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Original poster

People who don't sit in their own booked seats

262 replies

Badbadbunny · 16/12/2018 12:44

Is it just me or is there an epidemic of this at the moment. Yesterday, went to a football match with family, booked seats a few weeks ago to get a decent view, easy access to toilets etc and for us to sit together. When we arrived, two pairs of people were sat in the middle of our booked seats and wouldn't move, we asked the stewards for help, but they couldn't get these people to move either, so we just ended up sat in someone elses' seats who weren't happy with us, but we just referred them back to the steward who wouldn't help us. Last weekend, at the cinema, we booked seats online beforehand, again reserved seats, but when we got in, again, someone else sat in our seats so we had to sit somewhere else. Midweek, went on a 3 hour train journey to London, booked our seats on the Virgin website weeks ago, again, when we got on, someone else sat in them, again, wouldn't move as the train was full, again, the guard wouldn't move them on, so we ended up split up on odd seats elsewhere. Since when have people become so inconsiderate and rude that they don't sit in their own seats, and won't move when the person with the valid ticket asks them to????

OP posts:
DandelionsAreNotLions · 17/12/2018 12:47

I boarded a busy train part way through its journey a while back. Someone was in my seat. She moved, but in the time it took me to speak to her, and for her to gather her stuff and move, I was blocking the aisle so no-one else could get to their seats. Then she blocked the aisle while she looked for another seat. She probably pissed off a dozen or more people by the time she finally sat down.
Some seats are only reserved for part of a journey. If you must occupy a reserved seat, at least wait until the train has left the station from which the reservation begins.

The important part is this busy train is part way through the journey. She may have well waited for it to leave before taking your seat. If shed stood up before your stop in case you were getting on then she would have been blocking the aisle and messing with everyone getting to their seats.

I'd never ever sit on someone else's reserved seat except on a train. The system just doesn't work we'll for trains where people are getting on and off and can walk around. Planes, football, theatre it works fine.

Chloe84 · 17/12/2018 12:47

Manic, could have been true. It's at the discretion of cabin crew. If they have the power to move to people to BC/FC then they have the power to allow swaps too.

MartaHallard · 17/12/2018 13:06

She may have well waited for it to leave before taking your seat.

But she didn't. She was in my seat when I boarded the train, while it was at the station.

If shed stood up before your stop in case you were getting on then she would have been blocking the aisle and messing with everyone getting to their seats.

But that's what she ended up doing, anyway. If she'd noted that the seat was reserved from York, and moved before the train reached York, she wouldn't have inconvenienced anyone.

(Conversely, if a seat is reserved from London to York, obviously anyone getting on at York or after York may occupy it for the remainder of the journey.)

DandelionsAreNotLions · 17/12/2018 13:13

But she didn't. She was in my seat when I boarded the train, while it was at the station.

Were you not part way through the journey?
That's why trains are difficult.

Aridane · 17/12/2018 13:25

what irritates me are the (fairly rare) occasions when people expect you to be telepathic. this happened the other day, when I was sat at a table working but fully prepared to move if asked. there was a person sitting opposite me talking with a person standing next to her and they both occasionally made snide, nasty comments in their conversation (I don't recall the exact words) but it gradually dawned on me that the standing person was the one who had booked the seat I was in, but had expected me to know this by some magical means that didn't involve any kind of direct communication. of course I moved but really I think they were unreasonable not to say anything to me directly. my powers of telepathy are limited.

The thing is: if I sit in a reserved seat, I am vigilant / keep an eye out for someone coming down the aisle whose seat it might be, especially pre departure and the 5 minutes or so after departure. So if someone was standing by the seat I was squatting in looking puzzled / squinting at the seat numbers, I would look up and check whether it was their reserved seat I was occupying,

A bit like sitting in the disabled seats on the bus / tube

canibehereifimnotamum · 17/12/2018 14:15

I'm so shocked that the stewards didn't help and the CF who wouldn't move! We went to see a show in the West End a couple of months ago and someone was in our seats, told the steward and she went about finding us new seats- they must of double booked. Said it was our honeymoon and we got upgraded to absolutely amazing seats! It wasn't our honeymoon 😏

Vickster99 · 17/12/2018 14:23

I was at the cinema once when this happened - everyone was in the wrong seats and a lady with young children couldn't get seats that were all together. So she went and got a steward and the film was actually stopped, the lights turned up and everybody who was in the wrong seats made to move.

