To be annoyed I gave up my seat on train

[NameChangedJune]

4 hour journey, late train so pretty empty carriage, most seats unreserved.
i take a seat on an empty table of 4 which has a laptop charger.

before train moves, a family get on (there are loads of empty twin seats but no empty table), but say they are a group of 3 and a baby them, do I mind moving from the table so they can have the table to lie the baby on?! They say they have reserved the seats but the seats themselves say unreserved. I see they have a small baby so say fine and close my laptop and move to a twin seat (now have no table or laptop charger).

the three adults (couple and I assume grandparent), and baby sit on the table. Baby doesn’t settle so after a few mins mum takes baby to another free twin seat to feed and they both settle to sleep there. The father then move to another empty double seat nearby and sleeps. This leaves the sleeping grandparent taking up the entire table with feet up on the seat opposite (plus a few baby bits/scattered about).

AIBU to now be annoyed I gave up the table and the chance to catch up on work as the other tables don’t have power sockets?

If the carriage was almost empty surely there was another charging point on the whole bloody train.

life happens. Grow up

I’d have moved back to the original table, asking sleeping beauty grandad to wake up and get his feet off the seat ( dirty animal) if need be, because you needed to charge and use the table. They won’t have given you a second thought after they guilted you out then proceeded to use two additional sets of seats.

I really couldn't be bothered to get worked up over this

Yep I agree with this. So many times 4 seats are taken by a single person.

Both chargers and tables can normally be found on two seats.

I'd let it go.

You're wasting energy on something you can't change.

Learn from it.

One person sitting at a table isn't them taking anything - they're still only occupying one seat.

The tables on 2 seats tend to be the fold-down types which are nowhere near as good for working.

I never choose a table when travelling on my own if I don’t need the laptop - I don’t really like sitting opposite strangers - but it’s perfectly reasonable for one person to sit in a seat there and take up 1/4 of the table space.

How short is your charging cable that it wouldn't have reached to the aisle seat?

I mean, YANBU - but you were hindered by your own reluctance to move. I would have. I mean I wouldn't have, because I'll be damned if I'm working on the train, but if I needed to I would have moved.

Sorry, OP, you reminded me of this!

Yep I agree with this. So many times 4 seats are taken by a single person.

No. A single person can only take one seat. I can't understand how anyone can think that, at the very least, seats on the other side of the table are not fair game.

It was a seat a table and a charger point

I'd have gone back to the table and plugged in my laptop. If they woke up, 'Sorry to wake you. I need to charge this.' and carry on.
They sound thoughtless and entitled.

Tough! They're on public transport, not at home in bed.

I do work with a laptop, but it’s plugged in charging whilst using.

I don’t think the OP needed to move at all, I was merely commenting on the idea that this work needed to be done (and so late in the day as well), that they weren’t prepared for it and charged it up first; there’s always a chance that there wouldn’t be any tables/charge points available.

And the mobile phone doesn’t apply as that’s not the point of this post. A lot more people use mobile phones, so there’s a greater chance of more people needing them and there just wouldn’t be enough sockets to charge them anyway. Which is why I (and many others) also carry charging banks 😉

One person doesn’t ’take’ a table of four. They sit at one seat. People who think that travelling as a group gives them the right to expect others to move so that the group can sit together, now that is unreasonable.

They're not taking the entire table, you are free to sit there too.

Saying single travellers don't deserve the plum seats is discrminatory. It's not up to single people to put families above themselves.

@Alltheunreadbooks

I don't want to end up being penned in by a family

I got penned in once by a woman, a toddler, and an 8 year old girl all the way from Waterloo to Basingstoke. By the time they got off, I felt I'd known them all my life. They are still good friends.

Then why did they subsequently occupy so many other double seats in the carriage? If someone had asked the grandparent to move their feet from the opposite seat so their party could be seated together, I can imagine the reaction! It all comes down to an over-inflated view of self with the added bonus ball of having the mini Messiah, because no-one has ever travelled with a baby have they?
At least the OP will know better next time!

Did people know that putting your feet on the seat opposite is illegal and can get a fine? Merseyrail have a very robust policy on this but any train company can enforce the byelaw ( "No person shall molest or wilfully interfere with the comfort or convenience of any person on the railway."), and it doesn't matter whether the shoes are on or off. Could be £50 at first, although one woman got a £483 total Mags court bill because she ignored the initial penalty notice, failed to engage, and it went to court.

I don't think the family sound entitled at all. They asked if they could have the table so they could sit together. I am guessing they had the intention of sitting together for the journey. The OP agreed. Then baby wouldn't settle so the mum moved off. The dad changed his mind and moved too, so the GPs got comfy - shouldn't have put feet up.

I am really surprised that was the only place with a socket in the whole carriage. I haven't commuted for a few years now but there used to be loads of the ones I used to take. But if that is the case just say no in future that you need the socket.

You did a nice thing. Whether they used it how you wanted to or not, you were kind on the moment. Leave it there.

Op wasn't suggesting the three people couldn't sit there, it's that they expressly asked for the table alone

@NameChangedJune Sadly, it only takes people getting their own way once or twice to give some a lifelong sense of entitlement in public spaces.
I think the unsaid subtext of Rishi's laughable National Service proposal was a desire to have people learn some manners and live in a civilised manner.
I need to use long-distance trains a lot and some travellers (rich, poor, all races and creeds) are antisocial scum.
Descending to their level is not the solution - however tempting it may be sometimes.

Or it could be that the Mum is pretty sure the baby will sleep on the train so it's a good time to take a long journey. I'd much rather do midnight-4am with a sleeping baby (and Mum dozed off as well...bonus) than midday to 4pm with grizzly pants.

I think you did a nice thing OP. Maybe the family had envisaged that they would all sit together and things just didn't work out that way.

Those trains with chargers only at seats with tables are unacceptable. They encourage this kind of behaviour. We had booked seats on a train and found a family with small children in our seats. They claimed someone was in their seats. As 2 adults and a teen we would have felt mean making them move, but in retrospect it was obvious they were only in our seats because they wanted to connect the kids devices.