To Book A Train Seat For Toddler

[bushtailadventures]

I think it is a reasonable thing to do. She won't be able to sit in the buggy like she does on a bus, and having her on my lap for the entire journey would be a nightmare. In her own seat she could at least look at books or do some colouring, and, if she does want to sit on me, I will have somewhere to put all of her stuff.

It's been a long time since I travelled by train and all I remember is how cramped it was. This seemed like a good idea when I was buying the tickets, but everyone else here seems to think I'm being silly. Am I?

when i went on a long journey it was cheaper to buy my son a ticket, because then i could buy/use a railcard.

but it has got my goat a few times especially coming back on my commute on a packed train (often been cancelled or delayed so double the amount of passengers then) to see parents with kids happily sitting in seats that an adult could have.

But if they've paid for it (I know you have too) then they're as entitled as you to use it. And not all toddlers comply well with lap sitting for a long journey.

I kicked off a couple of times but to no avail

How can they force you to do it? Physically lift the child onto your lap and another person sits down? Check the national conditions of carriage (which changed recently) but I suspect they can do nothing to force you.

And if someone with a greater need gets on, presumably they will have a seat reservation themselves (excepting the circumstances when a train has been cancelled and they have to get on the next one - which I imagine happens quite a lot, in which case I would give up my seat or have child on my lap).

What would they be able to do if you just politely said 'No, this seat is reserved and paid for', then carried on reading your book or whatever? They could hardly kick you off the train (and if they did, you'd be able to make a serious complaint to the regulators etc!)

Superfly- some train companies won't allow you to keep a child's paid for and reserved ticket if adults are standing. Or at least all of the ones I've used. I sympathise but if I've paid for and reserved a ticket I should be able to use it guilt free.

I am fully prepared to have her on my lap for some of the journey if someone is standing, I know how annoying that can be. But, for the majority of the journey (off peak on a Saturday) I can't imagine the train will be that busy. I did reserve the seats too, just to be on the safe side.

We are travelling with a couple of other adults, but she is fussy about who she goes to, so it will be my lap that suffers most

Some train companies won't allow you to keep a child's paid for and reserved ticket if adults are standing. I think you should contact the TOC's that you are referring to because that simply isn't the way it works.

I always have booked seperate seats on trains and planes since tiny. On long trains the child ticket is usually only £1 cheaper so often £100+. I have never been asked to remove them, just show that we have three tickets for example. They might have been 3/4 years but if we have reserved a particular allocated seat, and paid for it, why should I move them for someone who didn't reserve a seat?

i always used to do it on long train journeys, using friends and family card, paid for a child ticket then paid to book a seat for them.
I would make them sit on my lap on a busy train if i was travelling normally, but long journeys, i made sure we had table seats booked etc so they could sit a draw and be kept occupied.

no way would I move a child from a seat I had paid for and reserved.

if someone wants to risk an unreserved first class ticket then it's for them to take lack of adequate space/seating up with the train people. Staff should not be shaming other passengers to make good the company shortfall.

There is no excuse in this day and age for them to oversell tickets imo.

Sorry to completely hi-jack your thread OP, but what happens if 1 train is cancelled, and 2 parties have booked/reserved, say seat 3C&D on a train each?

NannyOgg I don't know the situation re travel from London which is where I work... When and if they charge for a child's seat. If it is a longer journey and seat paid for and reserved of course the child should use it.

Colby never seen this happen but then again I don't have kids and don't really get trains now, but never noticed kids turfed out of paid for seats on long train journeys. And that's not fair.

THen 1st train passengers don't get the right to the seat if 1st trained cancelled as it's the 2nd train arriving. If you had 10am train tickets reservation and someone 10.30am and you all got the 10.30am then those with 10.30am reservations get the seat. Everyone else sits in not reserved and has to get a refund for missed train later if train companies fault

I buy my under fives a ticket but am happy to sit them on my knee if it's very busy.

brightsmoke if it's the train you have reservations for that is cancelled, you no longer have a reserved seat. If its the other train that's cancelled, then their reservations are cancelled.

I used to regularly travel with my children (who all had seats and reservations) and never once was asked to move them. Obviously if you are travelling with a toddler is reasonably easy to put them on your knee, but where exactly would you put say, a 7 year old? they don't fit on my knee.

*if the person really needed the seat, I'd stand while my child kept there seat.

On some trains like London to bath spa on Friday night eg after work it's so packed everyone sits in corridor, luggage rack etc so if a child was travelling then I'd expect maybe to go on a lap as lots of people get off en route

I always used to travel with a railcard when DS was under 5, because as PP have said, adult+child with railcard is cheaper than an adult ticket (and since generally I'm doing long distance trips, it pays for itself in ONE journey, then you have it for the whole year). This means you can book tickets. But on really crowded trains I always used to offer to take DS on my knee if people were standing. I wouldn't do it now he's 8 and bloomin' heavy - I've paid for his seat, so he gets to sit in it.

(Incidentally, it never ceases to amaze me how many people sit in the luggage rack/ends of carriages on the floor even though there are seats in the carriages. It's actually relatively rare on the routes I go on - and they're busy ones, west coast mainline, routes in and out of London - for there to be no seats at all. I get the impression some people don't realise that you can sit in a reserved seat if the person who booked it hasn't shown up - okay, it might only last for say Birmingham to Sheffield, then you have to get up and look for another one, but surely that's better than sitting on the floor?)

Sorry to completely hi-jack your thread OP, but what happens if 1 train is cancelled, and 2 parties have booked/reserved, say seat 3C&D on a train each? most TOC's will just unreserve the whole train. It depends on the logistics though.

I have osteoarthritis in my knees, so toddlers have to have their own seat. Its unreasonable to make someone sit with a heavy weight in their lap.

JellyBelli If every seat is booked and you have not booked and paid for one for your toddler then it's unreasonable in you to expect someone else to stand. In fact if you get on and all the seats are taken without being booked or there are no twos together it is again unreasonable to expoect someone to stand.

I have always done this. Had three under five at one point. There was no way they could all go on my knee and it was the only way to ensure we could sit together.

If you have booked two seats and have the reservations then they are yours.

Anyone who asks you to not occupy the two seats you have booked is unreasonable.

I think it's very sensible to book a seat for a toddler - trains seats are very cramped these days. I am a regular long distance train commuter on a very busy train route and there's no way I would ever expect a toddler to be moved to make space for me and I don't think most of the people I commute with would either (we're a hardy lot and well use to a little discomfort!) Maybe if there was someone who needed a seat who was less able to stand but I am sure there would be plenty of other people on the train who would be able to give up their seat in that situation.

(barring exceptional circumstances, in which I'm sure you would be kind to the person who was having the exceptional circumstance)

We used to do this if we did longer journeys. We got a family railcard, paid for a child's ticket and reserved a seat. She was then entitled to sit and use her seat in the same way anyone else with a paid for seat was.It was partially to account for all the additional luggage travelling with a toddler entails too. Dealing with all that on your knee and a small child can be a pain. Not to mention that I have dodgy joints anyway (was undiagnosed arthritis so didn't know cause at the time)

Re reserved seats one cancelled trained - often they merge two trains and then cancel all of the reservations. In my experience anyway.