Etiquette on excursion coaches.

[Ashland]

On a recent trip to Aruba we took one of the island tours where you just pay your $20.00pp and get on the bus..There was a lovely older couple that had boarded first took the first two seats behind the driver and actually waited a good 30min for the bus to fill up. Unfortunately we had a bit of an accident in the middle of our tour when a truck coming the other direction sideswipped us and hit the side mirror (how lucky we all were that it was minor)...however the driver then had to pull over and couldn't continue as it was a hazard not having the side mirror. We waited approx 15min for another bus to arrive..we all got off the bus and walked to get on the new one..as we did this a young female (part of a couple) pushed past and ran to board the bus first (note she was originally one of the last to board and so had a seat in the back)..she took the seats originally occupied by the older couple as they boarded they were very surprised and the older gentleman said we were in those seats...she became very abusive verbally in her tone and told them she had paid the same amount for her seats and it was a first come first serve. When the husband of this woman got on she told him that the older gentleman had been rude (NOT so) to her and he then went back and started verbally abusing the older couple..many of us spoke up but this younger couple basically told the rest of us to XXXX XXX. The driver would not become involved..This made for the rest of our tour to be very tense indeed...and was one of the most blatant display of bad manners we have ever encountered on a tour bus.

[Nebr.cruiser]

After reading several of the posts on this thread, it reinforces my pledge to never ever take a bus tour ever again in my entire life. Sounds like taking such a tour would be worse than being tortured to death. If bus tours were the only way that I could travel, I would stay home instead.

 

I should admit that I have taken one multi-day OAT bus tour in Mexico and I guess that I must have lucked out on my one bus tour. Every day, the guide ensured that we all switch seats in an organized fashion so that nobody was stuck with a bad seat for the entire seat.

 

When I travel and see bus tour groups piling off their bus, I only feel pity for them.

 

Along the same general lines, my wife and I always pick aisle and aisle seats on a plan. On one trip, a guy asked me if I would move so that could sit next to his wife. I politely told him I wasn't moving.

 

DON

 

The only multi-day bus trip we took was with OAT too and we also were asked to move seats each day, in order, so that everyone got to sit in front, or wherever the best seats were at some point. I think it was a great plan. Not necessary for a one day tour, though.

[dorisis]

On our last excursion . The driver very forcefully made the comment "Everyone is to return to their ORIGINAL SEATS"

 

That is the only way to control seating. Otherwise it is a free for all. Even the handicapped seats wll be take by able bodie people who can run faster than the diisabled.

[JanineM]

We usually will arrive for excursions well in advance of departure time - and there is always someone who got there an hour or more early to stand in line so they get the front seat. We have been stuck in the back, by the bathroom, with teeny windows - always in the worst seats even if we're there 30-45 minutes early.

 

Common courtesy would be to allow others to have a good seat after a stop. Do unto others ....

[Hidden Minnie]

If it is a hop on hop off type tour with multiple shorter stops, you keep your seat.

 

If it is a ride to the beach with a return trip three hours later, there is no assumption of getting the same seats on the way back.

[LindaM]

From my experience from shorex of 26 cruises, people keep their same seat. That is bus etiquette. Obviously, I'm not the only one who feels this way, or I would not be able to honestly say this! One time, a couple did take our seat. It was because their seat was broken!! Wish I would have said something to them...sneaky people! If you want a good seat, get to the bus early. We've had plenty of lousy seats because we didn't do just that!

[pris993]

Point taken.

 

The seats are not reserved... but even so...:mad:

 

We don't do bus tours generally but if it is an issue to you, get back to the bus early, first come first serve, then it will not be a problem for you. Very easy. :)

[Hflors]

On one of our recent bus tours as usual there was one couple who did not show up on time after the "shopping" stop. The bus driver beeped his horn as he said he would and we waited. Still no couple. So the driver slowly backed up and then put the bus in drive and out of the parking lot we went. Well as we get to the street Mr & Mrs NO Show couple come out of the store waving their arms and running for the bus. They were not at all happy about being almost left behind. At our last stop of the day (the next stop) Mr and Mrs NO show were there in the line when it was time to go!

 

I also have been mystified by the adult and child scenario. If you are an adult with a child that needs supervision during a bus trip why in the world would you be late??? It is your responsibility to excerise comon sense in being at the appointed boarding area at the appointed time. No one else is or should be responsible to make sure that you and your child are seated together!

