'I'd booked the seat and wasn't going to move': First class train passenger refuses to move for elderly woman

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 25, 2022 2:00 PM EDT

This woman reserved an individual first-class seat on a UK train that turned out to be priority seating for the elderly or disabled. Drama ensued when a 60-year-old woman without a specific seat reservation marched onto the first-class car demanding to have that priority seat.

 

This thread was posted to Reddit's r/AmITheA**hole subreddit by u/Optimal_Promotion879, who acknowledged that the train system in the UK is, to put it lightly, complicated. The fact that you can book a ticket but not be guaranteed a specific seat is one flaw, but the fact that they would give the Redditor a priority seat (which she insisted she was not aware of prior to boarding the train) just goes to show that this system is complete chaos. While I too feel bad for the older woman, if the system's rules are clear, she should have known that no seat is guaranteed (and certainly not a first-class one…beggars can't be choosers, lady!). However, at the end of the day, the real A-hole here is the train booking system. In what world is this allowed to happen?!

 

Keep scrolling below for the full story, and for more content like this, check out this post about a woman who wanted someone to pay to be her live-in nanny.

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  • 01
    Font - AITA for not moving from my booked seat for an elderly person? I (32f) recently got a train across the UK from London to Aberdeen. It's a seven-hour journey so I booked myself a first-class seat well in advance. First-class seats on trains in the UK can be expensive, but I decided to treat myself because: 1. I was making the journey the day after returning from a two-week-long work trip abroad and I knew I'd be exhausted/ totally unable to function.
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  • 02
    Font - 2. I knew I'd have work to do on the train, so I wanted to make sure I had space/ comfort to be able to work. 3. On certain trains in the UK, the first-class carriages have "individual seats" which means you're not sitting next to or sitting opposite anyone. The space is entirely your own and you can spread out over the little table. I specifically booked one of those seats to enable me to work.
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  • 03
    Font - I got on the train at London and sat in my seat. The seat they'd assigned me was also the "priority seat". "Priority seats" are the ones at the end of carriages for people with mobility issues due to age or disability etc. A woman got on after me who was around sixty- years old and pointed at the sign above my head and, quite rudely, told me to move because she was elderly. I told her I'd booked the seat and she'd need to speak to a member of staff to find her one. She pointed out that th
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  • 04
    Font - Eventually, a train guard came over to try to help. The lady had booked a return ticket, but she hadn't reserved a specific seat. For those who don't know how trains work in the UK, if you have an "open ticket" and haven't also booked a seat reservation, it means you can travel on any train, but you aren't guaranteed a seat unless there's one available. He asked if either of us would consider moving to standard class if he could find us a seat. I again refused, explaining I'd booked the s
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  • 05
    Font - I felt bad, but I also don't think I needed to put myself in severe discomfort because someone else didn't think ahead and reserve a seat. AITA? Edit: Since it's apparently not clear, at no point was I aware this was a priority seat before getting on the train.
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  • 06
    Font - naraic- 2 hr. ago edited 20 min. ago The train company are the sholes here. They sold the disability seats as the most expensive seats on the train. Then they tried to get the person who bought those seats to move to standard. Those seats should imo never be sold unless the occupier is disabled. That's on the train operator. Its not on you. ΝΤΑ
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  • 07
    Font - Edited to add: I looked at a random time in a few weeks for London to Aberdeen trains. There was a standard price. Then it was +120 for first class. Then if you wanted the individual option in first class it was another 50. 1.3k Reply Share
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  • 08
    Font - rositree 2 hr. ago Yea, it seems odd to me that they would have a priority seat be reservable for people without a need for it. The faff you have to go through to book a train seat if you're in a wheelchair is excessive (can't do it online, have to phone up and check that nobody else is already using it, check there will be ramps available at stations etc etc. If you have a genuine need for a priority seat, you should have booked it ahead of time to ensure it is available when you need it
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  • 09
    Font - Fianna91 hr. ago There is disability seats in the standard class section too. So it's not the only place, I think the lady tried to pull a fast one to save a few bucks by not reserving a seat. But it's really on the provider. They shouldn't sell seats and yet also declare them "priority seating" 124 Reply S
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  • 10
    Font - Pretty_Anxious1 - 2 hr. ago NTA I may be downvoted for this but why was everyone Else on the train in 1st class asked to move to standard before the lady in question who didn't book a seat was moved? 572 Reply Share
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  • 11
    Font - Confident_Captain238. 2 hr. ago This! And I guess she also had some kind of cheap elderly/disability ticket. Why the to ask those high paying customers who reserved and paid for their seats! NTA 184 Reply Sha
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  • 12
    Font - acurrell 1 hr. ago I have a feeling she does this often. She bought an unreserved ticket, and seems to have gone straight to the premium carriage. 173 Reply
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  • 13
    Font - il_biciclista 2 hr. ago NTA. The rail line shouldn't let people reserve those seats without a disability. 4 312 Reply S
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  • 14
    Font - UmIAm NotMrLebowski. 2 hr. ago They usually don't - the train company is definitely TA here for allowing this situation to happen. 118 Reply Sha
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  • 15
    Font - hitsujiTMO 2 hr. ago It might be the case that the system allows such a seat to be booked if all other seats are taken. 53 Reply
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aita first class ticket public transportation reddit thread elderly Reddit train choosing beggar
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