I bet if everywhere did that people would stop doing this.

53rdWay · 17/12/2018 14:26

She may have well waited for it to leave before taking your seat.

But there’d be no point waiting for the train to leave first if the seat’s only reserved from an intermediate stop. If it’s the Penzance to Aberdeen train and the seat says it’s reserved from York, you’d hardly expect its occupier to get on at Penzance!

DoAsYouWouldBeMumBy · 17/12/2018 15:10

No one has ever refused to move from seats that I have booked - I must be really scary looking GrinGrin

WhatCanBrownBearSee · 17/12/2018 16:21

Back in my student days I did a lot of train travel up and down the country. In those days trainline.com would give you a “recommended seat” on your ticket confirmation but it wasn’t actually reserved for you. Caused no end of confusion. Hopefully they’ve stopped that now

YouBelongHere · 17/12/2018 16:34

This annoys me so much on trains because I don't have the balls to ask people to move >.<

I got asked to move seats on a plane once - I'm a nervous flyer and had prebooked the aisle seat and got asked to move to a window seat on the other side so that a woman could with her Mom. I agreed because people have moved so I can sit by my friends on planes before (I do ask and say I don't mind if they say no - I usually swap an aisle or window seat for a middle one so people are more likely to say yes). At least she asked the moment she saw me looking at the occupied seat instead of keeping quiet.

People did that to us at a concert, they sat in our seats and we had to sit in theirs which were next to ours but further back (if that makes sense). Was a bit annoyed but carried, after the support act they all went to the loo so we moved into our seats - half expected them to say something but they didn't, just headed to their seats Grin

MartaHallard · 17/12/2018 17:13

Were you not part way through the journey?
Well, that happens on a long distance journey. People may join or leave the train at any point. You can't assume that because a reserved seat isn't occupied at the starting point, someone won't be wanting to occupy it at some point.

That's why trains are difficult.
The reservation slip at the back of the seat will say what part of the journey the seat is reserved for, so you can tell when it's ok to sit there.

Some train companies now have digital displays; I can't remember what info they give.

I don't know if it's still the case, but on on some very popular long distance routes you couldn't travel without a reserved seat. London to and from Scotland or the West Country in the summer holidays or at Christmas, for example.

Punstow61 · 17/12/2018 17:26

Widdlin I love your response to the annoying woman in your seat. That gave me a good laugh.

m00rfarm · 17/12/2018 17:41

I went to the theatre in High Wycombe and someone was sitting in our seats. The usher asked to see our tickets and I was in the wrong theatre. I drove really fast to Windsor (which was where i was meant to be) and arrived just at the doors were closing. Problem ompounded by my having given all my change to a beggar outside the HIgh Wycombe theatre before we went in, and then needing the change to pay for the car park in Windsor (where some lovely man donated the missing pound so I could park legally ...)

Bozlem80 · 17/12/2018 17:43

I’m guilty of this, went a panto on Sat & with my granddaughter only being 1 she didn’t need a seat but I moved to a seat next to her, a family had booked those seats but I did get up & move & apologised too, they were ok with it because the theatre was pretty empty & sat a few rows in front.

