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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Seat reservations on train

57 replies

ProudAS · 24/07/2013 10:14

More a wwyd

I am on a train and some passengers (myself included) reserved seats in advance but the reservation tickets haven't been put in place.

Most people have been good natured about it and found seats near their travelling companions. I am now in "my seat" as the gentleman who was there has got off the train so hopefully I won't be told off for being in someone else's!

Problem is the train is now filling up, a few passengers are standing and there will no doubt be more after the next station. Would it be unreasonable to expect passengers who have not reserved to give up seats to those who have?

As for why the reservations weren't put on in the first place there may have been a good reason and I'm not in a position to hazard a guess.

OP posts:

CuChullain · 24/07/2013 10:49

Allowing the booking of reserved seats and than not backing up the reservation with a notice on said seat is an utter failure on the part of the train company, it just creating hassle and disappointment for all concerned.

However, I pity the fucker who refuses to budge from a seat that has been clearly reserved in my name. Students seem to have a particular sense of entitlement.

mumeeee · 24/07/2013 11:10

This happend to me once. I had reserved a seat and the reservation tickets hadn't been put out. I asked the guard as did some other passengers and we were told that they had put a different train on as there was something wrong with the original one. That meant that all reservations were void. So if someone had a reserved ticket they couldn't expect someone else to move.

chocolatespiders · 24/07/2013 11:15

Seat reservations are free- WOW I never knew that... does it have to booked online? Guess I wouldn't be able to do it with a family railcard that I use in the station.

BridgetBidet · 24/07/2013 11:18

On Virgin trains they're not void. People ask others to move if they're in their seat and I've seen the conductor move them if they won't.

samandi · 24/07/2013 11:34

If you/the guard can't find you an alternative seat you may be entitled to a refund of the ticket (in the form of vouchers).

I've done four train journeys in the last year and received partial refunds on three of them due to various delays/not having a seat - over £200.

LRDYaDumayuIThink · 24/07/2013 11:45

Ahhh, thanks SPB. That makes much more sense.

Duh.

MammaTJ · 24/07/2013 11:59

If I've reserved seats I'll ask someone to move out of my seat, with my ticket as proof.

^ This. I always reserve a seat when travelling by train. I would not hesitate to ask someone to move if they were in my seat and there was not another seat available to me.

FudgeyCookie · 24/07/2013 12:02

chocolatespiders if your buying tickets in advance (at least 1 day) at a station - the actual ticket office person - you can book a seat. Don't even need yor railcard

sherbetpips · 24/07/2013 12:07

If the reservations notices have not been put out it makes no difference. As long as you have a ticket showing your reservation seat number on it you can claim that seat. A systems error on the train companies behalf is not an excuse. Always ask the person to move, politely of course as they had no way of knowing.

Same with the cinema when someone is in your seat, get them to move as you will only be asked to move later on by someone who's seat you have taken.

GooseyLoosey · 24/07/2013 12:09

I would not get up. I have an annual season ticket which costs me £8,500 and am still not entitled to reserved seats.

I travel a lot and am always careful to pick seats without tickets on. Had I known that a seat was reserved, I would have picked another. I always ensure I am in time to get a seat as it hurts my back to stand for an hour.

It drives me nuts when people ask me to move because I am sat in their seat. I am not, reservations are not valid unless the seat is ticketed. Take that up with the rail company, not me. If your need for a seat is greater than mine (because of age or illness), I will move, otherwise I will not.

Feel better now, rant over.

RussiansOnTheSpree · 24/07/2013 12:10

Family railcards can be used to book tickets online. It's better to book online with a family railcard since you can't use them buying tickets from ticket machines. Of course you can get reservations with a family railcard. Many types of advance ticket are only valid with a reservation. However you do not have to sit in your reserved seat. On FGW if the cards aren't out the reservations are void, but you still have to travel on your allocated train if you have that sort of advance ticket. If the reservation system has gone to pot (happens a LOT in the summer) sometimes the train staff will let you sit in First (eg if you have kids) sometimes not.

I have often been on trains where people refuse to get out of reserved seats. Especially in Wales. There's nothing you can do if the train staff don't want to help.

StealthPolarBear · 24/07/2013 12:19

I really think this varies by provider

chocolatespiders · 24/07/2013 12:23

Will try and book online next time. I find the whole booking online so so confusing

jamdonut · 24/07/2013 12:39

You can book reserved seats at a station.

Last time me and DH came back from London, the train after ours was cancelled,and their tickets became valid for use on our train...however,we were still allowed to take our reserved seats as we had the tickets valid for that train. Felt sorry for first class (not)...it was downgraded to take the over spill!! There was a lot of fuss about who got to sit where.

