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I have to go from London to Liverpool, six hours journey, and I'm thinking of buying 2 tickets for me and 2 tickets for my girlfriend. The seats of the bus don't recline, so my idea is to buy 2 tickets and occupy two seats each, this way I could make myself more comfortable in a long journey.

  • Does buying two tickets give me the right to two seats?

Bonus question:

  • Is there much added comfort due to occupying two seats instead of one, or are there armrests/etc. preventing me from making effective use of the added space?
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    What is the cost difference between 2 seats and rail ticket coming out to be ?
    – DumbCoder
    Sep 9, 2016 at 10:41
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    The answer to this would be completely subjective, there is no right answer. If it's worth it is totally based on your own opinion.
    – Summer
    Sep 9, 2016 at 11:14
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    I am not sure if having two tickets gives you the right to two seats and IMHO this is the true core of this question, everything else is opinions and that is off-topic here. I am taking the freedom to edit your question as such to avoid it being closed. You can always revert my edits if you disagree.
    – mts
    Sep 9, 2016 at 12:20
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    of course there's a "right answer", OP is asking if two tickets actually gives you the right to two seats.
    – Fattie
    Sep 9, 2016 at 12:50
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    @JoeBlow In the first version of his question he wasn't asking this at all.
    – Summer
    Sep 9, 2016 at 13:17

3 Answers 3

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I see a few aspects to this question:

Does an extra seat add comfort?

Obviously extra comfort is subjective. Megabus seats generally have really little legroom. Having two adjacent seats can allow you more leg room and general personal space.

I've travelled on lots of buses in the UK. I've always encountered buses with either no middle arm rests or moveable arm rests that raise up. Whether the arm rests will be flush with the seat back in the raised position or whether they'll still stick out a little bit depends on the bus.

An additional feature on most new buses in Europe is that the aisle seats can be moved a few inches into the isle, away from your neighbour in the window seat. This helps provide more personal space if you just have one seat, but it's not clear to me whether this is common on Megabus' UK buses.

What's Megabus' policy on booking multiple seats for one person?

I made an enquiry to Megabus, the response indicates they don't support customers booking two seats:

Unfortunately its not as the seats are not numbered so passengers choose there own seats when boarding so you could not stop anyone from sitting on the seat next to you.

Please accept my apologies on behalf of megabus.com for the inconvenience caused.

Across the pond, Megabus actually suggests booking multiple tickets for those passengers who need additional luggage allowance.

Will you be comfortable asserting your claim to your extra seat?

I've been in the situation before where I had two tickets (I got the extra one due to baggage rules) and I was looking forward to having extra space. I felt that I was entitled to two seats since I'd paid for them. But the bus was overbooked, so it felt rude not to let someone else use my extra seat, so I did. This type of situation can come up. In general it's worth considering whether, for instance, you'd feel comfortable asking fellow travellers to move so that you can have your extra space, given that if you don't board at the original station of the route there may not be two adjacent seats left.

Personally I'd rather have less space than come across as a jerk, but I'll sure be hoping the bus isn't full and I get two seats.

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I want to do this myself on a 10h journey. just called Megabus to ask if I can buy two seats and use them myself and they said yes. Score.

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Yes, you can buy two tickets and then you will have the right to occupy two seats.

And very probably no, there will not be a fixed armrest separating two seats. I am not familiar with the Megabus coach running from London to Liverpool, but I have travelled by coach on many British routes and have never encountered such an armrest.

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    Do you have any evidence to back up your claim that buying two tickets gives one the right to two seats? This is not, for example, the case on British trains.
    – David Richerby
    Sep 9, 2016 at 23:49
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    Sadly - this answer is wrong, based on Carl's phonecall :O
    – Fattie
    Oct 31, 2016 at 17:43

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