To ask why people sit in reserved seats?

he was blatantly lying as I had reserved those seats and he made absolutely no effort to show me his own reservation
Why didn't you ask to see it?

No-one sat next to me while I was drinking gin in a tin on the way home from work the other day. So there you go, make people think you are a lush and get a wide berth.

@Lweji

A McDs!!!! Very clever trick that. It would be the last seat anyone would choose, possibly greasy and you'd then be sitting next to someone chomping and slurping! I'm going to get an empty bag to put next to me whenever I'm on a bus or train so I can get two seats.

I understand the aisle seat preference as I'm another who hates travelling backwards. I guess I'm really objecting to the studied lack of eye contact with anyone obviously looking for a seat so they'll choose somebody else to try to sit beside.

We were on a busy train last December and saw 2 people in the seats we had booked so I politely mentioned that we had reserved those seats. The extremely obnoxious guy turned round and said well so have I. I showed him my reservation and he just told me had had booked those seats and I should sit somewhere else as the reservations weren't working. So we did sit elsewhere and of course, got moved as another couple approached and we were clearly in their seats. Really shocked me how rude he was, he was blatantly lying as I had reserved those seats and he made absolutely no effort to show me his own reservation. Really gets my goat!

When i was younger i used to feel a bit embarrassed asking someone, (especially an older man, for some reason) to move if they were in my seat, I don't know if its being 'older & wiser' but now if it happens I say, in a slightly louder than usual jovial speaking voice, oh hello, I think you've mistakenly sat in the wrong seat number, whilst just thrusting my ticket at them then just smiling rather inanely, for some reason it seems to fluster them, maybe the loud announcement of them being mistaken is embarrassing but it seems to work and they tend to be quite apologetic about it.

If you don't feel able to ask yourself, ask the conductor to move them, I hate confrontation too!
As a wheelchair user I frequently had to get people to move out of the accessible spaces, you would be shocked at peoples reactions, it's not like I have a choice to sit anywhere else & the seats on trains are always booked for me.

If they asked me to and there were no other seats then yes I’d move

There have been countless threads on taking aisle seats.

Or sitting on the outer seat with an empty one beside you

Yep I do this because I want the aisle seat. I got there first, I get to choose the aisle seat or the window seat. You'll just have to ask me to let you by to the window seat.

It’s fine to chance your arm in a reserved seat. Being difficult or huffy about moving is the problem.

It's usually fine to sit in one if it has gone past the destination where the person was meant to get on. One time the other day I didn't sit in my reserved seat as at an unfamiliar station I was at the wrong end of the train for my carriage, and ended up in a non-reserved carriage with tons of spare seats, so I figured as it wasn't busy it didn't matter.

What used to annoy me though was when I used to travel out of Stockport to London at the weekend, the trains used to be horribly busy and someone 9/10 times would be sat in my seat from Manchester Piccadilly ten minutes down the line and I always turfed them out as I had booked a seat specifically so I didn't have to stand up or st in the aisles for four hours plus (as it used to take then with all the engineering works).

Re: aisle seats- I am guilty of this. I am a small female and when I've sat in a window seat I have too many times either found myself wedged in between the wall and a larger man who encroaches on my space or who is inappropriate in some way. It's then difficult to extract myself when I want to leave the train. I feel safer in the aisle seat because I can just jump up and move away without seeking the cooperation of the person next to me. But I will usually aim for an aisle seat next to a window seat occupied by a woman rather than two empty seats.

Oh, and I don’t like being hemmed in so I would sit in the aisle seat and get up to allow someone to get to the window seat. I also wave at people who are standing to alert them if there are empty seats that they might not be able to see.

The way I see it, if I haven't reserved a seat, I either sit in a free seat or stand.

But this leads to lots of people standing, blocking corridors and making it difficult for the conductor to pass (and impossible for the tea trolley). As others have said, a very large proportion of seats are reserved by people who actually end up getting a different train.

You are absolutely correct that people shouldn't be blocking free seats, and that they should get out of reserved seats as soon as someone else even looks like they think it's their seat.

Because in my experience over 50% of the time the person who has reserved the seat doesn’t turn up. I often sit in one, rather than stand, or if it has a bigger table. I move should the person who booked it turn up. I am never able to reserve a seat for myself as I never pre-book.

I always turf people out of my reserved seat, and yes they are often rude about it.

@CosyAsAToasty YABU, nothing is wrong with orange revels! HTH!

@Leftoverdessert this happens to me a lot! So now when I board a train I do so with the expectation that someone WILL be sat in my seat, so I am mentally prepared. I have my seat reservation ticket to hand and politely but firmly say - you're sat in my seat - and show them my ticket. If they huff and puff, then I'm prepared for it but I remain calm (although I'm seething inside). No one will refuse to move if you're firm and calm in asking them (and give them the death stare).

Even last few plane ✈️ journeys I've had, someone has been in my seat! Now that's even more awkward, but they move when I ask often muttering under their breath. Mostly because I always reserve (and pay extra) for bulkhead seats for the extra leg room and they think they have got something for free. So this is at the front of the plane with everyone staring, but they are in the wrong not me.

The bit I hate the most is having to sit on a warm seat 🤢

You're being too polite OP.

"You are in the seat I have reserved".

And stare. No please or thank you, or excuse me.

Being assertive does not mean you have to be rude as per this suggestion.

YES that's another one, where they sit on the outer seat and leave the window seat empty? Why do people do that?

So no one sits next to them. Most people are happy to ask a stranger on a train to move their bag from an aisle seat, in my experience there is far less chance of anyone being asked about a window seat.

🤷🏻‍♀️ Just tell them it's your seat and ask them to move. Ignore the carry on. Amuse yourself with mumsnet on your phone while they are huffing with their bags or rolling their eyes. A cheery thank you, then take your seat.

It will get easier each time you do it.

You shouldn't have let someone stay in your seat while you stood.

@Crabbyandproudofit

YES that's another one, where they sit on the outer seat and leave the window seat empty? Why do people do that? And then if I ask someone if I can have the empty seat, rather than just moving over and letting me sit down - they make a big show of getting up then I have to squeeze past them to sit in the window seat, then they sit back down in the aisle seat. EVERY. TIME. Whyyyyyy?

Absolutely. If there's loads of seats free I'll put my bag on the seat bit I'd always move it if there's people walking around who are obviously looking for a seat.

Wow. I’d offer to sit on their lap if they didn’t move. With the full intention of doing it.

A high risk strategy.