Train Reservations

[rabbit_woman]

This happened to me yesterday coming back from holiday, and although I was astonished at the rudeness of it, I wondered what you guys thought? Were we right to be offended? Would there have been a better way to deal with it?

In the UK, when you buy a train ticket in advance, you can also reserve a seat. Most carriages have seats in rows, as normal, but there are maybe three or four tables in each carriage with four seats arranged around a table. You can specifically reserve a table seat, which my husband and I did. On this occasion, we had the aisle seats reserved, opposite each other, and also the window seats were reserved for passengers getting on at a station about an hour away. We thought this was a bit strange because there was no one else in the rest of the carriage,also, none of the other seats were reserved, including both the other seats with tables, but we unpacked our books, food and drink, enjoyed the space, and sat back to appreciate the marvellous West Country scenery as we headed home (trains can be a nightmare in the UK, but when its good it is a wonderful experience!)

Then, about an hour later, a couple got on, walked through the carriage- still pretty much empty apart from us - past all the empty seats and the empty table seats, pointed to the window seats next to us and said "hello, those are our seats, excuse us"- perfectly polite, except the rest of the carriage was EMPTY! And they wanted us all to squash up into four seats together!?

The man actually began to say, let's sit somewhere else and was moving to another seat, but the woman said that THOSE were their seats, she'd booked seats with a table specially. And she had a point, those were their seats- but the rest of the carriage was empty! Including another table! I was astonished at them; rather than be all cramped up together, I said to my husband in quite a loud voice " its ridiculous us all squashed up in these seats together when the rest of the carriage is empty, lets just move," - I know, I know, that was PA, but I was a bit bewildered- and this couple watched us pack up all our stuff and move to the identical table seats down the carriage before sitting down themselves......

So, were they rude? Or perfectly justified? Is there anything I could have said differently? I don't think reasoning with them would have worked, they were determined to have their seats and no other seats would do .....

[cicero]

I don't think she was rude (maybe stupid, but not rude) - she is correct: those were *her* seats, and just as you reserved a *specific* seat and sat in it even though the rest of the carriage was empty, she has the right to do the same. and since i don't know what the rest of the journey was like, or was expected to be like, I don't know if the train usually fills up, if other seats are usually reserved, etc

your reply was snarky, as you yourself pointed out.

You could have said "we'll be happy to move so we can all sit in comfort. but since the other seats in the carriage are all empty, would you mind taking the other table instead of this one?" worst case scenario they would have said no.

[sweetonsno]

I don't think it's rude. Passengers are entitled to the seats that they reserved. As cicero said, there is no way of predicting how the rest of the trip would go. Would the train fill up? Would they be asked to move by whoever's seats they stole? Would the conductor make them move to their assigned seats? They were perfectly justified in wanting to sit in the seats that they paid for.

While I do understand your frustration, I believe that in this case, the onus is on you to relocate because you are the one who did not want to share a table. The woman who came on clearly thought it was more important to sit in the assigned seats than to have a table to themselves. You and your husband seem to have thought it was more important to have a table to yourselves than to sit in your assigned seats. You could both easily have your way by you and your husband moving, but somebody winds up unhappy if they have to move or you have to share a table.

I think it's tough to say anything without sounding snarky when you're annoyed, but perhaps a, "We'd rather spread out, so we're going to switch over to that table. Please excuse us" would have worked.

[Barney girl]

If I had gone to the bother of reserving seats (sometimes it's included in the price and sometimes you have to pay another £4) I would have been very put out at someone suggesting I sit somewhere else for their convenience. Clearly these people did not feel it an issue that they had to share a table so why should the have to sit elsewhere?

I don't know what the bookings for this route is like, but on East Coast when you book online you can see where your seat is in the carriage and move your reservation. If that's the case for you you could have chosen to reserve seats at a table without other reservations. You could also have chosen when you got aboard to sit at a different table. Ultimately, if having the whole table was so important to you you could have paid for four tickets.

[rabbit_woman]

The option to chose your seats was not available.

Reserving seats on this route (fgw) did not cost extra. I haven't encountered having to pay extra to reserve seats before.

There are often complications with train journeys which compromise the reservation system; i have had someone refuse to move from the seat i have reserved before, and there is nothing you can do about that short of physical violence! Once, we were just making our way to our seats when there was an announcement that all seat reservations were cancelled because of a fault with the reservation printing system, so although we had tickets with our seat numbers printed on them we had to stand the whole way whilst someone else sat in our seats - no, we did not get compensation, because the train company said that the reservation system was just a complimentary add on service and not enforceable! And another time we had to stand because a really old couple were in our seats - we couldn't make them stand for the two hour journey, could we!?

