To think that if you haven't booked a seat on a busy train

[MrsSchadenfreude]

You don't stand huffing loudly about young people having no manners and children should be sitting on their parents' laps, and leaning heavily on people who have reserved seats? Train to Cornwall, Bank Holiday weekend, was never going to be empty.

YANBU at all. My pet hate is when someone is sitting in my reserved seat and when asked to move they try to refuse and say someone was sitting in their reserved seat so they couldn't sit there. Well if that's true then you need to ask them to move rather than sitting in someone else's seat and moaning when asked to move!

I get excited crossing the Prince Albert Bridge over the Tamar - nearly properly in Cornwall

(Misses point of thread, but I'm a smug one who books seats weeks in advance).

'By charging less for kids there is an implication that they would need to be moved for adult passengers.'

Really? I don't see that implication at all. And expat's right - does that mean an 'implication' that senior citizens with reduced fares should have to move? No? Then why should children?

Over here tickets are (often a lot) cheaper in advance - should I have to move from my reserved seat for someone who bought their ticket yesterday, therefore paying double?

It should be made fair by common decency - if someone's reserved a seat, they get the seat, no arguments, BUT taking into account people who are elderly, pregnant, etc.

I travel a lot with work and it automatically books me a seat at a table near the toilet - I get one nine times out of ten. The thing that really winds me up is people that think the work they're doing on their laptop is remotely important to anyone else, or makes them more worthy of a table seat. The huffing and puffing you get when those ones are asked to move out of seats other people have reserved is embarrassing.

“Travel by coach, it’s cheaper and you don't have to stand”

And it takes forever, legroom is awful and if there is an accident or heavy traffic the journey is utter pants.

“And get a railcard”

Unfortunately I don’t fall into any demographic for a railcard. DD is too old for us to benefit from a family railcard, so I have bought her a student railcard. I am too old for a student railcard and not old enough for a senior railcard.

I always book for specific trains as it is much cheaper, so our seats are always reserved. I have no problem politely asking someone to move if they are sitting in my seat. It has only happened once so far.

Two together railcard doesn't require anything other than you being two humans who travel together.

OH is old enough to benefit from a senior railcard, and I often travel on my own.

I was on that line going the other way - hugely busy in our carriage (so luggage blocking vestibules) but largely empty up by the buffet car. We had to ask someone to move from our reserved seats (I say we, my 9yo did it as I was struggling with the luggage at the far end of the carriage at the time) and he was lovely. But if they hadn't jammed us all into three coaches and instead spread us all out a bit, it would all have been much better.

Also, for those that know the line, is this straight from Exeter St Davids to Reading thing new? I don't remember it ever happening before.

I had this a few weeks back. Scotland to Plymouth and someone thought my kids should either stand next to the table or sit at the opposite end of the carriage, out of sight, for the entire journey, because they didn't want their two 2 seat reservations, they wanted a table of 4.

Absolutely not going to happen. They then started griping about my 3yo and 1yo having a seat. A shared seat. That I'd paid a lot for.

funnily enough when I said that me, 18yo DS & 14yo DD1 would go sit and the other end and they could sit with narcoleptic 14yo, 12yo, 8yo, 3yo & 1yo between two tables if they wished they skulked off to their booked seats.

Bit rude to say it is usually older people who don't get out of your reserved seats. On a crammed train the other day I was the only person to give up my reserved seat to a poor mum standing and trying to feed a tiny baby. Plenty of younger commuters just ignored her plight. I'm 60 and stood for the next 2 hours. Hope someone will do the same for me one day ( obviously not when I'm feeding my baby...)

And she had reserved a seat further along the train, but the corridors were too packed for her to get to it. ( that silly 3 carriage train from Portsmouth to Bristol)

On CrossCountry trains it is often possible to book seats on the day of travel - by text (10-minute reservation)

If you reserve your seat - it's yours. Conductor will move anyone in for you if they don't shift.
Pathetic if they can't be bothered to get organised then take liberties.

Where possible I will always book sests when travelling with dc and will always ask people to move if others are in our seats. It would be madness not to, not least because it's easier to keep them entertained and occupied so not annoying other travellers when they are sitting and able to get out a colouring book or whatever.

I was on a train once going back to London after visiting family at Christmas, there had been quite a bit of snow and a few trains cancelled, ours though was running. We got on at Peterborough onto a packed train and found our reserved seats and asked the people to move. We were told that due to all the cancellations all reservations had been removed. Fair enough my dh said but would one if you mind standing so my 38 week pg wife can sit. They refused and it was only when an elderly women further down the carriage offered her seat (to which I thanked her but refused) that anyone else found it in themselves to offer me a seat.

Did anyone get off at Taunton?

On the way from London to Edinburgh right now, got on and someone was in one of our seats with her stuff spread all over the table..... She did move albeit very slowly and reluctantly.

grannytomine

I buy all my tickets with an F&F railcard.

I will once again reiterate. I don't give a fuck who thinks they 'deserve' their reserved seats. My children do not give their seats up for anybody.

Your age doesn't make you more deserving of a seat. Neither does your attitude.

We reserve seats to make our lives easier, not so that sone fool who didn't book can pick and choose where they want to sit.

I have and will turf anybody out of their seats if needed. My eldest is quite good at it too.

If the rail companies change the system, so be it. I will still pay for my children to have reserved seats, and they will not move for huffy puffy adults with a misplaced sense of entitlement.

As ever, I will always surrender my own seat to somebody who actually needs it.

Incy (same here).

Last weekend on the Paddington to PZ service at 7pm all the seat reservations were totally totally messed up, hadn't been put out etc, and the train was utter carnage.
Standing all down the aisle, but everyone was in shockingly good spirits. I shared two seats with a mum and her lovely daughter, and they were both delightful, I even got invited to watch "the sisterhood of the travelling pants" with the little girl on her ipad (I would've given up my seat but I was hundreds of miles from home with pregnancy complications and in severe pain)
Packed trains are not a problem
Bad attitudes are.
Four hours on that train flew past as everyone was lovely and friendly, and people I didn't even know where offering me biscuits etc.

We've done train cameraderie too. The day our train from London didn't make it to KX was a horror. A full train worth of people were told to squeeze onto another service (already full) to anstop further up the line where our train would join us. It was manic, but we all managed. The train staff were amazing, and distributed water to everyone as it was so packed the air con wasn't making a dent.

Travelling from London once and my sons shared their seat with a young girl who was travelling with a hassled looking father and younger sibling. They were travelling last minute, and it was rammed.

I don't object to making the most of things. I just refuse to make my children uncomfortable just because their age decrees I 'should'. Their needs are my primary concern and none of anybody else's business.

lass

My dh upgraded us to 1st by paying £5 on a trip to london once

I was very, very excited

Which is sad

It's not sad at all !

No, it isn't. I once got a cheap upgrade to first and was thrilled by the nice man appearing at my side offering me tea, coffee and snacks throughout the journey.

It could go to a girl's head.

No i mean me being that excited about travelling first class lass

And it was deffo a fiver when we did it a few years ago