DS's GF was asked by a friend to help man a charity stall yesterday in a city some distance away (2 hour train journey). She reserved seats for both journeys as she knew she would be on her feet all day.
On the journey there she got a few "looks" and heard passive aggressive remarks from people who felt they had a greater need and who seemed to expect her to give up her seat as the train filled up.
On the return journey she quickly found her seat hoping for a restful journey home while her feet recovered. The train became very crowded eventually people were standing in all the aisles.
She was sitting in an aisle seat and the person next to her asked GF to let her out as her stop was the next one. GF stood up and a woman with a toddler sat down quickly in the window seat. This woman's husband/partner tried to take GF's seat with another child. She explained she wasn't getting off and had only moved to let the woman out and she sat down quickly.
The woman's DH asked GF to move elsewhere so that he and his child could have her seat. There were no other seats free, so GF said no, as there was nowhere else to sit. He became quite unpleasant and said his child needed to sit down. GF explained she had reserved the seat because she needed it. A woman opposite could see GF was getting upset and told the man to leave her alone and he should have reserved a seat if he needed one.
Was she BU to expect to be able to sit in a seat she had reserved? And was he BU to expect her to move?