{"id":7862,"date":"2020-07-20T21:42:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T20:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/?p=7862"},"modified":"2020-07-20T21:42:24","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T20:42:24","slug":"upgrade-your-train-journey-with-seatfrog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/2020\/07\/20\/upgrade-your-train-journey-with-seatfrog\/","title":{"rendered":"Upgrade your train journey with Seatfrog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Instead of booking a first-class train ticket directly, it&#8217;s widely known that you could just purchase a standard-class ticket on a weekend train, and pay a premium to upgrade to first class on the spot. Seatfrog, a recently emerged app, is providing us with a new option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/seatfrog.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/seatfrog-1024x538.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5264\" width=\"256\" height=\"135\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/seatfrog-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/seatfrog-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/seatfrog-768x403.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/seatfrog.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/seatfrog.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">As you can see on their website<\/a>, Seatfrog currently partners with the following operators:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Avanti West Coast<\/li><li>CrossCountry<\/li><li>GWR<\/li><li>LNER<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If I remember correctly, Avanti West Coast and LNER were the only companies on the list when they launched, so you can see that their partnership is growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You need to download their App (Android \/ iOS) to use the service. Basically Seatfrog works on an auction-based system which is quite straightforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, find your train:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-train-search.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-train-search-485x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7863\" width=\"243\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-train-search-485x1024.jpg 485w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-train-search-142x300.jpg 142w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-train-search.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 243px) 100vw, 243px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You could also find it by providing the reservation number, however it didn&#8217;t work for me somehow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After confirming that you hold a valid ticket, this itinerary is saved to your watch list and you could start bidding:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-interface.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-interface-485x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7864\" width=\"243\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-interface-485x1024.jpg 485w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-interface-142x300.jpg 142w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-interface.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 243px) 100vw, 243px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest you can place the bid is 30 minutes before the departure. Obviously there&#8217;s a minimum bid requirement, so you can&#8217;t just bid \u00a31, which is what I was hoping for \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a312 is a bit more than what I&#8217;m willing to pay, however I&#8217;m going to do it just for the sake of trying out Seatfrog. I was the first and only bidder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, after placing my bid I noticed the mininum bid increased to \u00a313. Does it mean there&#8217;s only one upgrade available for the entire train and all bidders fight for it? That makes no sense to me at all, as even in non-covid times I&#8217;ve never First Class getting busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My guess is you are just bidding against yourself &#8211; since the higher you bid the better chance you stand, you could increase your bid later if you are not confident enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I received a notification when the auction&#8217;s closed, and it was a success!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-success.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-success-485x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7865\" width=\"243\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-success-485x1024.jpg 485w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-success-142x300.jpg 142w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-success-768x1621.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-success-728x1536.jpg 728w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-success-970x2048.jpg 970w, https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/07\/seatfrog-upgrade-success.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 243px) 100vw, 243px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You simply present your original ticket along with the upgrade confirmation upon inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note that you need to provide payment details before bidding, and I didn&#8217;t find an option to cancel a bid once placed. So if you hold a flexible ticket, don&#8217;t rush to use it until you&#8217;re certain about your travel time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Instead of booking a first-class train ticket directly, it&#8217;s widely known that you could just purchase a standard-class ticket on a weekend train, and pay a&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[129],"class_list":["post-7862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk","tag-train"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7862"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7867,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862\/revisions\/7867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}