To think if you've booked a seat you get a seat?

[monroeagogo]

Went to the cinema today. Standard Vue. Get there in plenty of time and someone's in our seats.

Politely did the 'oops you're in our seats' chat after furiously checking I was right beforehand. Lots of huffing and puffing from them and rolling eyes and they moved to, admittedly, worse seats further down.

But WTAF.

Surely if you've book a seat in the cinema, on a plane or train, then that's your seat.

I was at the theatre, a woman on my own admittedly looking a tad scruffy after a day in London, and a very chi-chi looking couple told me to get out of my seat.
It was only when the elderly couple next to me intervened & confirmed we were indeed in the stalls and they were in the Royal Circle, that they buggered off.
Oh, and they didn't apologise...

Not had problems in the cinema but am able to go at quiet times when people seem more reasonable!

Just remembered I had this on a flight once. Guy sat in the window seat. Told him he was in my seat, well it was for my brother and he doesn’t fly much, he wanted the window seat. I did kind of loudly say he was in my seat, oops! He did move and my db got his window seat, I’m ex cabin crew, so I couldn’t care for a window seat, you’ve seen one cloud, you’ve seen them all.

@Marmite27

We had this today too.

We’d booked four seats before the aisle and they had the two next to us and they were sat in our middle two seats with their two and our two others empty on both sides.

There was much huffing and puffing when I asked them to move. I’m sure they wouldn’t have been impressed with two children at one side and a third at the other and would have complained about that too.

I might have been tempted to split and make sure we need to pass snacks and drinks across them as often as possible during the film....

We also had this on the train from London to Manchester. Me, DH, dd (10 months ish) and our 2 friends. Booked a table near the luggage rack so we could keep an eye on our luggage and near the doors because we had dd on our laps so it would be handy to be able to get up with her if needed.

Got on and a couple are sat in our seats. Refused to move. Explained why we'd booked. Zero fucks given. My friend plonks dd down on the table with her change bag and tells the couple she's been teething recently so have a fun trip. They moved.

Not sure what my friend would have done if they hadn't 😂 left my 10 month old sat on their table?? But it did and they moved. Not sure why they wanted that table, there were plenty of unreserved tables, if we'd have realised that we would have just sat at one, but we didn't at the time.

people do try their luck in the hope you won't say anything or turn up I think. We had this a couple of weeks ago at the theatre. We arrived and found our row in the stalls and looked down it and could see it was completely full so we went and told a girl working there rather than traipse over people asking, she took so long however I worked which seats they were and walked up the behind row (which had disabled room so wasn't making anyway stand up for us) and asked them if they had the the same seats as us.

The guy looked a bit embarrassed and apologetic and said "oh whoops, yes these were our seats but we've just realised that they were for last week not tonight" then they got up and moved, with the woman muttering "what are we going to do now?". Honestly not sure how they got in with wrong date tickets as they scanned ours when we came in?

Trains are the worst.

Me: Excuse, me, you’re sitting in my booked seat. Please could you move?
CF: but there are plenty of empty seats, it doesn’t matter where you sit.
Me: Well if it doesn’t matter where you sit, you won’t mind moving then, will you? 🙄

FFs, just sit in the seat you booked/were allocated and stop being a CF!

This is one of the reasons I no longer go to the cinema; between that, people on their mobiles and constantly chatting, it is no longer a fun experience.

Also, slightly off topic and probably deserves a thread of its own but people putting their crap all over a seat next to them, whether on public transport, cafe or wherever and then refusing to move it if you want to sit down as there are no other seats available.

That wouldn't happen if the booking system didn't let single travellers book a seat at a table for four.

You know you don’t choose your actual seat number?
If a single person books a table seat with a plug socket, the rest of the table will be filled up with other single people or couples who also request a table with a socket.

If a person books 4 tickets they will get a table for 4.
Unless of course they are the last ones booking. In that case, they will be given whichever seats remain.

@Bellex

The worst one is on planes!

When you pay extra to sit together and in a certain aisle and then someone with kids gets on last and expects the whole plane to move so they can all sit together.

Last time I went on holiday I’d pay extra to sit with my boyfriend. A couple got on the plane last minute with their baby. She was next to us and he was at the back of the plane and he expected me to move to his seat and kicked up a whole fuss when I politely refused. The person at the back also wouldn’t swap as they were the last people on the plane and created a nightmare situation for the overhead cabins. A guy in the row behind offered to swap so they’d at least be near each other but they refused

We had this once on easy jet. Paid extra for the 5 of us (us and dcs) to sit all together, row of 3 and aisle and middle seat across.

Then get asked if we can move so that a family can sit together who were all spread out over the plane.

We refused because we had paid extra and so should they if sitting together was important to them.

We were offered a free coffee as compensation but still refused as seats cost more than that.

Eventually the stewards said that someone had to move before the plane could set off and they (a woman and 1 young dc) couldn’t be seated separately to their kid so someone else offered to move.

