There is a Goose in your Amtrak Sear on the Acela, what do you do?
Hide in the restroom
Ask the goose politely to move
just fucking stand
fight the goose
leave the train
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@elodieunderglass - any advice?
Presumably we both want the table seat, likely due to us both wanting to use laptops. It does depend on how full the train is; you can’t normally make a reservation on commuter services, and the long-distance ones usually have enough room for everyone on the train to have a table seat, so it’s a matter of negotiation. Politely compare tickets in the usual apologetic way and see if we both have reservations for the same seat. In most cases it’s due to someone misreading their ticket and having aisle instead of window, etc.; easily resolved. the picture implies that there are actually four geese in the table seats, but I am only concerned about the goose in my own seat. If a resolution cannot be reached, call the train guard and ask for another table seat to be found. The most likely scenario is they misread their reservations and wanted to keep their party together, in which case I would firmly request that they swap one of their seat reservations with mine. Then they can all sit together, but I’ll still have a reserved seat.
Large waterbirds are usually pretty chill with you sitting next to them if you are polite, the territory is neutral and you are both otherwise occupied with your own business. I wouldn’t have a problem with sitting next to a goose, it’s more that, you know. Seat reservation. Long-distance trip. I am almost certainly getting my work laptop out and once that’s booted up, I will NOT want to have another single conversation about seat reservations or anything else
Hold up, when did amtrak get seat reservations? You can reserve a sleeping car, sure. But usually you just get your ticket and sit wherever you want. Sometimes the conductor will sort you if they want to make it easy on themselves and have all the people who will be on the train a long time in the same section. But usually the tables are for when you take a little vacation from your seat—they’re free use for anyone. But the seatback tray is generous space for a laptop and a book and there is a plug, so you don’t need to fight the geese for a spot at the table. You can just sit at a neighboring table or wait for a table spot to clear up.
Seat reservations are only on certain trains, specifically those with business class seating (Northeast Regional, Carolinian, Palmetto and Vermonter) and the acela which is why this dilemma is playing out on the acela
