# Pre booked seats on the train



## Frank (27 Jul 2014)

Are the pre-booked seats just a joke?

Consistently people sitting in them and not worth the hassle of trying to chase?

Found this a few weeks ago.

OH had a similar experience a few weeks before that again.


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## Brendan Burgess (27 Jul 2014)

Frank said:


> Consistently people sitting in them and not worth the hassle of trying to chase?
> .



I have used them only once recently. There was someone in my seat and I told her it was my seat, so she moved. 

Did the occupier of your seat refuse to move? 

If it's a recurring problem, why not suggest to Irish Rail to reserve one carriage for pre-booked seats. That would be much easier to police. 

Brendan


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## Jim2007 (27 Jul 2014)

Brendan Burgess said:


> If it's a recurring problem, why not suggest to Irish Rail to reserve one carriage for pre-booked seats. That would be much easier to police.



Two years ago I was at Hueston station taking the train to Westport and I actually heard the ticket checker at the platform tell a passenger to ignore the reservations on the seats when she enquired.....


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## RainyDay (27 Jul 2014)

I remember finding a little old granny in my seat with her flask of tea and sangers spread out in front of her. She had really strong fingers though, I had to pry them off one by one as I dragged her out the seat. Ah no, I didn't have the heart to complain and left her to it.

On the Enterprise to Belfast recently, one of the NI stewards told me just to grab any seat.


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## Brendan Burgess (27 Jul 2014)

RainyDay said:


> I remember finding a little old granny in my seat with her flask of tea and sangers spread out in front of her. .



If there were plenty of other seats that is fine. 

But otherwise you should have asked her to move.  Not to do so, would be age discrimination.


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## RainyDay (27 Jul 2014)

Brendan Burgess said:


> If there were plenty of other seats that is fine.
> 
> But otherwise you should have asked her to move.  Not to do so, would be age discrimination.



There certainly were other seats, though perhaps not in the best positions (with a table in front) etc. I guess I might have done the same for anyone who needed a bit of extra flexibility, like a parent with a few kids or whatever.


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## Brendan Burgess (28 Jul 2014)

RainyDay said:


> I guess I might have done the same for anyone who needed a bit of extra flexibility, like a parent with a few kids or whatever.



This is not the RainyDay we know. 

Parents with kids should book their seats in advance if they want to sit together. 

The elderly are probably traveling free anyway, so they should definitely not be taking a pre-booked seat.  

Brendan


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## STEINER (28 Jul 2014)

Brendan Burgess said:


> .
> 
> The elderly are probably traveling free anyway, so they should definitely not be taking a pre-booked seat.
> 
> Brendan



Free travel pass holders do have the option of reserving  a seat(s), which would be advisable at busy times.  It costs a fiver for each single journey.

http://www.irishrail.ie/fares-and-tickets/tickets-explained



If I had a seat reservation, I would insist on my seat.  The reservations are clearly marked for all to see.

Occasionally when I attend the Liffey Valley cinema, some people ignore the seat numbers, but I just move them on as I have selected my seats online.  A typical excuse is "someone is in our seats".  Croke Park is the same, its a regular occurrence, people zone into those nice empty seats instead of their own.  A lot of Irish people don't like to be told they can't sit somewhere.


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## roker (28 Jul 2014)

As a pensioner with a travel pass, I was always afraid of turning up and refused travel. how do I pre book?


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## dereko1969 (28 Jul 2014)

I would usually move someone on from a seat I had booked but on Saturday heading to Kilkenny a family of 4 who had booked 3 of the 4 seats were sitting with their 3 year old child in my seat. I presume that because he was free they hadn't realised they could book (and pay) for his seat without paying for a ticket. 
They did offer to have him squash in beside them but there a few unbooked seats so I took one of them, if the train had been full or all booked I would have moved them.
In general though it's important to move people on or the whole system of booking collapses.


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## dereko1969 (28 Jul 2014)

roker said:


> As a pensioner with a travel pass, I was always afraid of turning up and refused travel. how do I pre book?



There is a drop down button after you've chosen your journey where you just book a seat on the website without paying for a ticket. You pick the journey then change from 1 adult @14.99 to O adult and then add 1 seat reserve ticket only.


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## Daddy (16 Aug 2014)

My son purchased a prepaid ticket from Cork to Dublin.  At booking time he chose to collect the ticket from the ticket machine in Thurles.   As he is getting the train in Thurles must he print the ticket out in Thurles before the train departs from Cork or in other words if the train has pulled out of Cork does the system allow him to print it out after the train has left Cork.  Thanks.


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