In comparison,when we got on the train on the way to our holiday, there was someone sat in one of our seats, but rather than make him move we took two other seats that were also reserved; when the passengers who had those seats reserved got on, the chap who was in one of our seats then moved so we could sit at our allocated spot, all without fuss or complaint because by then the train had filled up quite a bit.

[MariaE]

You were rude, they were not.

Danish rail works the same way, and you take the seats you reserve, because you never know when the train might fill up.

[Sharnita]

You were the rude one.

[Snooks]

I don't think she was rude (maybe stupid, but not rude) - she is correct: those were *her* seats, and just as you reserved a *specific* seat and sat in it even though the rest of the carriage was empty, she has the right to do the same. and since i don't know what the rest of the journey was like, or was expected to be like, I don't know if the train usually fills up, if other seats are usually reserved, etc

your reply was snarky, as you yourself pointed out.

You could have said "we'll be happy to move so we can all sit in comfort. but since the other seats in the carriage are all empty, would you mind taking the other table instead of this one?" worst case scenario they would have said no.

I agree with Cicero.  You sat in your reserved seats despite the carriage being empty, you could see that the rest of the carriage was empty and that the seats next to you were reserved so you had an hour to decide whether or not to move before they even got on.

[rose red]

I agree you were rude.  They had the right to their reserved seat.  If you want space, it's up to you to move, not them.

[Surianne]

You were very rude; they did nothing wrong.  If it was unacceptable to you to share the table, you had the option to move.  There's no reason they were required to give up their assigned seats for you. 

[Mental Magpie]

The only part I think you were rude in was your response.  I do not think they were rude at all.  Sure, they were frustrating and apparently thoughtless, but they had every right to those seats and they were not rude to take them.  Saying nothing next time is probably your best bet.

[Zilla]

I know you explained at length that reserved seats aren't enforceable but what if someone did come on the train and asked you to move as you were in their reserved seats?  They didn't know if the rest of the train would be reserved on the upcoming stops.  Or many their trip was longer than yours.
 
I only think you were rude in your response to your husband and if you wanted to move, do it quietly. There was no reason for snark.  In fact, you said in your OP that you knew those seats were reserved.  If you saw the other parts were empty, why didn't you go and sit there knowing the 2 seats were reserved at your table already?
 
Snipped from OP:
In the UK, when you buy a train ticket in advance, you can also reserve a seat. Most carriages have seats in rows, as normal, but there are maybe three or four tables in each carriage with four seats arranged around a table. You can specifically reserve a table seat, which my husband and I did. On this occasion, we had the aisle seats reserved, opposite each other, and also the window seats were reserved for passengers getting on at a station about an hour away. We thought this was a bit strange because there was no one else in the rest of the carriage,also, none of the other seats were reserved, including both the other seats with tables, but we unpacked our books, food and drink, enjoyed the space, and sat back to appreciate the marvellous West Country scenery as we headed home (trains can be a nightmare in the UK, but when its good it is a wonderful experience!)

[scotcat60]

If noneof the other seats were reserved why sit on those that were?

[NyaChan]

They weren't rude (a little silly though maybe?).  They were as entitled to their reserved seat as you were.  I also wonder - when you were enjoying the space, were you using the whole table?  She may have felt irritated that you were using space that had been reserved for someone else with the expectation that they would just move elsewhere when they arrived.  Other than that, I can think of no reason why she was so adamant about those seats.  I think you did cross the line though by making that comment - it is almost like you were trying to make them feel bad for using the seats they specifically reserved.  I mean you chose aisle seats, you had to know there was a possibility that someone would want the window seats next to you.

[rabbit_woman]

Ah, well, I always try to be measured and reasonable but obviously in this case I was not, thank you very much for your replies.

Although, in my defense, I was quite annoyed that this couple had the choice of their seats or every other seat on the train, and still chose to encroach upon our space; and they did indeed spread out and use the whole table plus our reserved seats for their stuff when we moved.

Also, you can tell if seats are reserved as they have printed tickets attached. So if you got an unreserved seat, you could sit there in the knowledge that no one was going to request you to move on your journey. Therefore, if they had sat on the unreserved seat it would not have made any difference whatever whether the train filled up or not.

Quite often, people don't even turn up to claim their seats or chose a different seat anyway so many travellers will take their chances on a busy train by sitting in any available seat, to move when asked by whoever has reserved the seat. I have moved before. My pal who travels often to London says that is often the best way to get a seat, to sit on a reserved one and hope the passenger doesn't turn up because most of the time, they don't.

Many thanks again! X