Why do solo train users take a table for 4?

[Badbadbunny]

Why do solo train users take a table for 4 and then huff and puff when a couple or family join them? Just on a train with lots of empty twosome seats but only one table for 4 free and a single woman takes it, and made a big fuss about moving her bags off the seat and clearing the rest of the table after she put loads of stuff on it when a family of 4 came on with one of them having to sit elsewhere.

She already explained it @ThejoyofNC and I see it all the time -

People who sit at the table, arrange everything as widely as possible on the table to dissuade others from joining.

Then place bag on one seat, coat on another, laptop case on the third remaining seat.

The idea is that anyone passing by doesn't dare ask them to move stuff because, well we're British and we couldn't bear the shame of having to ask something of someone.

This is the tactics and ploy I think some people adopt to try and "take " the whole table for the entire journey.

If its an expectedly busy route, then its a weird and silly thing to do, because someone, at some point, is going to ask you to move your stuff.

I sit at a table because it's less claustrophobic. I'm not lesser for being alone.
I'll move my bag without being asked if I see someone wanting to sit next to me. I've been known to offer my seat to a family with very young children. But I'm not going to apologise for my existence as a single traveller.

I always choose a table if it’s available. Annoys me if someone sits next to me when there’s another table free, but I don’t show it 😂

We're not taking a table for 4, we are using a seat for 1. It's not reserved and anyone can join us.

I have no qualms in requesting someone to move their stuff. I’m already halfway to sitting down at the time so either they move their bag or I sit on it. 😁

I always take the table. As PP said, more space, bigger table and you feel less hemmed in.

Never complained about sharing. Of course it’s a risk when you sit at a big table.

Only time I thought it was cheeky was when I was sat at the window and forward facing. Next to me was a woman and her boyfriend was sat opposite (so aisle, rear facing), they had paid on board for an upgrade to first class as the train was busy. The boyfriend asked if we can swap seats, presumably because sitting across a table from his girlfriend is too far and he just had to sit next to her. Obviously I said no.

One of them having to sit elsewhere isn’t her problem. I don’t mind people coming and sitting at the table I am at. I do get annoyed when I feel the people who sit down are trying to squeeze me out or “encourage” me to move so they can have the whole table for their group.

I do this lol

I always reserve a window seat of a table for four when traveling solo. I keep my bag either by my leg near the window or on the overhead shelf. I do not huff if someone joins me. On the trains I travel on the tables are normally the only ones that have plugs. They are also less enclosed feeling. I hate those flip down tables.

I ignore the empty table seats if there are empty aisle seats by the window. Much prefer those.

I suppose you could also ask ‘why doesn’t a family of 4 travelling by train pre-book 4 table seats?’

Only in first class generally. Or standard premium on Avanti (which is basically first class with no food/drinks).

Because its where I prefer to sit
<shrug>

It's daft really as naturally they'll be overwhelmed if three come on in a group. I guess they really do hope they'll get to keep the four all to themselves!

I mean I do sometimes sit there but I wouldn't huff or moan if someone sat next to me.

I had a very joyful train ride once. I was in early pregnancy. On a train with a few tables travelling for work and needed a table. The only table with a forward facing seat free had a man sat at it. I sat down at the table next to him and he huffed and puffed, told me there were other seats free, why was I sitting there. I was just about to launch into an explanation, when my fuck you brain kicked in, and I just said, "Because I choose to"
The next stop a passenger got off, leaving a table free. Which he then huffed off to, with much sighing and dramatic Excuse Mes.

Only to find that the train behind us was off loaded and allllll the passengers had to get on our train. He was joined by a very stressed mum and her three very noisy kids. One of whom spilt juice all over him. The train was heaving by then so he could not swap seats. I was joined by three strapping lads who kept me entertained the whole way.

The OP’s point has gone over the heads over almost everyone who has replied on this thread. That’s embarrassing.

She isn’t complaining about single travellers sitting at a table seat. She has asking why they sit at a table seat and then act all annoyed when anyone else comes along and also sits at the table with them - she is asking why solo travellers seem to expect to have all 4 seats and the table to themselves. The woman in her example had spread out across the table and then “huffed and puffed” about making space for others to sit at the table. That’s the issue! A single person taking a seat at the table is fine, but a single person taking a seat at the table and then acting out when other people take in the other vacant seats is not fine.

I don’t knit, but I like space.

Because I have freakishly long legs (femurs) and it’s far comfier than squishing my knees against the back of the seat in front for a long journey.

I like the extra legroom. Always put my bags on seat next to me - a quiet FO to anyone wanting to sit next to me when there are lots of other seats free. BUT - I do move them if its a crowded train.

Because it’s convenient to have something to rest my book on and, like everyone else, I like the extra space in front of me, which feels less containing.Why does the fact that I’m single and travel alone mean that I can never sit at a table? What gives your entourage special status?

YABU because your issue isn’t about a solo traveller sitting at a table, it’s about people selfishly taking up the space around them. People do that in the ordinary double seats, too.. Yes, this woman was being selfish and ridiculous.

Just sit next to someone, if they’re already there. If you’re a young family of four and I’m at a table, then ask politely if I would mind moving. I will mind moving but if you’re in really nice about it, then I might: but it’s a favour to you not an entitlement that you are owed. On the other hand, if it’s a long journey then I do want that space, but I will usually have booked my seat in advance. You could do that, too.

Usually when I sit at a table of four on my own, the other three seats are taken by other people travelling on their own. We all enjoy putting our laptops, books, knitting, lunch etc on the table. For a long journey, I'll invariably book my seat when I book my ticket too.

Why is it that people who are not travelling alone thinks they've got the right to expect a table? You want a table for a long journey, you buy your ticket well in advance and book it.

If I’m travelling for work I take a table as I need my laptop out and I can’t do that at those silly little 2 seat tables, I’d prefer not to, but it is expected by my employers and I’d rather make them happy than strangers on a train. I don’t take more than my quarter of the table and I don’t huff if anyone joins me. If I’m travelling for any other reason, I sit in the 2 seats.

If you look at the title of her post, she does not mention one person, she's attacking everyone who sits in a table seat on their own. HTH.

Is this what is being suggested? Of course a spare seat is a spare seat. If I’m sitting at a table for 4, I’d have to be barking mad (I’m not that mad) to think that nobody was entitled to sit on the other three seats. This is crazy talk.

Because my laptop doesn't physically fit on the tables on the other seats ?