There is nothing more frustrating than paying extra for a reserved seat only for cheapskate, entitled assholes to take over.

YTA. You should have apologized and offered an explanation. It more that likely would have diffused the situation. Where were your seats and why weren't you in them? Were they not all together?

Wow it's not very often in these I say YTA but... you ARE TA. I thought long and hard about this. Because I just found out I'm going to be a first time Grandma. Now it's been quite a while since I've dealt with babies and small children, a bit out of practice if you will. But I promise you this: If me and my soon to be grand baby were traveling and we were fortunate enough to sit in that kind of section because the train is empty ish, I would explain to my grandchild (as you should've explained to your kid(s) ) If someone comes that owns these seats we are moving. I don't care the reason we are moving. Way to raise a future AH.

I swear I heard this story from the guys prospective recently or at least a similar one. Yes she’s TA. Her idea of rude is ridiculous. The guy asked to see the seat numbers and that’s rude to her? She stole his seat and acted entitled to seats that won’t hers. Ugh entitled moms are the worse

Most definately an entitled a*****e. If it's so easy for this dude to go to another seat because they were open, then get you're lazy a*s up and let your kid get the seat you wanted her to have so bad even if you have to stand. Man this s**t woulda pissed me off if I saw it.

I bet "yelled" in this instance means "dared to speak to my child in any manner other than to praise". In other words, entitled mom wants to make the guy look bad. And if the attendant really did tell him to sit elsewhere or kick the guy the company needs to be put on blast. This isn't hard - I paid for that seat, you took it. It's stealing.

Should have moved

If he was acting like this there is a good possibility that there may be a bit of a mental illness with the man. By booking a specific seat it helps him cope with no surprises when on the journey. You caused a great deal of stress to the man and your sense of entitlement is disgusting.

Did he have to yell at the child? No. Was he entitled to the seat he PAID FOR? Absolutely. YTA.

Over 3000 replies to the original post and I didn't see a single NTA so......

One hundred percent the AH. Why do people automatically assume that if they have "children" the rest of us have to bow down for them? I have seen this more times than I can count - I am child free by choice and people constantly am asking me to move, give up something, or bend over backwards "for the children:" Unreal

If this is a story from the UK, it sounds like she must have taken over a bank of 4 seats with a table in the middle. People reserve these seats so they have a space to work with their laptops (or families actually reserve them so they can sit together). Train tickets in the UK cost A LOT. There also used to be a thing where kids under a certain age could travel without a ticket but they were not guaranteed a seat, and had to go on a lap if the train filled up. This woman is completely in the wrong.

Yeah, you're completely the arsehole and apparently don't understand how civilisation works.

something tells me op deliberately wrote this in a biased manner to garner support to make her feel better. it didnt work.

YTA and may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your crotch should you ever try this entitled c**p again!

I've heard of similar incidents with people booking last minute travels, only to complain about the conditions. Your poor planning is no one's problem but your own. You want better seats? Then make sure to book it on time. If I paid extra to reserve a certain seat, I'd be pretty pissed if some entitled b***h refused to give it up. What an example you are setting for your children.

Of course YTA. Do you even have to ask???? We never had this kind of problem while travelling in China. Of course someone sits on your seat before someone shows their ticket and then they either go elsewhere or stand. We're all looking for free seats, whatever our age but if someone shows you their ticket, you move away. Is it so difficult to understand? I am shocked by this story.

Having children on the train with you doesn't entitle you to take someone's seat. Your post read you were going to sit there while it wasn't full yet, but continued to sit there when the person who reserved the seat came to claim it you didn't move. Yes the man was rude. He was obviously irritated that he could not find his seat. He could have sat somewhere else but why should he? He paid for his seat ahead of time. Next time ask staff member to help you keep together if it happens again.

At first, I was going with NTA, but she clearly knew the seats she chose were reserved because they were MARKED as reserved. She said nothing about them being the only 3 seats together at all, which is the only way it would be acceptable since you absolutely keep a 4 year old or a 7 year old with you. Definitely YTA, but the man is a little bit of one for yelling at the kid.

I understand that going through a difficult time, you just want some relief, but this person paid for his seat! What if he was experiencing some pain in his life, but because your kids were tired and you didn't reserve your seats, he gets put off the train?!? He paid for his seat...that's it! He shouldn't have to move because the train wasn't full, you move! definitely the A hole in this.

She should stop using her kids as an excuse for p**s poor, entitled behavior. If I was that man, I would be aggravated too. And to make it worse, she thinks he should go take possibly someone else's seat, which would start even more trouble. How selfish can u get. She is the crux of the problem.

Yes indeed you are Karen.

I believe she knows that she was in the wrong. Why else would you bring up the cancer stricken uncle. Not to minimize his health but it had nothing to do with the train situation. If you take a seat you know is not yours to begin with- be prepared to move if the rightful owner comes along.

I've had to book late before and couldn't find seats all together. You know what I did? Politely asked if an attendant would be willing to assist me in finding someone willing to switch so that I could try to sit with my (at the time) 3 year old. You know what I did not do? Sit in someone else's seat and then demand it was mine. Especially not on a holiday trip. That woman not only stole money indirectly from that man but she also may have made it so he couldn't go see HIS family.

The woman felt that they were entitled and they sat in reserved seats. I'm blind in my left eye. I reserve seats where my right side in by the window..

Sorry, but you exacerbated a situation where you were already at fault. Your hoping that he wouldn't want the seat he paid for obviously didn't work, and instead of apologizing, you got offended. The train staff could just as easily helped you with the seating when you first got on. Why did you think no one else would be riding the train on a holiday?

I needed to take a long coach journey last month. I traveled out of my way so as to pick it up at the first stop so I could have choice of seat - I thought it worth the extra time and money as I have a few problems. However, when we got to what was my most natural pick up point, a woman got on with 3 kids, all too young to sit alone. I felt bad and got up, saying to the lad next to me (a stranger) if we both moved, they could sit together. Before long, on of the kids came and gave me a cup cake, to thank me, as soon as he left I offered it to woman next to me as I didn't want it. I ended up chatting with this woman and we kept in touch. Karma gave me a new friend. As for OP, she was in the wrong, lots of people have real problems. The man might have chosen that specific seat for a reason or he may have had an issue where he was mentally unable to sit anywhere except his assigned seat. People can become house bound by experience like she put him through.

I hope the train staff person got fired

You were both incredibly childish. Having said that you were the instigator of this and you had the responsibility to yield the seat. You took what someone else paid for that is the definition of a thief

Yes, she definitely took the 'my problem' is now 'your problem ' approach. Using the fact he was rude to gain moral ground is no excuse.

YTA. And I don't believe that staff sided with her. Unless he seemed to exhibit dangerous behavior which I doubt, the staff will get in trouble for kicking a passenger off just because he demanded a reserved seat he paid for.

If this is to be taken at face value (I suspect that some of this was hammed up to make the OP sound like an angel) then ETA. Even if the guy was a jerk he was still right. Your children don't give you special privileges. If you need 3 seats next to each other then reserve them ahead of time like this guy did. I hate when parents think that a functioning uterus exempts them from the rules the rest of us have to live under.

The OP never indicates any concern that the man whose seat she had stolen might also have had a very bad day, be very tired, perhaps feel unwell, and HE HAD BOUGHT AND PAID FOR THAT SEAT. She is totally TA.