Train passengers refusing to move

[HolyGuac]

Well, I'm really disappointed in the general public. AIBU to be shocked at the hard faced people in our sets refusing to move?

I booked train tickets and reserved seats about three months ago as we are having a special pre Christmas Day out with my two kids and husband.

Get on the train and the seat reservation numbers above the seats (the digital display ones are on the blink), it says from Euston...we are going to Euston, there are people in our seats who are refusing to move.

One said there's plenty of other seats, there are other seats but not in a table which is what i had booked.

We moved on found separate seats (two two's behind each other) I've been back to ask them nicely if they could move as there are no other table seats, this is a special trip etc etc they've flat out refused.
One said someone took Her seat which is why she moved to our seats, I asked why she couldn't have asked for them to move and got some blather about just taking any seat as the displays are not working!

I'm really disappointed by people today, what a bunch of arses. They are sat there knowing it's not their booked seats.
I would never take someone's seat like that.

The post by @rabbitwoman illustrates all the problems.

The whole basis of seat reservations is pointless if the seats can be sold even if someone sits in them, you don't have to move if the reserver comes along, the train manager does nothing about it (I called Virgin Trains who said it was down to the individual train manager - some care, some don't, some can be bothered, some don't, some are cowards, some aren't).

@FrangipaniBlue

It is not his job to remove someone from seats if the reservation system isn’t working. Seriously

This happens all the time. We had reserved seats on the Eurostar for seven of us travelling together as a party. Got on the train at Ashford and there was a woman and her DD sitting in two of the seats. We showed them our reservation and she point blank refused to move - said that when she booked tickets on the train there weren't two together and she wasn't having her DD sitting alone 'next to a stranger'. Her DD wasn't a young DC, she looked about 16, so we asked again if she would move, but no, she flat out refused. So two of us then had to sit elsewhere and the useless conductor just shrugged and said 'I can't physically move them if they won't go'. It really fucked me off! If people who book late and can't get seats together can just steal other people's seats, what is the point of having allocated seating? They might as just have a free for all.

..... and we once got on a ram packed train to find a really frail old man in my seat. Again, we aren't assholes but I actually have narcolepsy so that's why I book seats in advance. I found the guard, explained the situation, suggested he let us sit in first class - he laughed in my face

Unfortunately if the seat reservations aren't being honoured (as in this case) then that's that. You can't expect people to move from seat to seat at each station as they discover someone wants their place.

Purchase a drink in a cup and stand near your seat, then when the train wobbles make sure they get covered in your drink accidently of course to ruin their day as well

@GCAcademic
Get assistance for your parents .
Ring the station they are going though .
They should make sure they get seated .

www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/disabled_passengers.aspx

@rabbitwoman

Someone was incorrect. The man cannot have bought a ticket with a reservation only 40 minutes before he boarded the train.

You don’t pay for reservations, it’s a free service. If there is a problem with the reservation system on the train, then the reservations don’t stand. If the train is short of carriages or they haven’t had time to put the reservations on, then the reservations don’t stand. The people didn’t have to move, it’s crap but there we are. The amount of time I’ve seen people kick off about reservations and they aren’t even for that particular times service is unreal!

changeforprivacy I think you can reserve seats up to an hour before travel, so it might have been that the reservation just hadn't been displayed at the point that poster took her seat.

I don’t think people understand the seat reservation thing. You can’t reserve a seat so close to departure that it won’t show on the train before it leaves. The driver keys in and the train is pre programmed with all the departures or the station prep staff have put the cardboard reservation slips in. After that, no more reservations are added along the way. So I’m not sure what rabbit got that from but it definitely didn’t happen that way. There is no possible way to add the reservation half way through a journey.

I think it depends on the operator - Cross Country claim you can reserve 10 minutes before travel:

www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/tickets/ten-minute-reservations

I've been known to perch my arse on the table for the entirety of the journey.

Nightsky - I think I love you.

I beg to differ. I am on a train right now and did just that!

It's because if you buy a tickets at the ticket office you pay full price. If you buy an 'advance ticket' on line there is a discount, even just ten minutes before the train leaves. All advance tickets come with seat reservations......

Me and my family once had seats reserved on a two hour journey to London. My DD's were 6 & 8 and someone sat in our seats and just ignored us and wouldn't move.
We sat apart but two lovely very drunk men (9am!) on their way to the football moved for us so we could sit together. They then spent the rest of the journey talking very loudly about how rude they were and taking snaps of them to send to their friends 🙈
It's nice when someone does all that for you so you can not end up ranting and causing a scene when your with your children 😁

Besides, he showed us his ticket, reservation and confirmation email with the time he bought it, otherwise we would not have moved

rabbitwoman - Was it a CrossCountry train?

I was very cross, yes

Heee he

I think it was on the way to Stratford upon Avon

I’d have been tempted to go back to the table to gloat about my upgrade and blow a raspberry at them.

I don't understand why you kept talking to the people in those seats - you acknowledged the reservations system wasn't working. It wasn't that the reservations were yours, but 'the wrong way around' - they weren't your reservations at all.

It sounds like the conductor has done a good job of finding you alternative seats.

I get annoyed with the train company when the reservations are down, not the people who are sitting where I was supposed to, had the reservations system worked. You directed your frustration towards the wrong place...

I'd be quite happy with the resolution of a first class upgrade!

This happens all the time. The seating schedule goes down and it's a free for all. People will likely be sat in the people's seats who are sat in yours. Annoying but nothing can be done, it's a train company issue not the people issue

My DD had a similar experience on a 3 hour journey from Manchester a couple of weeks ago. The reservation displays didn't come on until after the train had left. When she got on the train someone was sitting at the table seat she had booked. She was a bit miffed but moved to another seat. When the displays came on, it turned out her seat was reserved, so she dutifully moved for someone else. She did eventually end up opposite the person in her reserved seat, who at least offered to move should there be any problem further along the journey. Thankfully, there was no issue, but it does make a mockery of reserving seats and offering that service, if it doesn't work when you need it.

DH and I once had a problem in Italy on our honeymoon, with people sitting in our seats and refusing to move even though we had printed reservation tickets.. Asking a conductor there to help, produced no response or interest whatsoever. We spent about three hours having to move from seat to seat whenever anyone briefly vacated their place. It was a joke.

I'm glad the OP got a nicer experience in First Class in the end!

All advance tickets come with seat reservations......

Not all of them across the network. You are icky to be able to buy a ticket 10 mins before on an advance fare and get a reservation. Once the journey begins the unreserved seats cannot become reserved, so I don't quite know how you have managed that.