How to make Eurail seat reservations in the UK via GWR
Making seat reservations for national trains in the UK for free via GWR
The UK railway company GWR allows you to make seat reservations for free on nearly all British long-distance trains. This includes trains of the following companies:
- GWR
- LNER
- Avanti
- Cross-Country
- Transpennine
- Sleeper trains (Caledonian sleeper and GWR Night Riviera) cannot be reserved for free. The Night Riviera can be reserved for Eurail pass holders via GWR, the Caledonian Sleeper via their customer service.
- Eurostar high-speed trains to Belgium, France and the Netherlands can be reserved via the Happyrail planner. (select 'Reservations' instead of 'tickets').
You can make seat reservations for free for any of these companies. Just follow the steps as outline below.
1. Go to GWR.com and register an account. You'll need to activate your account via email.
2. Log into your account, go to 'Bookings' and click on 'Make a seat/bike reservation'
3. Enter your journey details and select the class you'll be travelling in (Standard means Second class).
4. Select the train service you want to take. You'll be asked to select a fare: this does not matter for your reservation, so choose any fare for your travel class. For example: Advance Single.
5. Click on 'Add reservation' and select reserving a seat. Depending on the route you can be asked for your preferences regarding your seat. These preferences can't be guaranteed.
6. Select 'Add reservation'; your seat reservations are now confirmed. Make sure to write down your seat reservation or make a screenshot. You will recieve an email from GWR as well with your reservation. You don't need to print this email as long as you know your seats: you can take these in the train.