To ask someone sitting in my reserved seat on a train to move?

[walterwhitesgf]

Yesterday I boarded my train home, which was full and found someone in my reserved seat. Not unusual in itself .There were two young women, obviously together in the pair of seats, one of which was mine, the window seat. I said 'I'm sorry I think you are in my seat ' to the one in my seat . Much eye rolling and huffing on her part and she said snappily 'well you may have a reserved seat but in which coach? I replied 'in this one, Coach C '. More huffing but she did start to get up and squeezed out past her her friend in the aisle seat. She didn't get up for me to get into my seat just turned sideways and indicated I should just squeeze past. Anyone who travels by train will know its almost impossible to do that so I had to ask the young woman to get up so I could take my seat. She was very unhappy about it and they both started moaning about having to move again. Then someone else came along who had reserved the seat next to me i.e. the one the second young woman was settling herself back down in. You can imagine the result ... she did move for this man but was very very unhappy about doing so. Anyway the reason I am posting is , a few minutes later I overheard a man saying to his partner that he didn't think we should have asked them to move as they were settled in their seats. His partner disagreed . All the seats have a display which indicates if the seats are reserved or not and from which station to which destination, so these young women knew they were in a seat that someone else had reserved. I have never felt bad before about asking someone to move but the overheard conversation made me feel uncomfortable , I am not sure why. Minor wrinkle in a day I know I just wondered what other people felt

[madamedesevigne]

Def not unreasonable. The whole of civilised society would fall apart in a day if everyone started sitting in seats that they hadn't reserved. Same as if people stopped thanking each other for putting the divider thing on the conveyor belt for the next person in supermarkets.

[TiredButFine]

I'll stick my head up and say that I never sit in my reserved seat on Virgin. Teh reserved seats are all crammed in the front of the train, the unreserved back of train is usually quieter so i can sit alone
When I buy a bargain cheap ticket it forces me to book a seat. When I buy the expensive return I cannot book a seat, I have had to stand the whole journey becuae of my stupid expensive ticket.
But yes, if you sit in a reserve seat you can't complain about being asked to move!

[Momagain1]

I would have asked them to move unless there was another spare seat nearby I could have sat in. I sit in reserved seats sometimes and always expect to move but very often the person doesn't actually get on the train

Nope. Nope. Nopety. Nope.

Unless I go up and down the car checking tickets to make sure of a seat that wont be needed until after I have left the train, then someone will be along to ask ME to move and then I will be asking the squatter to move, meaning multiple passengers being grumpy and unsettled. Unless you think I should just take the next empty seat and risk making yet another person unhappy?

No. If I reserve a seat, I expect to sit in it, and those without a reserved seat can be the ones either peering at tickets in hopes of settling in, or being asked to move again and again. Why multiply the misery?

[Lweji]

It also annoys me when my reserved seat is by the window and I find the aisle person on my seat. They always have to move. :)

And I was going to mention that the man should have given one of them his seat, but I see that has already been suggested.

[Momagain1]

The man across the aisle was overjoyed that DH had asked people to move, so we could sit down for mere seconds of train travel. He was still laughing as the train pulled away and gave us the biggest, most cheerful wave.

You never know, the seat squatters might have been annoying him, so he was enjoying them getting turfed out. Or maybe he just generally enjoys chancers getting moved on.

[BathshebaDarkstone]

YANBU. You reserved it, it's your seat until you get off.

[bette06]

The last time I asked someone to move out of my reserved seat, the guy was sitting in the right seat number but on the wrong train! I think he was quite grateful that I had asked for my seat before the train left the station rather than just finding a seat elsewhere!

[CycleChic]

You probably felt uncomfortable because it's not nice to be talked about and judged as acting incorrectly.
That said, the women were wrong, the git gossiping about you was wrong, and you were right.

[HerdofAntilop]

YADNBU they were playing reserved seat roulette. The more comfortable you make yourself the more likely the reservation holder will show up. Surely everyone knows that?

[5Foot5]

Of course YANBU.
I recently caught a train when I didn't have a reservation so I wondered along the carriage looking for a seat that wasn't reserved - not many. Finally I found a group of four where three were reserved and one wasn't. I sat in the non-reserved seat. There were already two men in the window seats. Just before the train left a group turned up who had reserved these seats and asked the men to move. They did with lots of eye rolling and black looks at me because I arrived after them and still had a seat. But really, how hard was it to check?

[Mehitabel6]

I wouldn't let it bother you. I would always ask them to move.