It’s horrid to feel pressurised like that. I’m not a great flyer so like to be near dh. Dh tends to be in charge of our youngest for that reason. And my older dc were only young teens so didn’t want one of them spread across the plane, especially when we’d PAID to book the seats!

The thing with trains is that I’ve booked a specific seat, I want that seat and it’s nobody’s business why.

There’s a place in hell reserved for the people who try to enforce their reserved seats when all reservations have been cancelled though.

Oh I’ve seen this too at the cinema , a young couple had 2 older woman sat in their seats they didn’t feel they could argue so they got the cinema usher and he politely said move . They argued there were plenty of other seats he said yes but you sit on your allocated seat not wherever you like . They reluctantly moved , I think you must be pretty stupid or just enjoy arguing. You can choose where you sit when you book unless full which is why you have allocated seats .

@Arsewangry

Was I being an arsehole on the train once, six months pregnant - very busy service back from Euston to bham new st. I'd booked a seat and paid a lot for the privilege but due to rail carnage the reservations were cancelled - I asked a guy to move from the seat I had booked because I was cold, wet, tired and in need of a seat. It all kicked off. I just wanted the seat I had paid for

Well you were really. The guy probably also reserved a seat which he didn’t get so he sat somewhere else which happened to be your seat. You should have realised that at the time, sat where you could and then bollocked the train company.

Had this on a train once, man in my seat. He insisted he had to sit there as that was the seat he’d had on a previous train that had been cancelled! What an idiot! Anyway, I had the last laugh as the guard came along and moved me to first class as I was blocking the aisle, apparently, and old weirdo seat man wasn’t for moving. Karma

Arsewangry

Yes you were an arsehole but so was the person in your seat. He should have given the seat up happily if you were 6 months pregnant.

Cancelled seat reservations is just bad luck.
You don’t pay extra to reserve a seat.
Unless you travel first class.

@NinaDefoe

Arsewangry

Yes you were an arsehole but so was the person in your seat. He should have given the seat up happily if you were 6 months pregnant.

Cancelled seat reservations is just bad luck.
You don’t pay extra to reserve a seat.
Unless you travel first class.

Being pregnant doesn't trump the 100s of other reasons somebody might need a seat.

You don't pay to reserve a seat in first class on trains?

@MenoMom

In future i'm going to tell someone sitting in my seat on a train/plane that i have to sit in my reserved seat so that when we crash my burnt body can go to my family crypt, otherwise they rather than i will get to spend eternity with my family.

Perfect

@Plasmodesmata

I had a snooty couple trying to shift some of my students at the theatre once, we were on a school trip. We were in "their" seats - but not only had they come on the wrong day it was for the completely wrong production!

Had similar once, but it was partly my fault. My fiance and I went to London to see Jesus Christ Superstar (I booked the tickets from an agency in Brighton-well before on-line booking) Got there to find the tickets were for the following week. I know I should have checked the date when I picked them up (agency's fault for booking the wrong date) but the theatre kindly found us some spare seats.

This isn't a wrong seat or a seat grab one but I booked to see a play one time, a few years ago, and arrived at the venue on the day. Staff searched for my booking. I had booked for the following week. I couldn't believe it.

I was prepared to slink away because I wasn't going to be there the following week, but the staff were easily able to find a seat for me, and were so lovely as well.

@NinaDefoe

That wouldn't happen if the booking system didn't let single travellers book a seat at a table for four.

You know you don’t choose your actual seat number?
If a single person books a table seat with a plug socket, the rest of the table will be filled up with other single people or couples who also request a table with a socket.

If a person books 4 tickets they will get a table for 4.
Unless of course they are the last ones booking. In that case, they will be given whichever seats remain.

You can choose your own seat number unless it is the last of a particular fee band to be sold. You have an option to change seat as part of the booking process.

DH and I accidentally sat in the wrong seats at a rugby match the other week. We should have been one block further along. But we moved straightaway when another couple came along and we compared tickets and realised our mistake.

We had this once on easy jet. Paid extra for the 5 of us (us and dcs) to sit all together, row of 3 and aisle and middle seat across.
Then get asked if we can move so that a family can sit together who were all spread out over the plane.
So basically they wanted to split your family up instead?

Why not just sit in one of the available ones-does it really make a difference on a train if you are in seat 34 or 32 for example? If you booked a table seat and there are no other available tables then fair enough ask them to move but otherwise what’s the point“”
Travelling backwards can make me vomit. I always book a forward facing seat.

I had this a few years ago. I'd booked the fancy seats for my daughter's birthday. Because of the queue to get into the cinema, the film had just started and we found a woman and her son in 2 of the 5 seats we'd booked and their belongings in the other ones. I explained they were our seats so could she please move. She refused to do so so I had to leave my 72 year old mum, 2 daughters and my brother sitting on the floor and go and find a member of staff which took ages. The staff moved her but not before she'd yelled that I was a "fucking bitch" in my face. Not quite what you expect when you go to see the Minions movie.