Seat reservation stupidity................

[randyrippley]

Here we go again, another pair of entitled idiots.......

got on a northbound Avanti at Wigan NW, after five minutes a middleaged couple accosted me
"You're in our seats"
I asked them to explain
"We booked these seats but we sat in some better ones with a table, but they were booked by someone else so now we want these back."
I looked carefully at the reservation LCDs, both were clearly showing the seats were free. So I explained:
"If you had a booking it's void - the lights aren't showing it"
"But it's here on my ticket" - she shows me a reservation on her phone.
"Sorry, but that's void"
"But we could have used that argument with the other seats but didn't"
"You can do what you like, that's not my problem"
The husband draws his arm back, as if preparing to hit me and says
"Get out of my seats"
I grin at him
Both sit down and shut up.

Background - I'm in my 60's and got Parkinson's disease. If I find a free seat on a train I'm keeping it!

 

[Kite159]

I've had that before on a XC service. Someone reserved a seat from Southampton to Birmingham but decided to sit elsewhere in the coach. I board at Basingstoke looking at the seat reservations seeing it says "Southampton to Birmingham" with nobody there so I had it down as a no show.

Come after Oxford she came back huffing & puffing about being evicted from her 'better seat' and demanding that I move as it's "her seat" and as the voyager was the usual overcrowded due to half of Oxford student population deciding to have a day trip I held my ground and pointed towards another empty seat (which had a view of plastic)

 

[satisnek]

A couple of weeks back, standing in a voyager (as you do), I noticed a sign saying that seats may be reserved during the journey (my italics). It turns out that if I, say, board a service from Derby to Doncaster and sit in a seat labelled as 'Available' (this is purely hypothetical) then some random bozo can book the seat as we're passing Tapton Junction and turf me for the final leg of my journey from Sheffield. That's not cricket!

 

[Master29]

Here we go again, another pair of entitled idiots.......

got on a northbound Avanti at Wigan NW, after five minutes a middleaged couple accosted me
"You're in our seats"
I asked them to explain
"We booked these seats but we sat in some better ones with a table, but they were booked by someone else so now we want these back."
I looked carefully at the reservation LCDs, both were clearly showing the seats were free. So I explained:
"If you had a booking it's void - the lights aren't showing it"
"But it's here on my ticket" - she shows me a reservation on her phone.
"Sorry, but that's void"
"But we could have used that argument with the other seats but didn't"
"You can do what you like, that's not my problem"
The husband draws his arm back, as if preparing to hit me and says
"Get out of my seats"
I grin at him
Both sit down and shut up.

Background - I'm in my 60's and got Parkinson's disease. If I find a free seat on a train I'm keeping it!

This makes no sense. Why would the lcd's be showing free if they had booked them? Not disputing the OP's post. Surely this is an issue with Avanti even if those two did behave like a couple of A holes.

 

[MCR247]

This makes no sense. Why would the lcd's be showing free if they had booked them? Not disputing the OP's post. Surely this is an issue with Avanti even if those two did behave like a couple of A holes.

I believe to avoid passengers not sitting in reserved, yet unclaimed seats, some stock with electronic reservations will only show as reserved for a certain amount of time (or to the next station?) after the reservation origin station. I think the logic is that after that, the seat shows as available as the reservation holder should be sat in the seat. If they aren’t, then anyone else can sit there

 

[Master29]

I believe to avoid passengers not sitting in reserved, yet unclaimed seats, some stock with electronic reservations will only show as reserved for a certain amount of time (or to the next station?) after the reservation origin station. I think the logic is that after that, the seat shows as available as the reservation holder should be sat in the seat. If they aren’t, then anyone else can sit there

Thanks. I haven't noticed that before but you may well be right.