Reserved Seats On Trains

[dave50]

I dont travel by train very often so i was wondering about the reserved tickets on the back of seats that I see every time travel by train. Everyone seems to ignore them and sit anywhere. Have they been left on from a previous day? Is that why they are ignored? Do people actually reserve particular seats and what happens if that seat is taken when you get on? Just wondered.

[janbee]

I always reserve a seat on a long journey but if, when I get on the train, there is a better seat(unreserved) in a better carriage, then I sit there. My original seat is therefore available to anyone else who wants it.

[andy-hughes]

Quite often, people who reserve seats don't use them, so they are free for other travellers to use - they are not left from previous journeys, each reservation is attached before the train starts its journey.

If someone with a reserve ticket, which they receive when they pick up their seat tickets, finds another passenger in their reserved seat, a polite request to move usually does the trick.

In unusual cases where a passenger refuses to move, it's best to involve the train manager to sort it out.

[puzzlemaniac]

The seat need not be reserved for the whole journey, so is free for other travellers to occupy, other than between the stations indicated on the reservation ticket.

[gness]

I always reserve my seat......if someone is sitting in it when I get on the train I'll ask them to move.....

[Svejk]

^or chuck them out the window. ;)

[andy-hughes]

janbee and I have cross-posted, but there is a perfect exmaple of why reserved seats are sometimes not used.

If you travel the West Coast Main Line, as I do, to London, then a reservation is always adviseable, and you will need it, and usually need to politely stake your claim to your seat.

[Zacs-Master]

They're usually reserved between specific stations so it may be that people who are sitting there are using the seat before or after this stop. Of course, it could be that the people sitting in them are the ones who reserved them, or did you go round asking?
Also. there are a lot of people who don't take up their reservations so if the ticket says reserved from X and the train pulls out of station x without anyone in the seat, it becomes fair game.

[Fitzer]

Also, on a lot of long distance trains, some seats are only reserved for a section of the journey, I'll sit in a reserved seat for an 'unreserved' portion of the journey

[Prudie]

LOL @ svejk

[Old_Geezer]

Would be solved at a stroke if there was a contracted obligation to sell tickets for seats rather than tickets for the journey, and you put up with whatever you can get. Don't know how they get away with such a lack of service, but it has always seemed to be so.

[Elina]

I had the worst journey on a train to Blackpool a few months back. Naïve me never having reserved a seat before thought ... ooh there's a table! I'll be able to get my ipad out & relax in comfort .... never again!! The train was packed like sardines, there was a mass run for the carriages & a family came & sat in the surrounding seats. Mum & dad & about five kids .. dad spotted some reserved seats & took the tickets off & hid them in his coat then plonked one of the kids on the table! It was like cousin Eddie/ wife & kids from Christmas vacation .. http://www.mtv.com/news/photos/h/holiday_families_flip/10.jpg

[Tilly2]

I always reserve my seat on the train when travelling from Milton Keynes to Stoke. If someone is sitting in it, I say, 'Oi, mush, shift. That's my seat.'
I have never had a problem but then again, being a classy lady, I always travel First Class.

[Elina]

That is what I'll do next time Tilly!

[Tilly2]

It works every time, Elina. :-)

[Elina]

You don't get cousin Eddies family in first class? ;0)

[Tilly2]

No, you don't.

[Elina]

Someone's been removed from the train ;0?

[tonyav]

Right, first class for me then next time.