Asking someone to move on train

[openjoy]

Is it unreasonable to ask someone to move if they are sat in a train seat that is allocated to you on your train ticket?

I’ve always thought it was ok to do. There are the screens above the seat that say “seat booked” or “seat available until x” etc. I was on a train recently where a woman asked someone to move as they were in her seat and they refused. It caused a bit of a scene in the carriage.

Should the seat allocation (which is free with the standard ticket booking) be ignored and if you get a seat you do and if you don’t, you don’t?

I once had 35 reserved seats on a train - most people moved quite happily if they were in my booked seats. One middle aged male passenger refused to move for my teenage female student and argued the toss about why he should move when "you can sit on my knee, darling".

He stopped that pretty quickly when I appeared. Dirty bastard.

I don't know if it's still the case, but it used to be that on very busy long distance routes around Christmas or in the summer holidays, you couldn't board the train if you didn't have a reserved seat. London to and from Scotland or Cornwall, for example.

If you book in advance along with a seat reservation, you will often find, if you read the ticket, that the ticket is only valid for that seat. Yes I ask people to move and would get someone to move them if they didn’t.

If I have booked a seat and someone is in it I politely ssk them to move..... then stand there till they do 🤣🤣

Yes politely say. Excuse me I think you're sitting in my seat
..

It is always absolutely 100% fine to ask someone to move from a seat you booked.

It is also fine to sit in a reserved seat you didn't book if you are going to graciously move without making an issue of it as soon as the reserver turns up.

If I buy a saver or supersaver return I usually know exactly which train I will get on the outward journey but am flexible about which return train I get. It is impossible to only reserve seats for the outward journey. I have to pick a return train and have a reservation for it, and more often than not I get a different train. That's why a lot of seats are reserved for no-shows and why it's fine.

But the person who booked that seat has every right to it if they are on that train.

I do ask people to move when in my booked seat, but sadly many people come up with 'I was too late to book but am disabled/pregnant/have some illness/disability so need a seat' whenever there are none. Usually they get off next stop though.

I don't get trains regularly anymore since Covid but the last time, I had to ask a young couple to move. They did eventually but as they did I got called every shade of C and F in the dictionary. Not my fault they didn't prebook. I used to see shocking fights on trains on the bank holiday weekends.

TigerRag · Today 18:47

MrsSkylerWhite · Today 18:45
Of course they ought to move. Next time, maybe they should book in advance.

You can't always book seats

OK. Don’t get huffy when someone who has booked asks you to move though.

I've been double booked on a long journey back from London. He got there first and sure enough we both had the same seat booked on the same train. Fortunately there was a seat next to him that was unreserved. But until I saw it with my own eyes I didn't believe it would ever happen.

Yes you should ask them, if they are at all Aggro ask the staff for help. I had this on a train last summer with my baby and two women were very aggressive about being asked to move. They then shouted and swore at the next people who asked them to move. It was very hard being alone with my baby!

I experienced this on a train. Some women were kicked off the previous train and were told 'sit anywhere you can find on the next train' for some reason instead of taking that as 'in any available seats on next train' they took it as 'in any reserved seat you like on next train'
They shouted and swore the whole long journey

This happened to my 17 year old daughter. She had a 4 hour train journey, her dad booked her a seat which she sat in. Along comes an old dear who then insists she has to move as she wants to sit in that seat with her husband, as there were only single seats left.

DD refused, showed her the booked ticket and the old dear reluctantly gave up but bitched about her to anyone who would listen.

My other favourite thing when people are wrong and act like complete dirtbags toward the person they perceive has pointed it out or corrected their behaviour.

Yup they were wrong and instead of acting like petulant children should have said okay no problem we’ll move.

When I book a seat, I've chosen it because of view of sea (LNER), direction of travel, proximity to buffet car, access to decent window - I would definitely insist on occupying it myself. I've given up on booking the quiet coach, as LNER have feebly watered it down to quieter carriage - it's all luck now whether you get inconsiderate idiots or not.