 

I was once on a plane where a man and woman got on with their 5 children and stood in the front of the plane anouncing that they needed 6 seats together. Well the plane was just about full already. Why they even booked on a plane without seating assignment is a mystery to me, Anyway there just weren't 2 seats together much less 6. One of the little girls was put in the seat next to us and we moved over so she could sit at the window, (after takeoff she fell asleep and we didn't hear a peep out of her the whole flight). I did feel sorry for someone because the lady had a lap child and we could hear the child wailing for a lot of the flight luckly for us she was way in the back of the plane)

[donaldsc]

 

I was once on a plane where a man and woman got on with their 5 children and stood in the front of the plane anouncing that they needed 6 seats together. Well the plane was just about full already. Why they even booked on a plane without seating assignment is a mystery to me, Anyway there just weren't 2 seats together much less 6. One of the little girls was put in the seat next to us and we moved over so she could sit at the window, (after takeoff she fell asleep and we didn't hear a peep out of her the whole flight). I did feel sorry for someone because the lady had a lap child and we could hear the child wailing for a lot of the flight luckly for us she was way in the back of the plane)

 

They probably had assigned seats but not together. I select my plane seats and would not give them up for anyone. I have been asked but I never give them up.

 

DON

[alexspepa]

They probably had assigned seats but not together. I select my plane seats and would not give them up for anyone. I have been asked but I never give them up.

 

DON

 

reminds me of a story I heard from a flight attendent who was on an international flight...she stopped beside a passenger and started to ask him something - he interrupted her to say he had booked his seat months ago and no he was not going to give it up for anyone. She started to say something else and he basically said "go peddle your wares somewhere else". So she leaned over him to the guy in the middle seat and said " Sir - the passenger beside you has just declined an upgrade to first class - would you like it?"

[cadien]

They probably had assigned seats but not together. I select my plane seats and would not give them up for anyone. I have been asked but I never give them up.

 

DON

 

Or their actual flight was canceled, the connecting flight was too late, etc.

 

His presentation needed work, however.

Edited November 12, 2014 by cadien

[slidergirl]

They probably had assigned seats but not together. I select my plane seats and would not give them up for anyone. I have been asked but I never give them up.

 

DON

 

I can't resist: Sounds like a typical family from Utah, heading to Disneyland for UEA weekend (teachers conference - Fridays off school), using SouthWest as their airline because it was $1 less per ticket than Delta ;)

 

I've been on a few of those flights, but on Delta. Families just assume that the FA will coerce people to give up their seats so Mom, Dad, and the 5 kids (plus the lap baby) can sit together. Not happening with me, either.

[Donray]

Unless they start assigning seats, there are no saved seats.

[dsrdsrdsr]

I've been on a few of those flights, but on Delta. Families just assume that the FA will coerce people to give up their seats so Mom, Dad, and the 5 kids (plus the lap baby) can sit together. Not happening with me, either.

 

I'd give up the seat. You may like being sat next to an unattended six-year-old, but I'd far rather let the child sit with its mother while I'm somewhere else.

 

I once had this situation in a different way - a group of moderately noisy boxing fans, all male, all mildly drunk, came onto a Chicago-Manchester flight having made a late connection from Las Vegas. Many of them were sat around me. One of them asked, in a drunken polite way, whether I would be willing to swap with one of their party stuck on the other side of the plane who was a nervous flier and wanted to be with their party. Did I stick to my seat, which I had chosen, so I could be in the middle of the boxing fans? No, dear reader, I did not. I swapped with the lone boxing fan, to a seat the other side of the plane away from their good-natured, merry, and noisy prattle, where I couldn't hear them. And incidentally earned great and undeserved kudos for being a good, obliging bloke.

[CraftyEC]

The principle of making sure you have arrived in plenty of time to secure a coach seat of you liking sounds fine. BUT ... this doesn't work on many tours where there are multiple coaches. For example, if there are to be one hundred and fifty people on three coaches (just using round numbers) then if you are in the first fifty to turn up (so, early) you may be lucky and get your seats of choice, but if you are numbers 44 and 45 (so, with 105 folks behind you) you will probably be getting onto a virtually full coach with no choice of seats. I've yet to determine how I can be certain to be number 1-25, 51-75 or 101-125 in such a queue!

 

It's my general experience that on a multi-stop tour people stick to the same seats, and often leave something on seats when they get off, just as much to identify the seats when getting back on as in the assumption that someone will try to take 'their' place. If it's an excursion to one site, with a long stop of several hours then the seating my be rearranged for the return journey.

 

It can be a difficult balance between pandering to Mr & Mrs Entitled, and helping to solve a problem for families who have, through no fault of their own, been separated. We've booked seats on flights and then the flight has been cancelled / rearranged leaving us with pretty dire seating. It's been irritating for us, but not as much as a problem as if we had young children or a disabled passenger with us.

 

Overall I agree that common sense and good manners should prevail, and usually does. Sadly, though, it doesn't always :(

Edited November 13, 2014 by CraftyEC