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?

No it isn’t. It’s Transpennine Express from York. The LNER train doesn’t stop at Northallerton.

Assuming the reservations are valid on the train then people should move without complaining about it.

The route i use very regularly cancels reservations last minute. Its crap service but thats just tough luck on reservation holders and i don't think anyone should be expected to move in that scenario (I won't, first come first served). Regularly see arguments kick off about it though.

Standard etiquette is that it's fine to rock up and say, 'Hi, that's my seat' and the other person should move. Also fine to sit there if you haven't booked although I'd consider it good manners to keep an eye out at the stop the reservation is from for the seat's owner. It's just nicer all round.

If the train is empty and I didn't want a table, and there are other seats as good as my booked one then I'll probably just take one of them. The real problem comes when the train is packed and the person in your seat clearly needs it. At that point I tweet angrily about crappy trains and go and prop myself up in a vestibule.

Of course people should move if they’re in someone’s booked seat.

But some people are rude selfish dicks.

That’s because we have a ticketing system which allows travellers to book up to 12 weeks in advance. If you can’t do that, it’s unreasonable to resent others who have done that -and maybe paid less.

I always ask people to move if they're in my seat

Obviously they should move but….

I always book a seat on longer journeys. Booked trains are regularly cancelled though so the reservation is invalidated. Very annoying then to have to hunt for an alternative seat or stand…

…so I can understand why people feel irritated when asked to move.

mind blown that there are digital screens rather than the little slips of paper sticking up from the seat headrest!

I preferred the tickets in the headrests. You could see immediately which seats were reserved, rather than having to peer at the little screens as you move along the carriage, as you do now. But I can see it's easier for rail staff to sit and type information, rather than physically have to go through the train with the tickets.

DH weekly commutes between Yorkshire and Scotland... he books a seat as he has work to do. So yes, he would want his seat. He uses the cheap advanced tickets as he needs the booked seats... even though he could sometimes travel earlier on his trip home (he doesn't really want earlier than his 7am train on a Monday!) Fortunately its mostly computers at those times... who just want to get their heads down and work, sleep etc.

Booking seats is normal on long distance trains everywhere, jot just UK.

Well as she kept telling my daughter she was in her 70's and she deserved the seat, she was an old dear as that is how she referred to herself! Happy New Year to you!

I think you were unreasonable not to move from someone’s reserved seat - in those circumstances you should have insisted the guard found you an unreserved seat.

Also people can't steal or bin an electronic display and deny all knowledge

Coming back from a weekend away a few weeks ago, we (me, DH, DC) had booked seats around a table. A couple quite literally elbowed us out of the way of the door, to rush on to get spare seats. You guessed it - they were ours. And I took great delight in asking them to move.

I very much doubt anyone would refer to themselves as an old dear.

It varies - sometimes one is cheaper than the other, sometimes vice versa. I find Trainline easier to use than Trainsplit, and usually just use that. The last time though I was miffed because one evening I was pondering a journey for a couple of days' time, and checking prices on Trainline, then the next morning it was £30 more. So I looked on Trainsplit and got it a bit cheaper.

Weirdly, if there is a change of train involved, they don't tend to show all the same route/time options as each other.

Sad that the OP even needed to ask whether it was OK. I wouldn't expect someone to smile and be cheerful, but making a scene is unacceptable.

They do sometimes. Not many of them but some do.

Yeah, I've never heard anyone use that phrase about themselves in all my life. I haven't heard a young person use it either. It's just PP.

On Midland Mainline I used to see people take out the tickets and stick them in their pockets to sit in someone else's reserved seats.

So, due to the guard making a mistake you chose to punish the person who had booked the seat? How do you know your need was greater than theirs? How do you know they weren’t disabled themselves?