Bags on seats

[CC 72100]

I know that the above is a thorny issue on here sometimes, but I found this comment on the Virgin website interesting:

Please note that luggage is carried subject to the space available onboard. We have three spaces for you to store your luggage; above your seat in the small overhead luggage racks, beneath and behind your seat, and the dedicated area by the doorways. Sorry, but luggage can't be placed on seats intended for your fellow passengers (unless the bag has paid for its own seat).

http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/trains/assisted-travel-luggage-bikes/

Now I know that Virgin adopt a bit of a tongue in cheek style with their publicity sometimes, but could someone therefore purchase two tickets and use one for the bag on the seat?

 

[theageofthetra]

Have seen a musician pay for (I think a cello) to sit next to them on a flight. The lack of luggage space courtesy of poor design/loading gauge restrictions is another matter.

 

[me123]

I know that the above is a thorny issue on here sometimes, but I found this comment on the Virgin website interesting:

http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/trains/assisted-travel-luggage-bikes/

Now I know that Virgin adopt a bit of a tongue in cheek style with their publicity sometimes, but could someone therefore purchase two tickets and use one for the bag on the seat?

Interestingly, I once saw someone who had done just this and purchased a ticket for her bag! The bag was moved to the luggage rack, with the guard rightly pointing out that although the bag has a ticket, a ticket does not entitle someone to a seat.

BTW, this was on a Virgin train (A Virgin Cross-country service in years gone by).

 

[CC 72100]

Exactly - I've read stories on here of people with X number of tickets thinking that they can have X number of seats and use them for bags etc, but that doesn't make a difference .

The wording from Virgin however...

 

[GatwickDepress]

I get the feeling it's Virgin affecting a jokey tone in their publicity, as they often do. A bag, lacking sentience, cannot pay for its own seat after all.

I agree it's ambiguously worded and people may be led to believe they can purchase a ticket for their bag after all.

 

[me123]

Probably thought up by some naïve individual who wouldn't imagine anyone being so stupid as to pay for their bag to travel. How little they know the general public...

 

[CC 72100]

That's what I was getting at really, it probably is a joke but two tickets = two seats for you to use as you wish doesn't sound so stupid or strange to an infrequent user.

 

[Senex]

Interestingly, I once saw someone who had done just this and purchased a ticket for her bag! The bag was moved to the luggage rack, with the guard rightly pointing out that although the bag has a ticket, a ticket does not entitle someone to a seat.

BTW, this was on a Virgin train (A Virgin Cross-country service in years gone by).

But presumably at the time of booking and paying a seat could be reserved for the bag? I know of nothing that says you can make reservations only for sentient beings.

 

[me123]

^ She hadn't reserved a seat for her bag and was herself traveling in an unreserved seat, but it's an interesting point - what's to stop you reserving a seat for your bag? I can't think of anything, but I always insist that people move their bags when there's no other seats available, and production of a reservation certainly won't deter me.

 

[Holly]

That's what I was getting at really, it probably is a joke but two tickets = two seats for you to use as you wish doesn't sound so stupid or strange to an infrequent user.

That, in fact, is the policy on SouthWest Airlines in USA. If a passenger is too big (in the sole judgment of the airline) to fit properly in one seat then they are offered the opportunity to buy two seats or wait for a later flight that is not full.

 

[Hadders]

If you can buy a ticket for a bag does it have to be an adult one? Could you use a Two Together Railcard?

Would a child ticket suffice? Could I use a Friends & Family Railcard?

Seriously, the bag should be made to stand! If passengers want additional space then they should go 1st class.

 

[Minilad]

Just wait until the bag wants to get on with it's bike. All hell will break loose

 

[edwin_m]

Seriously, the bag should be made to stand!

If it's a very squishy bag that can't stand upright unassisted, then would it be entitled to a priority seat?

 

[HH]

Now I know that Virgin adopt a bit of a tongue in cheek style with their publicity sometimes, but could someone therefore purchase two tickets and use one for the bag on the seat?

I've seen a very well known Coronation Street Actor pay for two seats so that he could ensure no-one sat next to him. And his small bag sat on the seat next to him.

 

[DelayRepay]

I bought a ticket for a bag and the guard didn't object. Any my mother-in-law enjoyed her trip to London.....

 

[trainophile]

I've just travelled from Birmingham to Wigan on Virgin and we didn't even have a ticket check, never mind a bag-on-seat check!

 

[WL113]

Just wait until the bag wants to get on with it's bike. All hell will break loose

Bikes??? Arghhhh! Why do they always have to get on the busiest train in the morning?? The earlier train is half empty...

