[h2s]

Sounds like quite a different set of tactics from to the cross-country theatre of war.

There is a whole other type of player on the x-country trains: the seat-reserver. These people allocate themselves an assigned seat number for their journey when they buy their tickets. This is a completely free-of-charge option available to all users of the UK rail network, but only a select few are ruthless enough to go through with it and wield those little cards against their fellow man.

Some of the saddest, most unnecessary arguments I've ever witnessed on public transport involved seat-reservers. On one journey, my girlfriend was sat next to a stranger, and with me having failed to find a seat I was stood nearby. A seat-reserver showed up and demanded the seat of the woman next to my girlfriend. This woman was somewhat old and did not want to give up her seat. An argument broke out (a polite British white middle-class argument, mind you), and my girlfriend decided that she would give up her seat before shit started getting real.

In the meantime, the conductor had been summoned. By the time he arrived, these two women who had just been arguing were now sitting uncomfortably close to one another and attempting to mend the fence. Things had begun to calm back down, but the ensuing discussion with the conductor stirred everything right back up. It transpired that the seat-reserver's ticket had entitled her to my girlfriend's seat all along, and the older lady next to her needn't have worried. The two people made an awkward show of offering to swap seats with each other and declining.

The stakes on the cross-country battlefield are high. Fuck it up, and you're jammed against the toilet doors nose-to-nose with three strangers for the next several hours. It's no wonder some people feel tempted to reserve seats, but I've always felt quite strongly that able-bodied people asking other able-bodied people to move based on the authority of a small piece of card is a bit pathetic. Don't reserve yourself a seat unless you have a legitimate need to sit down.

[CJefferson]

I have the exact opposite point of view. If you do not reserve a seat, then expect to stand.

I reserve seats because I often make 6-8 hour train journeys and want a seat with my wife the whole way. I bother to organise a booking and get annoyed when people won't move out of it.

[MindTwister]

I prefer to reserve a seat when traveling cross country, who wants to stand up in a train for 3+ hrs when I can sit down and read a book.

In Denmark when I travel with my dog I'm actually required to reserve a seat for him and myself... making it even more awkward since I have now reserved a seat for a dog who isn't allowed to sit on it.

After a few times allowing people to sit on my dogs seat I now politely decline, its no fun for or either passenger or dog to try and share the same leg space.

[thisone]

maybe it's being up in the northeast, on trains that aren't standing room only past the first stop, but I generally see people respect the seat reservations. I've only seen a "that's my seat" discussion (not argument) maybe twice in the past three years.

My only complaint is people who think their ticket reserves a second seat for their jacket.

Oh, and the stag/hen dos in coming into Newcastle on Fridays, damn they can stink up a train.

[nicholassmith]

Stag/hen do's coming into Newcastle and the school holidays are a nightmare for rail commuting, invariably leading to stress and headaches all round.

[blibble]

with some ticket types (e.g. advances) the reservations are compulsory and technically you have to sit in your reserved seat!

[alexkus]

Depends who you buy through, some of the websites (such as thetrainline.com) automatically request seat reservations even if you don't ask for them (and even if the service isn't going to provide them!) My seat reservation for my weekend train journey, London to Dorset on SW Trains, had no specific coach/seat assignemnt (it just had "Coach * Seat *" ) as the train didn't have any reservations on it.

I buy all of my tickets via eastcoast.co.uk (or wherever gner.co.uk now redirects to), regardless of destination or intended train line, because they are one of the few that still post them to you for free whilst others (such as thetrainline.com) charge for postage.