What's your thoughts on reserving seats on train ?

[Lastdaysofsummer26]

Seen two rows about this, this year already

First time an older man, told a lady with a small child she was in his seat there was plenty of other seats at the time so she grumpily told him can't you just sit there....

Then today two families were on a train, a load of woman came on in hen party and wanted getbthe families to leave,As they had reserved the seats, they refused to move, then a staff member came along asked them to move but the staff member also told the she couldn't force the to move.
One of the hens started shouting we've paid for these seats
And one of the family people said we've paid for our seats too
There where no other seats for them to move to so the families didn't move due to small children

But of an awkward train journey as they just kept saying things
An hours journey

Doesn't seem to really work that well
What do you think

Well if you’ve reserved your seats then you should be able to sit in them. Just because you have small DC doesn’t entitle you to steal those seats reserved by others. Reserve your own bloody seats.

Of course it won't work well if people sit in reserved seats and refuse to move. If they want to guarantee seats, they should make sure to reserve them on eligible train journeys.

Why couldn't the mother with her child sit somewhere else if there were plenty of seats?
I think it's a good idea to reserve seats if you are travelling a long distance on a train that is likely to be busy.
Many years ago, travelling with my then 18 month old, we had seats booked. A woman was in the one of the seats. I pointed out she was in my seat. She said " There's nothing on the seat to show it is booked" but I think my resting bitch face put her off arguing and she moved.
When we sat down, I found the seat reservation card on the floor of the train- obviously been put there by Miss Seat Grabber.
Those cards have been replaced by an electronic display now. Harder to throw on the floor.

If people reserve seats they should be able to sit in them!

I think the seats should 100% be for the people who have reserved them.
If you want a seat then reserve it.
Some people are extremely rude and make life very unpleasant.

Exactly 🤷‍♀️

Had this recently with someone asleep in my booked table seat. The other occupants of the table suggested I leave him and sit somewhere else which I reluctantly did. I then seat hopped for the rest of the journey as other people came to claim their seats and had to try and work from my laptop on one of those small trays. Never again!

Sometimes people reserve seats and then (for whatever reason) don't turn up.
If the electronic display says that the seat is reserved from London Kings Cross to Glasgow and the seat is empty when you get on at Nottingham, you can sit in it. It's highly unlikely that the person who booked originally will turn up to join the train, say at Preston.
In order to do this you need to know the route so you don't inadvertently sit in a reserved seat !

Pretending to be asleep,.most likely..

Ha! Reminds me of the time I was in my reserved seat, with my colleagues, on our way to work in another city for the week and an older retired couple approached me to tell me we were in their seats. I knew we were in our reserved seats so I told them that they were mistaken and that we had them reserved. The woman just wouldn't let it go and was really quite rude to me, and lots of people were watching by this stage, so I asked to see her ticket, and I then took great pleasure on telling her that her and her husband were on the wrong train. She was furious when she realised and stormed off, I felt sorry for her husband, he seemed embarrassed by her.

The cheeky or stupid fuckers had gotten on the expensive rush hour Virgin train when they had only paid for an off-peak Silverlink.

Worse thing maggie thatcher did privatising our trains, well second worse after selling all the council housing, its crazy how much trains cost here, and then there's no seats

Yep see people pretending to be asleep all the time and pretending they've lost their ti ket when they can't get out the barrier, then they hold up the queue

Maggie didn't privatise the railways. It was started under John Major's Government in 1993 under the Railway's Act.
I think you will find that the following rail companies are now publicly owned -

• London North Eastern Railway (LNER)
• Northern
• Southeastern
• TransPennine Express
• ScotRail (run by Scottish Rail Holdings)
• Transport for Wales (owned by the Welsh Government)
• South Western Railway
• c2c
• Greater Anglia
• West Midlands Trains (including London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway)
• Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR)

Don't let that interfere with your rant though.🙂

Rail fares keep going up to pay the drivers' humungous salaries, and I understand that they have just been offered another one if they work on the service that serves Andy's No 10 North. (Avanti West Coast)

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/andy-burnham-train-drivers-strike-b1295223.html

If I have reserved anything then I expect to be able to use it. It has been booked, for me, in my name.

An airline seat. A seat on a train. A theatre ticket. A table in a popular restaurant.

Don't just rack up, sit your arse there and then make out I'm the villain bitch for expecting the thing I've paid for.

Don't sit in a seat reserved by someone else, or move if they come if you chnace it. Simple. The end.

If I have made a reservation to be seated, I expect to be seated. By all means take your chances and hope the reserver has cancelled but if they do turn up, politely remove yourself without any drama.

As a family of four, we reserved seats on a train so we could sit together on a long journey. Only to arrive and find someone sat there with their laptop fired up with her 2 teenagers in tow.

She was fuming when we told her they were our reserved seats and whinging about needing a table for work and could we find other seats and pointed at a some seats dotted about separately. Politely told her, absolutely not!

She did move in the end, huffing and puffing how we had inconvenienced her. It did say reserved so not quite sure what she expected!

I've been known to ask someone to move from my reserved window seat to their reserved aisle seat.

The only time I was defeated was by a young woman whose ability to speak English suddenly disappeared when I reiterated that she was in my seat.

i got myself quite upset with the woman who stole my seat, my window seat
but she realise and offered to move but i said No
oh well

my thoughts are simply you don’t sit in someone’s reserved seat, if there’s no seats and you didn’t reserve you stand. If you’re sitting in their reserved seat before their reservation kicks in, just be prepared to move when it gets to the station that the reservation begins

I get what you say but if they were public companies they’d be slashed to their bones right now as there is not enough tax income for public services as it is (nhs,tax office, etc all shit)
So ridiculous to say take back public ownership of say water companies -what with ? There’s no money to buy them and no money to run them

People have become increasingly rude abiut moving from reserved seats in the last few years to the point where they mostly refuse. This is in part due to the incompetence of the train companies, often you get on the train and the reservations aren't shown or the previous service is cancelled so the cancel all reservations for the next service. The trains are so full you often can't even get on the right carriage let alone get to your seat.

I think they need to introduce a maximum luggage size, also standing carriages. Then all other tickets should be for a specific seat like on a plane. Mind you cheeky twaats would still steal the seats they prefer e.g. the tables. Train travel is so grim now in the UK.

If you want a guaranteed seat, particularly if you want a window/table/to sit with your group then reserve it.

When I was about 19 I politely asked a man in his 50s to move his bag so that I could sit in my reserved seat and he called me a stupid c*nt 🫢

I honestly think people who refuse to move should be issued a penalty just like if they hadn’t bought a ticket at all. the UK is so… just… lame. People don’t respect the conventions because they know nothing will happen.

Some trains I have taken automatically reserve you a seat when you book and you have no choice in the matter - which is a big pain when it puts you and your kids in the quiet carriage.

Another frustration is that children up to age 4 are free, but they don't get a reserved seat. Which is fine if you only have one child - they go on your lap. But when you have 2 it doesn't work.

Trains I used in the summer had a maximum luggage size. It was one suitcase per person plus a piece of hand luggage.