Oscarsdaddy · 17/12/2018 17:44

If you pre book and pay for tickets at football match, cinema, concert, whatever and someone is in the seat you paid for then stewards must have them removed, if they won’t move then security should evict them fro. The stadium, cinema, etc..... If no one will help you seek down whoever is in charge and demand a full refund and travel and out of pocket expenses. At the end of the day if you’ve paid for something that someone else is using it’s theft, plain and simple

kateryan · 17/12/2018 17:49

Happened to hubby and me on a flight, the guy spoke no English and was enormous, I was bent sideways onto the aisle seat. Eventually offered to pay for an upgrade, as staff were not prepared to ask the guy to move. WHY???. (they bumped a couple who had no problems with their seats). Upgrade happened, but a lot of stress before which we really didn't need.

delshwragon · 17/12/2018 17:56

Couldn't not join in on this one... happened to me last Thursday! Not busy train for 1.5 hour journey. Had reserved 3 seats round a table. Sat in three of the seats - unfortunately I hadn't read the numbers quite right, and we were using one seat that someone else had booked. Other seat was free. Man came along - you are sat in my seat. Loads of other empty seats in the carriage, but no, he wanted the seat I was sat in. I stood up, indicated him to sit, and pushed my stuff about three inches to the other side of the table. He asked if I was going to sit there? With a look of incredulity??? Yep, you betcha. Well then, I'll sit somewhere else!! Could not believe the CF wanted the whole table!!

Tessabelle1 · 17/12/2018 17:58

I'd have stood in front of them blocking the view but I'm am arse 😂

BobLemon · 17/12/2018 18:04

Blush I’ve just remembered my first train ride in India. We’d booked seats with fold-down bed bits, but the bottom seats (facing each other) were designed to have 3 bums each. So 6 bums in total. I discovered about 5 blokes already sitting in our seats, and I got very indignant and un-British and harrumphy about it and gesticulated at them to move, waving my ticket.

I just got a bit of a smirk back, which should have struck me as odd.

My friends had to persuade me to just squeeze my bum down onto a bit of seat and grin (frown) and bear it.

Turns out they were smirking because I clearly thought tickets mattered and that I thought 6 bums was over crowded. I was proved wrong over the next hour or so, like the green, green, silly white lady I was.

Poppyinagreenfield · 17/12/2018 18:04

If a train is cancelled the next train has to accommodate them and the seating arrangements no longer exist and you all have to sit wherever you can.

You would need to check the small print for any contractual agreements and personally we act in a reasonable manner when we have lost seats at football matches and on trains to keep these things in perspective.

The answer is not to go out to any of these situations where you may not get your actual seat if it is essential that you do.

purplebunny2012 · 17/12/2018 18:05

I'm genuinely shocked the staff aren't ousting these inconsiderate aholes. On the train, they should have sat you in first class

ToftyAC · 17/12/2018 18:08

Oh this pisses me right off! The way I look at it I paid to use those seats and I want what I paid for. CFs like this should have fucking stumped up the extra (as that’s usually the case). My DP has gone and got management and made said CFs move a couple of times.

XXcstatic · 17/12/2018 18:10

At the end of the day if you’ve paid for something that someone else is using it’s theft, plain and simple

No it isn't. You don't own a seat in a train or theatre, and therefore no one can steal it from you.

If you read the T&Cs of any ticket, a theatre/cinema/airline etc will always reserve the right to move your seat for operational reasons, and a train ticket doesn't usually guarantee you any seat, let alone a specific one. However, if you have paid for a certain grade of seat in a theatre or plane, the operator would be in breach of contract if it doesn't give you a seat of that type, or a refund of the price difference.

Airlines would be daft not to enforce seat bookings, because they make a fortune from people paying extra to pre-book them. Why bother if any CF can sit wherever they like? At the end of the day, though, most of these things are policed by social norms, not the law, so your best bet is usually to embarrass the CF as much as possible.

Armi · 17/12/2018 18:11

I was on a train with DD, aged 5 at the time. We had reserved seats and discovered two people in our seats. I politely pointed out they were our seats and was told we could have their seats.....which were at either end of the carriage!

I turned on my Death Stare and eventually after much huffing they moved. They eventually got seats together near us and spent the next two hours bitching about me in that horrible, loud way that stupid and unpleasant people do. It wasn’t a nice experience. Still, they got off at Doncaster, which is punishment enough.