is easy. Just pay the small supplement to book seats yourself,
You don’t know that there’s a first class carriage on most inter city trains?!? Why are you even commenting here if you know so little?

Quackster

harr wrote: »

They got to train in plenty of time loads of empty seats they were just unfortunate to sit in these particular seats. If terms and conditions are to get to pre booked seats 20 minutes before departure then people should know this.
In fairness it could have been booking system fault as names didn’t show on display. How close to departure can you book seats?

At nowhere during the online booking process, on the emailed reservation nor on the printed ticket is there any mention of a requirement to be available for boarding twenty minutes before departure. So it's absolutely no shocker that the vast majority of people aren't aware of this 'requirement'.

Quoting a rule buried in some conditions of carriage that only anoraks read ain't going to cut the mustard when someone comes looking for the seat they've reserved.

splinter65

Quackster wrote: »

At nowhere during the online booking process, on the emailed reservation nor on the printed ticket is there any mention of a requirement to be available for boarding twenty minutes before departure. So it's absolutely no shocker that the vast majority of people aren't aware of this 'requirement'.

Quoting a rule buried in some conditions of carriage that only anoraks read ain't going to cut the mustard when someone comes looking for the seat they've reserved.

I’ve just checked and it’s €5 for people with free travel to pre book seats even at very short notice and €12.50 for first class which is very nice if you’ve been at a stressful hospital appointment and you’d like some peace and quiet on the way home.

odyssey06

Quackster wrote: »

At nowhere during the online booking process, on the emailed reservation nor on the printed ticket is there any mention of a requirement to be available for boarding twenty minutes before departure. So it's absolutely no shocker that the vast majority of people aren't aware of this 'requirement'.
Quoting a rule buried in some conditions of carriage that only anoraks read ain't going to cut the mustard when someone comes looking for the seat they've reserved.

This was 2 years ago in the national press:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/that-s-my-seat-taking-issue-with-irish-rail-s-reservation-signage-1.3253952

Previous similar Boards thread:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin//showthread.php?p=110417045

So, no need for the anorak comment, but fair point that Irish Rail hide this rule away.

Irish Rail customer service still a joke, total abandonment of responsibility to customers. Well knowing the system is a joke, the bury their get out rule in T&Cs.

Quackster

odyssey06 wrote: »

This was 2 years ago in the national press:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/that-s-my-seat-taking-issue-with-irish-rail-s-reservation-signage-1.3253952

Previous similar Boards thread:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin//showthread.php?p=110417045

So, no need for the anorak comment, but fair point that Irish Rail hide this rule away.

Irish Rail customer service still a joke, total abandonment of responsibility to customers. Well knowing the system is a joke, the bury their get out rule in T&Cs.

That wasn't meant as a jibe as I very much include myself in that category!

I do remember the twenty minute rule used to be printed on the reservation email but it's gone for some years now.

That IÉ are inept though is one thing that I think we can all agree on!

Jem72

I've been watching arguments about this on boards for the last 10 years. It started when the 22Ks came in as that was when Irish Rail rolled out seat reservations to the entire network. But the system has never worked properly on the 22Ks since it depends on somebody entering the train ID into the system and the availability of a staff member to do this was far from guaranteed.

When the auto-shutdown system was introduced about 5 years ago it got a lot worse since it sometimes forgets the train ID if the train restarts. I've been on trains where the names above the seats changed two or three times. It is complete madness on some trains - I'd say it works about 50% of the time on the evening Sligo services I take. Irish Rail just don't care about this issue which is a particular hassle for long-distance commuters who are paying thousands per year for tickets. The reality is that 10 euro return extra each days for a reservation is simply unaffordable for almost everyone.

The solution is very simple - start each service with two bookable carriages. When these get about 80% booked, release another carriage and so on. Then, it's a simple matter to indicate which carriages are unreserved. But Irish Rail would rather piss all their customers off, cause arguments and drive people away from their services before declaring they need a hundred million euro to build a new system.