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 seems to be pretty standard where I live. I take the bus to work & it's kinda understood that it's 1 person per seat to give everyone a bit of space. It's not something I could get worked up about

Was on one before. Crowded train so lots of people standing. Woman had her bags on the seat so ticket inspector came along. Asked her to move them as train was busy. She replied no if wanted to sit down they could ask. No one has so her bags will stay there. This went on a bit back and forth. She eventually moved them and he walked off.

Then came the annoucement about not having bags on seats. She just couldn't understand she was in the wrong.

TBF though the OP doesn't indicate how long she'd have to stand for. 10 mins on a bus? Fine for me. Longer? Just seems selfish on the bag plopper's part.

It's just mean and horrible to make someone move their bag when you could have just sat somewhere else

its selfish in the extreme to try to stop others from sitting in free seats. You could just go somewhere else instead rather than try to force others to bend to your will.

what would you do if a disabled person needed a seat?
because you can’t possibly tell if many people are disabled.
so everybody needs to be considerate and not presume their needs override everyone else’s.
if you need two seats for whatever reason, then you buy two tickets.

It's just mean and horrible to make someone move their bag when you could have just sat somewhere else

This has to be a joke, surely? what a horribly selfish, entitled, spoilt and mean spirited attitude. URGH

It's just mean and horrible to make someone move their bag when you could have just sat somewhere else

As opposed to being mean and horrible to make someone stand when you could have just put the bag somewhere else?

Sounds as though you enjoyed teaching her one Of your lessons.
couldn’t you have vomited in a bag?

@pixie5121

The more you post the worse you sound. What an absolutely horrible individual to vomit on another person.

Wow, didn't expect my thread to take off like that! I've had a lovely day in London, now heading home on an equally crowded train. This morning I didn't confront seat hogging lady as thankfully I am able bodied and can stand for the 40 minute journey. No fuss, no drama (unlike MumsnetI do love this place)

Sounds like a real delightful person.

So…. What was the point of the thread exactly?

How is that relevant?

If she wants to distance she should go elsewhere and distance. She can't have 2 seats when she has paid for one. You have paid for one and you are going to sit on the empty one. She is free to move away from you. CF.

She said there were no other available seats! so yes, I will continue to think using a seat for your bag when someone has to stand is a selfish, entitled, mean spirited thing to do

I'm too old and crabby to tolerate this kind of nonsense anymore. I was on a fairly full train and all empty seats had peoples bags on so I approached someone and politely asked him to move his bags. He made reluctant noises so I asked him if he had paid for 2 seats because if not I wanted to sit in the seat he hadn't paid for. He was very sulky but did move his crap.

Oh do naff off and stop bullying me and ganging up on me. It's pathetic.

I'm sorry, what now? Bullying? Don't be ridiculous. Saying you were horrible to vomit on another person is not bullying, nor is it 'ganging up' if others happen to respond to your vile actions in the same manner.

What planet do you live on that you think budget airlines have sick bags? Ryanair flights often don't even have seat pockets.

Carey your own bags since you suffer travel sickness?

It really isn't hard to imagine that someone desperately trying to get to the plane door the second the plane landed is clearly having some kind of emergency. There were about 10 other people who all moved without a problem, because they could see something was clearly wrong. One woman was determined to think the worst of me and assumed I was just trying to push in and get off the plane first (probably because that's what she would do), and unfortunately she got vomited on because I simply couldn't hold it in for as long as she was blocking me for, as the other passengers and cabin crew urged her to just move.

The entitlement is strong here. The expectation that everyone around you should notice you are not ok. Have you ever considered simple communication?

Whoops posted in the wrong place 🤪

Maybe plane lady was feeling travel sick too, and that’s why she wasn’t able to pay as much attention to reading the social signals in her surroundings?