[CocktailQueen]

Ha, herdofantilop, you are right! She had her shoes off, multiple bags piled on other seat, sandwiches over the table, so taking up 2+ seats anyway. Not even her seat - my seat!!

[Butteredparsnips]

HerdofAntilop that is so true.

[NoHaudinMaWheest]

A few months ago four of us were travelling together. Dd is a wheelchair user so we had booked the wheelchair space for her and three adjoining seats for the rest of us. As we have to book assistance for her the seats were reserved with her name on them. Getting on was a bit of a faff as someone had parked their buggy and huge suitcase in the wheelchair space and although they did move it, they made quite a song and dance about it. We then found two women sitting in two of our reserved seats. They insisted that they had booked them but refused to show their reservations. They just refused to move even when we showed ours and pointed out dd's name. We decided to wait for the guard but the train was so crowded that he couldn't get through and dh and ds had to scatter widely for an hour until they got off. I also have mobility problems so sat in the only one of our reserved seats that was still free. I am still flabbergasted at the brass neck of those women who clearly didn't have reservations.

[NotGoingOut17]

I get a train that goes between 2 major national stations every day - but I only use it for a small part of the journey. A high number of reservations go unclaimed judging by the numbers of tickets I see every day. On this basis, I would sit in a reserved seat if it's the only one free but I would always be willing to move if the person turned up.

But then I know from my own experience that people often don't sit in their reserved seat. I am automatically reserved one when I book tickets for work yet as someone else said, if I can find a nicer seat in the non reserved carriage I much prefer to sit there (and hope to get a double on my own) than to be crammed in to the reserved carriage next to someone else. I also wouldn't ask someone to move out of my reserved seat if I could find one available without a reservation, as long as I get a seat I am not bothered which one.

So yes they should have moved when asked, and I don't think you were unreasonable to ask that they move but am surprised at the number of people who think sitting in a reserved seat is such a big deal, as long as people are prepared to move I don't see it as an issue.

[Lweji]

am surprised at the number of people who think sitting in a reserved seat is such a big deal, as long as people are prepared to move I don't see it as an issue.

The problem here is exactly those who are not really prepared to move and complain about it.

[Muldjewangk]

Allowing someone to stay in your reserved seat you could find yourself sitting in someone else's reserved seat expecting to be asked at any minute to move.

Many years ago we booked seats on a tour coach, we were last on board and a couple were sitting on our seats which were at the very back. We weren't sure what to do as there were three of us and this couple refused to move. If we had taken their seats one of us was going to be without a seat or having to sit somewhere else and we were travelling for four days on this coach. The coach driver must have noticed and he very loudly told the couple to move to their allocated seats.

[lunalelle]

People sitting in reserved seats is a pita, that's why people make a fuss. I have to book seats when I travel with the DCs and it's like herding cats without having to extract people from where we are meant to be sitting.

[ilovesooty]

Unless the reserved seat was occupied by a cripple (etc)

I can't believe I read that and no one has challenged it.

[scribblegirl]

Sooty - I wanted to but can get a bit OTT and emotional about disability and don't come across well in writing, but thank you for pointing it out.

[ilovesooty]

scribble

[annandale]

blimey ilovesooty I didn't even see that! who uses that word? [looks back]

i will say that I have been known to sit in a reserved seat, would never make even a breath of trouble about moving but totally take the point that someone who's reserved a seat shouldn't have to ask.

However, sitting in a reserved seat for part of the journey that HASN'T been reserved is fine, surely.

It seems that quite a lot of companies do allow season ticket holders to reserve seats but it's a faff as you seem to have to email them specifically between 4.20 and 4.24 on a Tuesday or thereabouts. Doesn't sound very reliable.

[Crocodopolis]

YANBU. I had the same issue some time ago - I had reserved a seat and the person sitting there first refused to move and then was quite unpleasant and sarcastic about it. I suspect that if the situation were reversed, they would expect me to have moved pronto.

[buttonmoonboots]

Oh but they were settled.

I would be so tempted to settle in that mans seat if he had gone to the loo.

[MyVisionsComeFromSoup]

we had return tickets from London to Manchester, but on the first journey people were sitting in our reserved seats. They also had reservations for those seats (cock-up by Virgin), but as we made more fuss, the guard moved their whole party of I think 9 people to first class.

On the return journey, we checked that the people in our seats also had reservations, then played helpless to the guard, who moved us to first class. Which was much nicer and we got free drinks and snacks .