Getting a seat on the tube in London

[MsPicklejar]

I'm 19 weeks pregnant with first child and not showing very much yet, unless I wear figure hugging clothes which I'm not used to doing. I wear the 'baby on board' badge on the tube (I'm usually travelling at rush hour) but more times than not I don't get offered a seat. I wore a tight top for a couple of days, to make the bump more obvious, and I noticed I was more readily offered a seat. Have others experienced this kind of thing? It is frustrating that - at least as far as my experience goes - the badge is often not enough and plenty of people need to satisfy themselves with seeing a visible bump before they think you deserve a seat.

I get a super early train in the morning which is always jam packed with really stinky workmen and all their kit. They NEVER look up from their phones or open their eyes and offer their seats. In fact once I tried to intervene and ask for a seat for a very pregnant looking lady and the guy in the priority seat just looked up at me for 2 minutes and said "no English" in a very English sounding accent. I was livid. After much explaining and gesticulating someone else got up but FFS!

I've been tempted to wear a baby on board badge as feeling really crappy in first trimester and not sure about standing for the full 25 min journey. Especially when jammed up again some coffee smokey boozy breath a-hole. I'd be dead paranoid about bumping into a colleague en route before my news was public knowledge though.

BettyBi0 - people just don't care. Most times at the moment I really do need a seat because between the horrendous sickness and low blood pressure I just can't stand for 20 minutes but my main reason for wearing my badge is in the vain hope people will give me some space and not squash or push me.

That has worked maybe once when the other lady started screaming at people to back off! Poor DH was trying to shield me from the crush! It took the crush for anyone to offer me a seat which I declined as we were only going one stop and DH was able to hold me up!

Commuting in London and being pregnant just sadly don't go well together!!

I went on the tube with my mum around 7/8 weeks pregnant. I'm suffering quite badly with morning sickness so when a man instantly offered my mum a seat, she declined and I expected her to offer it to me but she didn't! Fortunately we were only going a couple of stops but I was too scared to ask that early on.

I have my bump on board badge for tomorrow so will try that, or actually the MS has got worse so might just vom on someone haha!

I always offer my seat to older people/people with small children so feel like I'll just be taking what I'm owed.

I commute an hour each way from SW London to Canary Wharf, using both Picadilly and Jubilee lines which are packed. I keep a badge in my purse but have only worn it twice when I was feeling really dizzy and lightheaded on the evening commute home (I'm 22 weeks). I got offered a seat both times; once by a man in a suit (which shocked me!) and once by a young woman.

I agree with some of the previous posters that simply being pregnant doesn't mean I am more deserving or in need of a seat than countless others. Most days I feel fine, and I'm grateful. However, if I feel unwell I will wear it and hope for the best, or if I am really desperate I will ask. I actually get really annoyed at the women who feel fine, but slap a badge on the second they find out they are pregnant like it's a free pass to a seat. Yes, they exist and I know some of them.

I think women should wear the badge when they need a seat or special consideration, not just to get a seat because they can. Badges certainly don't mean everyone should jump up and give up their seat. You never know what someone's condition is and why they may need to sit down, pregnant or not.