Tourists Claimed Their Empty Train Seat Was Reserved for a Friend—Then a Passenger Saw Them Use It for Luggage
Pexels/Reddit
Some people will hold onto a seat like it’s a parking spot, rules be danged.
That’s exactly what happened when two tourists on a crowded Swiss train claimed an open seat was being saved for a friend, only for that seat to end up holding luggage instead of a person.
A nearby passenger, already juggling a newborn and a trip to the hospital, watched the whole thing unfold in real time.
What started as a simple ask for somewhere to sit turned into a pretty clear read on who gets to take up space and how far people will stretch a lie to keep it.
Keep reading for the full story.
AITA for calling out some tourist for saying a seat wasn’t free when it had a bag on it?
We are in Switzerland. I live in a very touristy and swanky town that sees a massive amount of tourism.
I got on the train with my newborn as we are heading to the hospital, and the train conductor guided us to the disabled/buggy area.
That’s when the drama first started.
Across from us, also in the disabled/buggy area, there were two American tourists with their bags (in a four seater).
A Swiss lady comes in and politely asks them if one of the seats is free.
The train is about 80% full, so there are some empty seats (like the one next to me) but it is mostly full.
The man says that no, a friend of theirs is coming and the seats are full.
That’s when the lady finds another seat, but that wasn’t the end of it.
I signal to her that she can seat next to me and she does.
When the friend comes, they seat but they are still 3/4 and using the seat the lady had asked about for their bags.
That’s when this person decided to speak up.
So I called them out and said that it wasn’t cool, and that they had said it wasn’t free and they are using it just for bags.
The man says “well there are other empty seats” and one of the women gave me the stink eye for the whole trip.
I guess I know I am not an AH, but was I out of order? In the end the lady was sitting and it wasn’t even something concerning me personally, so maybe I should have stayed out of it.
Hindsight is 20/20.
What did Reddit have to say?
This commenter thinks this behavior is just plain rude no matter where you are.
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This wasn’t the best use of this available seat.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a home buyer who was surprised to learn his neighbors were upset about him removing a fence.
Entitled people deserve to take a little heat every now and then.
These tourists clearly banked on nobody double checking their story, and that’s exactly where it fell apart.
At the end of the day, the brave passenger who spoke up was just saying what everyone else was thinking.
Bags don’t need seats, people do, and pretending otherwise doesn’t hold up under a stink eye.
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