To expect to sit on an empty train seat?

[NellieTheElephant1]

Travelling on a busy train to London, lady wearing a mask sitting on a window seat with her bags next to her on the aisle seat. No other seats available nearby. Asked her politely 'excuse me please' indicating that I wanted to sit there. She mumbled 'sorry no I need to distance'. Surely if you're that worried about Covid don't travel on public transport at busy times?

It's bizarre that it's apparently selfish to ever put a bag on a seat, but imposing yourself on someone just because you don't like that they put a bag there is OK.

It would never occur to me in a million years to sit on someone's bag when there were other free seats. What is wrong with people?

You use very emotive language. Most people ask to sit down purely because they want to sit down, not because they want to score a point and certainly not because they want to impose on anyone. Why should they have to go off and find a seat elsewhere just because you've chosen to be selfish and put your bags on the seat next to you? If you don't like feeling hemmed in, why don't you just sit on the aisle seat? Or stand?

people putting bags on seat are, literally, seeking to ‘bag’ more space than other passengers. Not sitting there is enabling and rewarding that behaviour.

But I was responding to the people who gleefully say they will purposely choose a seat that has a bag on it. That is absolutely to score points and be petty. How do you not get that?

how do you not get that putting a bag on a seat is absolutely to be petty?
it is just like the knobs who stick towels on sunloungers.

it’s public transport.
you can’t stop other folk from sitting next to you and it’s stupid to try to do so.

I often find the only free seats are by manspreaders and I don't want to be dealing with that.

Let me tell you, if I saw someone desperately trying to push past me with their hand over their mouth after a bumpy plane landing

let me tell you, I’d be thinking how rude they were. Plane aisles are narrow. When passengers are standing waiting to deplane with their luggage, there often isn’t anywhere for passengers to go until the queue starts moving. someone pushing through is dangerous.

why do you think people should stand aside when someone is determinedly pushing through? Are they supposed to be mind readers? I’ve never seen anyone be sick on a plane ever, in over 50 years of travel and some hair-raising times, including a galley going on fire mid Atlantic.

I often find the only free seats are by manspreaders and I don't want to be dealing with that

Perhaps that’s why other women put their bags on the seat next to them?

What was the point of this thread then? Yawn.

Good point. Maybe I'll start trying to sit by the manspreader with the least creepy/stabby vibes and demand they shuffle up a bit as their balls can't be THAT big.

Oh, I sit next to the manspreaders too! Unless they’re intimidating.

People get criticised for sitting in the aisle as well. I sit in the aisle but plenty of people on MN have said that's selfish and trying to put people off sitting in the window. I don't want to sit next to the window - (a) I don't like being hemmed in and (b) the heating is often on and it's too hot.

If a carriage is half empty and not going to fill up, I won't sit next to someone or ask them to move their bag. If it's busy, or is going to fill up eg on a commuter train, I will. But asking people to move their bag for the sake of it is points-scoring and I would just move seat if someone did it to me when the carriage was half empty.

I usually hope that a (slim) woman will sit next to me...

I would just move seat if someone did it to me when the carriage was half empty

I’ve done it.

Maybe she had covid, you can go out with covid now can’t you?

I never get these types of posts. Just move the bags yourself. Simple.

That doesn't make it a responsible thing to do.

If she’s paid for two seats, sure.

If not, I’d be making myself comfy on her bags or move them for her. She can stand in the aisle if she doesn’t like it.

Don't be ridiculous what bloody disability means your bag needs a seat. Also, that's not what she said, she said she needed to distance .

Except all the people now standing because your bag needs a seat don't have any space between them, they're all squashed in an aisle with everyone having to squeeze past the get on and off

Congrats all, you made the Weird News section of the Mirror today.

If there are plenty of free seats (not just seats by other people) then I don't care what people put on the space next to them and deliberately choosing that seats to sit in just comes across as immature. "ooh, look at me, I'm teaching you a lesson, I'm so superior!".

If seats are limited, then asking someone to move their bag is fair enough.

Sitting on top of their bags just makes you a dick unless under specific circs. Maybe it would he rewarding their bad behaviour to find somewhere else to sit, but you're not their Mommy. It isn't your job to discipline them.

Congratulations not needed. Nobody posted on here to try and get onto a shitty news website.

Something similar happened to me.

I was on a train and asked to sit in a seat with bags on to be opposite my friend. The person concerned who was wearing one of those FFP2 masks said they were trying to social distance because they were caring for their sister who was immunosuppressed and having treatment for cancer. The person was perfectly polite, seemed embarraseed and stressed to say this publicly and there were other seats on the train.

So we sat elsewhere.

I didn't have a problem with it to be honest. You have no idea what is going on in someone's life. Some people are forced to take public transport if they need to get to work to make money.

I wouldn't automatically conclude it is a lying seat stealer.

She should have given up the seat next to her. She was definitely in the wrong. I would have made more of a fuss depending on how scary she looked!