Passenger took up 2 seats

Colonel Claptrap

Hypothetical situation. Although I experienced something similar recently.

You book a train ticket and reserve a seat online. When you go to sit down the passenger next to you, who is very overweight, is taking over a lot of your space. They have to use the arm rest and unless they hug their arms tight are essentially elbowing you in the ribs. You have to sit at an angle, leaning, with your knees in the aisle for a 2 hour train journey.

Do you have grounds for a refund?

The Irish Rail website says:

"If we fail to honour your seat reservation, and no other seat of similar standard on the same service is available for you, we will refund the fare of your single journey in travel vouchers"

Is the onus on you to prove the seat was borderline unusable?

Personally I would just accept it, and move on. But was chatting to friends who said they would demand a refund. Got me thinking about whether Irish Rail could tell you to get lost.

Thoughts?

Alf Veedersane

Unlikely to get any joy from Irish Rail because as unsatisfactory as the situation was, you still have the seat you paid for:

Colonel Claptrap wrote: »

You have to sit at an angle etc

Just without the comfort you expected.

kala85

Colonel Claptrap wrote: »

Hypothetical situation. Although I experienced something similar recently.

You book a train ticket and reserve a seat online. When you go to sit down the passenger next to you, who is very overweight, is taking over a lot of your space. They have to use the arm rest and unless they hug their arms tight are essentially elbowing you in the ribs. You have to sit at an angle, leaning, with your knees in the aisle for a 2 hour train journey.

Do you have grounds for a refund?

The Irish Rail website says:

"If we fail to honour your seat reservation, and no other seat of similar standard on the same service is available for you, we will refund the fare of your single journey in travel vouchers"

Is the onus on you to prove the seat was borderline unusable?

Personally I would just accept it, and move on. But was chatting to friends who said they would demand a refund. Got me thinking about whether Irish Rail could tell you to get lost.

Thoughts?

Do you get the full refund of the fare back or just the 5e reservation fee?

ArthurG

'Passenger took up 2 seats' and the 'hypothetical' scenario you describe aren't really the same.

Stone Gossard

If you ask for a refund, you get the price of the seat reservation back..not the full fare

L1011

There also needs to have been no other seats available

goingnowhere

Stone Gossard wrote: »

If you ask for a refund, you get the price of the seat reservation back..not the full fare

Wrong

Full fare if purchased online

If you only purchased a reservation you only get the 5 euro back, as thats what you paid for

Isambard

surely you just say " would you mind moving over, you're invading my space" or similar.Or give him a bit of a shove. If you do nothing he'll assume it's Ok to be making you uncomfortable, and maybe move in a little more.

Del.Monte

Isambard wrote: »

surely you just say " would you mind moving over, you're invading my space" or similar.Or give him a bit of a shove. If you do nothing he'll assume it's Ok to be making you uncomfortable, and maybe move in a little more.

Why stop there, ask them out to the corridor and give them a good kicking.

Isambard

yeah why not? fat bloke probably wouldn't put up much of a fight

Similar story, a relation of mine when I give him a lift thinks it's OK to put his arm on my arm rest (passenger seat doesn't have one). I gentle move him. Can't change gear properley with his elbow there. I fold the armrest if i remember, not an option on other modes I guess.

ongarboy

it's a well known and documented dilemma on flights also, particularly where there are no alternative free seats. You don't get your money back from airlines for this condition regardless of whether you fly 1 or 12 hours so I doubt IR would entertain it.

It's annoying OP but I'd choose your battles here. Spare a thought for the other passenger who I'm pretty certain is far more inconvenienced by their weight and how much excess space they take, 24/7, that you are or will be for a handful of hours.

Below is a good read for swaying attitudes (it did mine!).



https://medium.com/@thefatshadow/what-it-s-like-to-be-that-fat-person-sitting-next-to-you-on-the-plane-85006e263778

jackofalltrades

ongarboy wrote: »

It's annoying OP but I'd choose your battles here. Spare a thought for the other passenger who I'm pretty certain is far more inconvenienced by their weight and how much excess space they take, 24/7, that you are or will be for a handful of hours.

Below is a good read for swaying attitudes (it did mine!).



https://medium.com/@thefatshadow/what-it-s-like-to-be-that-fat-person-sitting-next-to-you-on-the-plane-85006e263778

That article makes out like she's some kind of victim.

I was on a flight recently beside an obese woman.
She couldn't fit into her seat and was taking up some of mine.
It was a short flight, but if it had been a long flight it would have made it very uncomfortable for me.

If you can't fit in one seat you should buy two.
It's ignorant and disrespectful to others not to.

Lord Glentoran

jackofalltrades wrote: »

That article makes out like she's some kind of victim.

I was on a flight recently beside an obese woman.
She couldn't fit into her seat and was taking up some of mine.
It was a short flight, but if it had been a long flight it would have made it very uncomfortable for me.

If you can't fit in one seat you should buy two.
It's ignorant and disrespectful to others not to.

If I was obese as described (I’m not), and was subject to eye rolls and tut-tuts on public transport, I’d have a lovely baked bean, Guinness and egg smoothie for breakfast, and let ‘er rip at such an opportune moment.

looksee

If a person is very tall (which surely they cannot have any responsibility for) they have the choice of sitting with their knees under their chin or paying extra for more leg room. Most (including me and I am only fairly tall) would do that. It is time for the airlines to divide three seat blocks into two seats at least in one place on the plane, and the people who need them to pay the balance.

Or better yet, have international rules that plane seating should be that bit wider and longer, for everyone's health and comfort, and everyone pay the bit extra to make this possible.

looksee

Lord Glentoran wrote: »

If I was obese as described (I’m not), and was subject to eye rolls and tut-tuts on public transport, I’d have a lovely baked bean, Guinness and egg smoothie for breakfast, and let ‘er rip at such an opportune moment.

Just because a person is obese it doesn't mean they have the ignorant, pathetic, schoolboy humour attitude to dealing with life's problems.

L1011

looksee wrote: »

Or better yet, have international rules that plane seating should be that bit wider and longer, for everyone's health and comfort, and everyone pay the bit extra to make this possible.

To make the seats on a 737 wider, you would have to remove one seat from each row, reducing capacity by 1/6th and effectively making 'the bit extra' 17% at a minimum. When you lose a row for more legroom that makes it even higher.

razorblunt

I was sitting next to a woman on an Aer Lingus flight once and she was in the middle seat and taking over the armrests of both due to her size. She was very apologetic, which was quite sad really but as it was a short flight I just thought I'd put up with it, my only issue was her daughter had the window seat so maybe she could have swapped.

Anyway just after take off a cabin steward came down and asked quite loudly if I wanted to move down the plane as there was a row of free seats I could use. I felt really really awkward though so I can only imagine how the woman felt.
I declined as I was on a short turnaround so wanted to shoot off the plane asap once we landed.