Seating at Mesa (group of 4) on AVE train Madrid to Seville
 

A group of 4 adults are getting ready to purchase tickets on the AVE train from Madrid to Seville in early October. Has anyone set in the Mesa seats - the group of four seats with a table in between - and, if so, would you consider it enough leg room for 4 adults to ride for 2.5 hours on this high speed train?

Thanks

Yes, plenty of room - especially since you know the person opposite you and can "arrange" your legs.

Using Renfre, I just purchased tickets from Madrid to Seville on an AVE train. No problems using my US based MasterCard and was able to select seats and print tickets.

Thanks for the reply about the leg room!

Weekender - in addition to notifying your credit card company of the pending purchase, did you do register your MasterCard with something similar to Verified by Visa?

Mountainshadow:

I did not notify Citibank in advance and charge went thru without a problem.

Also, if the train is not full you can move around as I do think you WILL have more leg room NOT at a table, but then it is not worth the extra money IMO to buy regular seats. As mentioned, you can arrange the best position more easily since you know the person in front of you!

Unless you are on a popular train there are always free seats you can move to. Go for it. You can also go to the cafeteria and walk around to stretch your legs so I, personally, wouldn´t worry about it.

Plenty of room! I just did it three times in the past three weeks. It was great.

Thanks for the replies! Just booked the Mesa seats (after 2 days of trying to get the cc info approved) and thought we might be able to move to empty seats if necessary. Have been able to move to other seats in French trains so hoped it was the same in Spanish trains.

you'll love the trains. Nowhere to sit in the café car, but they are very comfortable. Just watching the posted speed keeps you entertained.

How long are the legs of folks involved - makes a big difference is what is OK leg room. Put the tallest or longest legged folk on the aisle so they can stick their legs out there if need be.

I agree, PalenQ. On our last trip I was happy we moved to a table that was empty, but decided two couples with long legs like us might be a tad more comfortable at other seats.. however.. it was not unbearable by any means.

Since it is only a 2.5 hr journry from Madrid to Sevilla and we will have just arrived in Madrid on an overnight flight from the US, we thought e would be OK in 2nd class this time. Not sure about our return from Granada to Sevilla & on to Barcelona. May choose 1st class for those 2 legs!

Will post our experiences when return.

They have this kind of setup on all kinds of trains in various countries, it's not unique to Spain. Families usually do it, with kids especially, who might want to be eating packed lunches or something. I don't see the attraction for a group of grown adults, and one side will then not be in the direction of the ride.

I would feel much more comfortable without the table- it is quite large and not much leg room. Unless you are going to picnic the entire way or play board games, I wouldn't do it.

the attraction is the reduced price, sometimes 50% discount depending on if there are any discount seats elsewhere. Second class is also fine, mountain shadow. Also there is a class called Tursita Plus, which is first class seating.

Have you looked into the Renfe Train Pass? It seems you may be making enough trips to have it worthwhile.

"and one side will then not be in the direction of the ride."

It fascinates how much that means to some people.

Aramis, what do you think would happen if all the seats on an airplane faced the rear? You realize, of course, that rear-facing seats are considered to be safer (which is why in many Air Force transport planes with pallets of seats the seats face backwards). Yet, commercial airlines rarely do this and for obvious reasons.

I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that what would happen is that everyone would arrive at their destination at exactly the same time in exactly the same condition.

We did some research on the comparison between the cost of individual tickets & the rail passes and decided if we could get the Mesa seats, it would be cheaper to buy individual tickets. Plus most of our journeys are shorter. However, on our trip from Granada to Barcelona, we will try to purchase Turista Plus and Barcelona to Paris, we are going to buy first class on thr TGV - a 6.5 hr trip.

Has anyone done the Barcelona-Paris, the 9am departure yet? If so, did you choose upper or lower deck? A couple of our group are concerned about getting the luggage (one 24" bag) upstairs. The last TGV we took had narrow, winding stairs to go up. Watched the video by man-in-seat-61 and could not tell about the stairs. No one in our group is really concerned about riding backwards except it is easier to view the scenery facing forward.

I was on a different train with an upper deck and I left my luggage downstairs somewhere. Luggage on trains is a PIA. I wish they would bring back the "luggage car" where you could check the bags and pay not to deal with them! Also.. bring back the porters!!