To be fair though, its hardly the cyclists fault that modern stock has no provision for cycles.

 

[matt_world2004]

I know that the above is a thorny issue on here sometimes, but I found this comment on the Virgin website interesting:



http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/trains/assisted-travel-luggage-bikes/

Now I know that Virgin adopt a bit of a tongue in cheek style with their publicity sometimes, but could someone therefore purchase two tickets and use one for the bag on the seat?

Someone did this with two oyster cards on the bus once, at which point an old lady got on and someone rather muscularly picked up the bags, threw them on the floor and congratulated the bags for vacating the seat for the elderly.

 

[Jonfun]

To be fair though, its hardly the cyclists fault that modern stock has no provision for cycles.

Are there any trains which don't have a dedicated space for at least two? If you put more cycle space in, then you'll have to take out space for seats and have complaints from people who are having to stand. Generally most stations these days have adequate nearby facilities to park a bicycle.

 

[Howardh]

If you are a rather ample person and one seat simply isn't big enough, is it possible or indeed relevant to buy/reserve two seats?
On a pendalino even for the slim ones like me the standard seats aren't particulary large!

 

[Jonfun]

...and someone rather muscularly picked up the bags, threw them on the floor and congratulated the bags for vacating the seat for the elderly.

Idiotic thing to do - could well lead to legal action against the person if something gets broken, and if the owner's holding on to their bags at the time of the attempted removal that would constitute assault.

 

[Hadders]

Are there any trains which don't have a dedicated space for at least two? If you put more cycle space in, then you'll have to take out space for seats and have complaints from people who are having to stand. Generally most stations these days have adequate nearby facilities to park a bicycle.

No bike spaces on anything operating on Great Northern for starters. I think it's the same throughout most of the south east.

 

[Kite159]

I noticed one major flaw with the 444s is they lack space for luggage which is too large/heavy to fit on the overhead rakes. So you get passengers either putting the bags/suitcases on the seats or in the gap in front of the seat [where your legs would go].

On trains which serve a majorish Airport (Southampton) and the seaside resorts of Bournemouth to Weymouth.

At least they have enough cycle spaces (6)

 

[Starmill]

Most of the time I am on a train which is very quiet. There are lots of available rows of seats all around me where anyone who joins the train could sit. If so the bag is on the seat next to me. As soon as I can see that there are people filling up every seat I'll remove it. This strategy has never ever given me any problem. People really should know better than to be as foolish so as to try teserving a seat or buying a ticket for a bag.

 

[ScotTrains]

Next time I book a megatrain for £1 I might book 4 tickets - then I can get the whole table to myself!!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Next time I book a megatrain for £1 I might book 4 tickets - then I can get the whole table to myself!!

It used to be possible to book a whole "compartment" by paying 6/8 fares, but I don't know if it applies any more nor if you can do it for other units of seating. So I'd suggest you may be wasting your money.

 

[AM9]

It used to be possible to book a whole "compartment" by paying 6/8 fares, but I don't know if it applies any more nor if you can do it for other units of seating. So I'd suggest you may be wasting your money.

And so it should be. Trains are a public service that often has limited capacity below the demand on it. If your needs are for privacy/space, then if first class isn't available or enough then use a taxi or other mode of transport.
In times of overload, pretending that you have any sort of entitlement to more than one seat is like taking all the water you can to the detriment of others, in a drought because you have a meter. Money alone does not buy everything.

 

[stut]

Could you use a Two Together Railcard?

Well, you'd have to use the same bag each time, and have its picture on the photocard...

 

[GodAtum]

I noticed one major flaw with the 444s is they lack space for luggage which is too large/heavy to fit on the overhead rakes. So you get passengers either putting the bags/suitcases on the seats or in the gap in front of the seat [where your legs would go].

On trains which serve a majorish Airport (Southampton) and the seaside resorts of Bournemouth to Weymouth.

At least they have enough cycle spaces (6)

This morning 1st class wasnt too busy, so I put my suitcase next to me on one of the double seaters.

On Southern, I sit on the seat that faces away from the window, so have room it put my suitcase.

 

[broadgage]

If you are a rather ample person and one seat simply isn't big enough, is it possible or indeed relevant to buy/reserve two seats?
On a pendalino even for the slim ones like me the standard seats aren't particulary large!

In most cases it would make more sense to buy one first class ticket as these are more suited to stout persons.
A single first class ticket will usually be cheaper than two steerage tickets, not always though.

Both railway staff and other passengers might object to someone taking up 2 steerage seats even if they have 2 tickets. No one could reasonably object to the same person sitting in a single first class seat, provided that they held a first class ticket.