What happens if the reserved cards get taken out by someone or knocked out...you have the ticket stating your seats are reserved??...well you do on East Coast .

RussiansOnTheSpree · 24/07/2013 12:40

If your card is missing but reservations have not been declared void then train staff will turf the interloper out of your seat IF there aren't other seats for you to sit in. On FGW.

facedontfit · 24/07/2013 12:48

Same thing happened to us, reservations not put on seats as new train brought in at the last minute. Someone in our seat so asked the guard if we could sit in first class, had to show proof of reservation and she said yes!

EmmelineGoulden · 24/07/2013 12:53

What GooseyLoosey said but without the season ticket bit. You can't expect people to give up a seat they didn't know was yours in order to stand when, had they known, they would have chosen a different seat. It's a pain but it's unfair on all the passengers and your complaint is with the train company, not the passenger who inadvertently sat in "your" seat. Also, with seat reservations, you don't have to sit in your reserved seat. In a busyish train it's always worth looking at the reservations in place to see if the boarding station has been passed - in which case the person whose seat it is is probably elsewhere and you can safely sit there.

AnnabelleLee · 24/07/2013 12:56

If I have a seat that is not marked as reserved, no way am I getting up and standing, no matter what ticket you wave at me. I've paid my money same as you and if my arse is in it, its my seat. I'd feel sorry for you but I wouldn't move. neither would I ask anyone to move if it was the other way around (I'd go and sit in 1st and have it out with the conductor!)

LRDYaDumayuIThink · 24/07/2013 13:04

Erm ... usually with seat reservations you do have to sit in it, IME. I suspect this goes back to what SPB says about different train companies doing it differently, but on my regular journey, the conductor will tell you to get up and move if you have a reservation and you're not sitting in that seat. Even if it means asking someone else to move out of it.

RussiansOnTheSpree · 24/07/2013 13:05

LRDY Nope, not on FGW. They don't care.

Justforlaughs · 24/07/2013 13:06

I went on a long train journey (admittedly a few years ago now) and I didn't want to pay the extra to reserve a seat. I was getting on at the first station on the line so I knew that there would be plenty of seats. All went well until we reached the 3rd station, by which time the train was packed. It turned out that I was sitting in a reserved seat, that had not been marked as such and I had to stand for the following 3 hours. I can't say categorically that things haven't changed recently but I know that on every occasion that I have been on a train, the person who has reserved the seat has the right to sit in it, regardless of any other circumstances.

Another time I was on a train and the seat reservations were done electronically. When we got on the train there was nothing to state which seat was which as the electronic system was "down". We sat down at a table with a spare double seat next to it (6 of us) and made ourselves comfortable. My 2 yo DS and 3 yo DD fell asleep across me and the seat. System gets back up and running. A lady gets on and we are sitting in "her" seat. There were plenty of other seats available, including some at tables, but that wasn't good enough for her. She actually got the guard who upheld her right to the seat she had booked. Result, we ended up waking the children (she wouldn't even accept the seat on the other side of the table where my DH was sitting) and moving to a different seat where we couldn't sit together, because I wasn't prepared to do the same thing to the people who were now sitting in "our" reserved seats.

Don't think I'ver written a post this long

RussiansOnTheSpree · 24/07/2013 13:07

LRDY They want an easy life! But also, they have this stupid quiet carriage thing going on, and some people want to be in the quiet carriage but are allocated tickets not in it, and some want to be not in it, but are allocated tickets in it, and that causes problems. So they are quite laissez faire. Utter sticklers for being on the right train though.

LadyBryan · 24/07/2013 13:11

Surely its all about handling it in a reasonable way.

Your reserved seat is free - so you sit in it.
Your reserved seat isn't free - but seats closeish are, so you sit in them.
Your reserved seat isn't free and there aren't any other seats. Perfectly reasonable to ask whoever is sitting in it to move, politely. By their very definition reserved tickets get priority in their specific seat over non-reserved.

I actually wonder how many train lines enforce the "no seat marker, all reservations are void". When we travelled down to London last year, there was child in our carriage running around the carriage and collecting all the seat markers (parent allowing him to do this is a WHOLE other rant). That doesn't make the seat reservation system void!

RussiansOnTheSpree · 24/07/2013 13:17

Lady FGW declare seat reservations void if they haven't been able to place the cards. If one card is missing by accident or becomes dislodged, that doesn't void the reservations. It's not the absence of cards that makes the reservations void, it;s the announcement at each station.

LRDYaDumayuIThink · 24/07/2013 13:18

russians - yes, precisely. That's what SPB is saying - it seems to vary from company to company.

So probably we travel on different ones.

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