Bike reservations on Caledonian Sleeper

[Genosse Brymbo]

Amid the breezy marketing blurb at https://www.sleeper.scot/travelling-with-bikes there is a sentence reading "Sometimes we may ask for you to bring your bike in a bike bag if there are capacity limitations.", with no further detail.  Like many others (e.g. LEJOGers), I will ride to Inverness by bike from England without the ability to take a bag, so I sought more detail using the website's live chat feature:

Customer service
Hello, my name is X. How can I help you today?

You
Hello, I intend to cycle from the south of England to Inverness this summer and return on the Caledonian Sleeper. I noticed that your "Travelling with a bike" web page states "Sometimes we may ask for you to bring your bike in a bike bag if there are capacity limitations". Obviously I shall not have a bike bag with me in Inverness, having ridden there. Is there any way I can be certain when booking my journey that my bike space will not require a bike bag?

Customer service
You need to book as far in advance as possible as bike spaces are very limited especially on the FTW route

You
That doesn't answer the question I asked.

Customer service
Sorry my mistake I mean the Inverness route

Customer service
I am sorry you feel I have not answered your question but to be more precise we cannot guarantee that there will be spaces available without a bag

You
I have taken my bike on the sleeper many times before, the last being in 2018. I've not seen this bike bag restriction before.

Customer service
There is no restriction our train can carry 6 bikes and an extra 2 in a bag

You
So does this mean that the first 6 bikes get the no-bag reservations?

Customer service
Yes that is correct

You
How would I know when booking that I'd obtained one of those 6 non-bag spaces?

Customer service
Because it will not ask you to bring a bike bag

You
Thanks for you help, but I'm having difficulty understanding why you could not answer my initial question precisely. I'm now a little worried that I had to guide you to the answer.

Customer service
As far as I am concerned I did answer your question is there anything else I can help you with today

You
No, thank you.

Customer service
Thank you for using our live chat service. If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to let us know. Have a nice day.

[Karla]

Tbh their response sounds crystal clear and you sound like you're inventing problems. 

If you book a normal bike space, you don't need a bag.
If their bike spaces are full so you can't book one, they may allow up to two extra bikes to be carried as luggage in bags.  You'll know this because you didn't get one of the six normal spaces.

[Genosse Brymbo]

Thanks, my reason for posting was to see whether that last little bit of doubt (that I'd had to guide them to get the full details) was just me being me (very anxious and very pendantic; or very careful and very precise, as I like to think).

[hatler]

I would think, that if they don't ask you to bring a bike bag when you book the service, then you should be OK. If, when you pitch up at the station, they demand a bike bag, you say you've been travelling for a month and were off grid.

[andyoxon]

6 unrestricted bike spaces in total on a CS seems somewhat pathetic.  I'd always imagined (without actually knowing) it was fairly generous in allocation.

[FifeingEejit]

It's historically 3 on the fort William portion due to a fish fridge taking up the space.

6 is normally more than enough,partocularly now it's priced as a hotel train rather than sleeper.

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[bhoot]

I thought the 3 was on the Inverness to London route, that direction only, but maybe it changed. Fort William complicated by sharing with one of the others (Aberdeen or Inverness, can't remember which) south of Edinburgh

[FifeingEejit]

Hm good point the seats/brake coach from Fort William only travels between An Gearasdan and Dùn Èideann.

Brain currently too addled

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