Woman yells at two elderly passengers over a train seat: ‘They both started yelling, and I yelled back. I also told them it wasn't right for two people to gang up on one young woman travelling alone’

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Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor
Jul 26, 2026 1:45 PM EDT

Elderly and/or Entitled?

Could it be that they were using their age to take advantage of this young woman? Or was she just petty and should've given them her seat? I think both things can be true at once, lol. What I don't understand is why this moral issue stayed with her forever; they were just some annoying elderly couple. I know I would've not given them my seat if there weren't any seats left, but if there were, and they were so annoying, I would've gotten up and gone to another just to end the conflict right there; sometimes there is no use in doing the 'right' thing or what the ticket says. Of course, if there were no other seats available, I would've never given up my seat had I been travelling alone in a foreign country.

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  • elderly man sitting on a train
    via Atul Pandey

    The elderly man if the young passenger had given him the seat

    Stock photo for illustration

  • AITA for yelling at two elderly passengers over a train seat?

    I (23F) was travelling alone by train for work. I had a reserved window seat. My ticket clearly indicated it was a window seat, and the coach itself had the window seats marked accordingly.
    via boo1326
  • An elderly couple (both around 72) came to my seat and insisted that the window seat was actually theirs. They showed me their ticket, but there seemed to be some sort of discrepancy. I showed them my ticket, which
    via boo1326
  • matched both the reservation and the markings painted on the coach. They kept insisting that I should move. After going back and forth,
    via boo1326
  • I got frustrated and said something that roughly translates to, "If you want to sit, then sit. Otherwise, leave me alone." What I meant was, "Take the seat you're actually assigned or stop arguing with me." They took it as me telling
    via boo1326
  • them to get off the train. The argument escalated from there. The woman told me they were older than my parents and that I should have "sanskar" (respect/good upbringing). I replied that my parents.
    via boo1326
  • don't speak to people like this. They both started yelling, and I yelled back. I also told them it wasn't right for two people to gang up on one young woman travelling alone. Eventually, I stayed in my
    via boo1326
  • assigned seat because it was, in fact, my reserved seat. There was a clear "W/WS" marking on both my ticket and the coach itself. To me, if the coach markings and my ticket agree, that's what you follow, even if another
    via boo1326
  • ticket appears confusing. A lot of people have asked why I didn't just get the conductor or train staff. I'm in India, and on the trains I regularly travel on, finding the TTE/conductor isn't always easy. I've been
    via boo1326
  • an empty train
    via Peter Herrmann

    The empty seats in the train while the passengers yelled at each other 

    Image is representative

  • travelling this route at least twice a month since April and haven't had my ticket checked once. Walking through multiple coaches hoping to find staff didn't really feel like a practical option while two people were standing over me
    via boo1326
  • arguing. The seat itself wasn't the issue. I've voluntarily given up my reserved window seat before when I boarded and found a visibly sick passenger already occupying it
    via boo1326
  • because I was getting off in about an hour anyway. If someone genuinely needed the seat, I wouldn't have had a problem. What bothered me was how aggressively they behaved from the
    via boo1326
  • beginning. Even if they were genuinely confused, I felt intimidated. I'm 23, travelling alone, and they were two much older people refusing to accept my ticket and continuing. to pressure me.
    via boo1326
  • Even after the seat issue was effectively over, they continued making comments until I put my earphones in. Later, I saw the husband yelling at another passenger and the wife (who had told me she was a retired principal)
    via boo1326
  • littering on the platform. That made me wonder whether this was just how they generally behaved. For context, I was already having a stressful day. My train was delayed, I had lost my water bottle, I had
    via boo1326
  • work waiting for me, and I had an important meeting the next day. I don't know if I would have reacted differently on a better day, but I do know I felt cornered. I don't regret keeping my
    via boo1326
  • seat because I genuinely believe I was entitled to it. What I do regret is that it turned into a shouting match. This was my first- ever train argument, and although I stand by defending myself, I was left feeling shaken
    via boo1326
  • a man pretending he is asleep on a train
    via Frankie Cordoba

    A man pretending he's asleep in order not to give up his seat

    Subject is a model and not connected to the story

  • ever train argument, and although I stand by defending myself, I was left feeling shaken afterward because I don't like yelling. So... AITA?
    via boo1326
  • JewelMonkey This situation is taking up way too much of your head time. Let it go.
    via boo1326
  • Feeling-Invite 7953 NTA. The older couple was wrong, but they were willing to use their "age" as a defense for their childish behavior. You should told them to "act their age, not their shoe size"!!
    via boo1326
  • Present_Original_797 NTA. Bet it's not the first time. Let them be mad. You stood up for yourself. Well, actually you sat down for yourself. Good for you.
    via boo1326

  • I like that she is so concerned with morality; that convinces me she was in the right, because she really cares, lol. And also the fact that they were yelling at someone else only minutes later. Some people are entitled, for starters, and then they get old, and they use that to leverage their entitlement; everybody uses their own strategies, right? What I do think is that she should stop dwelling on these minor issues and focus on being happy! There is no use in focusing on every argument one has with somebody in the street; life is full of them.

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