I had this happen to me recently and I think on the same east coast line. Two people were sat in ‘our’ seats and refused to move because they had also booked those seats. We compared tickets and both said the same train time, the same carriage and the same seats. I didn’t see a member of staff at any point on that very busy train.

Absolutely, if someone is sat in a seat they’ve not reserved I have no problem asking them to move.

I had this a few years back when previous trains had been cancelled and the one I was booked on was the first train to run after the disruption ended. Passengers boarding the train were being told by train and station staff that the reservations were only valid for passengers booked for that specific train and, if able to get a seat that was not reserved, they could sit in it but could not be guaranteed a seat of their choosing - or necessarily together with those they were travelling with others.

I was booked in a window seat at a table of 4 and facing direction of travel, it was also a seat with a power socket. Arrived at the seat and a couple were well established in the seat and one next to it (which was reserved from the following stop) and they refused to move, insisting it was their reserved seating - even though their reservation was for an earlier, cancelled train. Train manager got involved and they still refused to move; he asked if I was willing to accept another seat if it had equivalent facilities to the seat I’d reserved (I was happy to - and, as I was pregnant with twins, I was glad to have assistance to find another seat). He took me back to the platform and asked another crew member to assist me to seat 1A in carriage H - which turned out to be in first class - they apologised for the other passengers and amended my ticket to full first class for both legs of my journey.

As I had considered booking first class, but couldn’t justify the additional cost, I was very grateful to the couple who wouldn’t move as I had a much nicer journey (without the risk of someone’s backside being inches from my face due to there being standing room only in the rest of the train) and I appreciated the complimentary drinks and food service I was given - plus the manager stopped by to make sure I was ok in the replacement seat!

Yes, seat booking should be respected and people who do not move when asked to are arses.

Well I can see I'm an outlier here but I really dislike the seat reservation "system". You wouldn't reserve a seat on a bus or the Tube, what's the difference? The free - if it wasn't free, it would be different - reservation arrangements shouldn't guarantee anything in my view. Quite different for seats for disabled passengers, which should be bookable and respected.

Last couple of times I've travelled (in the last two weeks) I've either not been able to sit in 'my seat' but have sat elsewhere or the system has broken down because of cancellations or the dreaded shorter train or I have a random unreserved ticket. And the train police trying to shuffle up a carriage of seated tired commuters because of reservations are frankly a huge PITA

There's a short on Facebook which shows this, the woman whose seat has been taken by a man spreading bloke moves when she accidently drops her coke bottle into his crotch. Just saying....

Well travelling by train is more like travelling by plane than a quick bus or
tube hourney. We’re talking about hours-long journeys that you prepare for (eg bringing entertainment, work or refreshments).

The difference being that I might spend 20 minutes on the tube or bus whereas my two most common train journey take 2 hours and 4.5 hours. I want to have a seat when I'm traveling that long, and ideally a forward facing one to stop me from getting travel sick.

I expect to sit in my booked seat. I pick my seat carefully according to my preferences.

I've had two incidents I can remember - one where a man expected (yes, expected!) me to move from my booked seat because he wanted the table and plugs. Well guess what so did I, hence I had booked the specific seat. He was most displeased when I said no.

The other was a party of 4 who decided on a very packed train that they would like to sit on a table of 4. I was sitting in my booked seat on a table of 4 - again with the table and plugs I needed to work. They weren't very polite about asking me to move - basically told me I was moving - I politely declined and they sat and made passive aggressive comments at me until they got off 2 stops later. I put my AirPods in and ignored them!

Of course. I sometimes sit in somebody's seat if the train is crowded even if I've got a booked seat. But I expect to be asked to move and always do.,

Haven’t gone on a train line with seat reservations for a while and mind blown that there are digital screens rather than the little slips of paper sticking up from the seat headrest!