JR East Rail Pass

[canman]

What a screwed up system JR has. My nephew will be visiting from Canada during Golden Week, and we ordered a JR East rail pass online. Then you are able to make reservations online as well, as during Golden Week the trains are going to be crazy. I will be traveling with him, so I wanted to know what his seats are so I could book the seats beside him. I have been trying for three days now to try and get that information from JR, but they basically tell me there is no way to let me know what his seat is. So I booked my one seats yesterday and will try and switch with the person who is sitting beside him. But what I can't understand is every time you book a ticket with JR, especially for the Hayate shinkansen, all seats are reserved, so they must have a seat number for him. Why can't they tell me? All they can tell me is yes he has a reservation and when he goes to the Hachinohe station to pick up his tickets, he can get his seat. That is strange, and very frustrating.

[Yokohammer]

What a screwed up system JR has. My nephew will be visiting from Canada during Golden Week, and we ordered a JR East rail pass online. Then you are able to make reservations online as well, as during Golden Week the trains are going to be crazy. I will be traveling with him, so I wanted to know what his seats are so I could book the seats beside him. I have been trying for three days now to try and get that information from JR, but they basically tell me there is no way to let me know what his seat is. So I booked my one seats yesterday and will try and switch with the person who is sitting beside him. But what I can't understand is every time you book a ticket with JR, especially for the Hayate shinkansen, all seats are reserved, so they must have a seat number for him. Why can't they tell me? All they can tell me is yes he has a reservation and when he goes to the Hachinohe station to pick up his tickets, he can get his seat. That is strange, and very frustrating.

I think it's that they will keep a seat for him, but won't assign a seat number until he gets his actual ticket. That gives them flexibility to seat and arrange other groups in the meantime. Convenient for JR, but not necessarily for the passenger.

And yeah, the Hayate is a "popular" train. I use it to get back and forth between Sendai and Tokyo all the time, and have learned that I need to buy my ticket at least several days ahead (preferably a week) to be sure of getting a seat. It's a real toss-up if you try to do it on the day.

[Kuang_Grade]

It has been a couple of years since I've used one, and things may have changed since then, but one of the issues is likely that when you buy a pass, your are effectively buying a certificate FOR a pass (or what JR calls an exchange order) but not the pass itself...so there are some id numbers on the certificate but I don't think they don't mean much in JR's overall system...When you turn in the certificate to JR, then you get the actual pass that is active starting that day. So it is handy in that it allows some flexibility in case your travel plans are delayed (the certificate can be redeemed anytime during a 6 month period I believe), or you decide to re-arrange your itinerary at the last minute, you aren't stuck with a pass with a fixed starting date...but it does make what you are trying to do more complicated. The odds are they have a marker in the system for him but since they actually don't know the rail pass number (since it hasn't been issued yet) it isn't as visible in the system as someone with a normal ticket.

You might want to ask if it would work better if your nephew asked for the seat next to yours when he picks up his actual tickets. I don't have much experience with JR's ticketing system (since I've only used the pass outside when traveling outside of Tokyo), but it may be possible if the seats next to you have not been already ticketed to other people they can just plop him down next to you.

[canman]

I think both of you are right. He doesn't have an actual ticket or seat, just a seat reserved for him, that will be issued when he picks up his ticket. The other thing, is perhaps when we go to get his ticket, I will take mine and ask if we can be seated together, that is change my seat to suit whatever they have. But it does make it a little difficult. IF it wasn't Golden Week I wouldn't be concerned, but I know there will be a boat load, or train load in this case, of people traveling, and I didn't want to miss the trains.
I must admit the price is fantastic, Y16000 for a four day flex pass. Hell that wouldn't pay for a one way trip from Narita to Hachinohe!