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AIBU?

Premier economy mix up...

261 replies

JulieHaydon · 03/06/2014 13:01

My partner and I work very hard and we decided to treat ourselves to a holiday with seats in premier economy as we were flying long distance and my partner is tall.

Fine going out and we had a wonderful holiday.

Then coming back we were all sat down on the plane waiting to take off when parents got on with their young child. Again fine, if they've got the money to do that then good luck to them. A flight is public transport after all.

The problem was they boarded late and there was only two seats left. What the mix up was I don't know but as the child was four the flight crew would not allow him to be on one of his parents laps.

So they had the awful task of trying to get one or two people to swop down into economy to let them travel together in Premier - and no one would. We refused outright as did the other passengers. If it had been up to first class we and others would have gone like a shot but this was never on offer. Perhaps it was full.

It was the parents' attitude that amazed us. You'd think with a child they would have booked in early but they didn't they came late, and expected others to move to accommodate them. The woman was very large and said she needed a wide seat which was obviously true.

But as another passenger said "Why can't two people from economy be upgraded so that they can all sit together in cattle class? They were late after all so why should someone move when we've all paid so much more?" However they went on to refer to the mother as a "Fat lump with no manners, if you need a wide seat with your family then be on time boarding" which I don't respect - there's no need to be rude.

We were delayed for an hour because of them. I think they had to go down to economy to sit together as they wanted because two new people suddenly appeared and took their seats.

And I don't think this was unreasonable do you?

OP posts:
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BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 03/06/2014 13:02

No, YANBU - you decided to treat yourself to the expensive seats, why on earth would you then move to economy class because someone has been stupid enough to not sort their bookings.

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grocklebox · 03/06/2014 13:04

It was their own fault for being late, especially when they had extra requirements.
I wouldn't have moved from premium not that I've ever been in it for them, no way.

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NeedsAsockamnesty · 03/06/2014 13:08

I wouldn't have moved either.

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SavoyCabbage · 03/06/2014 13:12

I wouldn't have moved. I don't believe the whole flight was delayed because of it.

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BubbleButt79 · 03/06/2014 13:12

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BeckAndCall · 03/06/2014 13:13

This doesn't make any sense. Either they all had premium economy seats or they didn't - you can't get on a plane unless you have a boarding card with allocated seats. So presumably bet weeny he three of them they had two premium seats and one economy - so why didn't the dad just sit in their allocated economy seat??

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BubbleButt79 · 03/06/2014 13:14

*seat, not set!

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AChickenNamedDirk · 03/06/2014 13:14

I wouldn't have moved for anything.

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ShanghaiDiva · 03/06/2014 13:15

Don't really understand how the mix up got that far. Surely the 4 year old had a boarding card and an allocated seat as only an infant (2 years and under) can travel on an adult's lap. Boarding the plane late does not affect allocated seating ime.
Anyway, YANBU - I would not have moved either and agree with you there was no need for anyone to be rude about the passenger's weight.

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ProudAS · 03/06/2014 13:16

If more people had been booked into premier than could be accommodated then the airline stuffed up. I realise that they overbook sometimes but it should have been sorted at check in.

Do you know whether they had booked three seats (or any for that matter) in premier or whether they just turned up and expected people to move.

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forago · 03/06/2014 13:16

no one with a 4 year old would think that they could sit on the parents lap surely as the age limit is 2. They wouldn't have got on the plane without a seat booked for the 4y old. So something else must have been going on I think - the airline must have overbooked the plane (they often do this due to no shows)

Whatever, I think you were perfectly within your rights not to move, but I don't really understand why they were tryimg to move you out of premier economy for economy passengers.

I think the fact that they were a) parents and b) fat is irrelevant. The last people that delayed me on a flight were a couple with no kids and the woman wanted an aisle seat which she hadn't booked because she was scared of flying.

Oh and having children doesn't give you some special way of avoiding traffic jams, accidents, delayed trains, long queues etc so not being there earlier may not have been their fault. Or they could just be idiots, like many people are.

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whois · 03/06/2014 13:17

So the family booked seats in premium economy, when they boarded there weren't enough seats for them?

Doesn't matter that they were the last in prem economy to board because the same problem (too many prem economy tickets to seats) would have still existed and someone else would have been last and they would have had no seat in prem economy.

Overall very unfortunate but I don't see how this is the families fault.

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BadLad · 03/06/2014 13:17

Then coming back we were all sat down on the plane waiting to take off when parents got on with their young child. Again fine, if they've got the money to do that then good luck to them. A flight is public transport after all.

What on earth does this mean?

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TheTerribleBaroness · 03/06/2014 13:18

I agree that this cannot be correct. Either the child had a seat booked or he/she didn't.

Which airline was this, and where to and from, OP?

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forago · 03/06/2014 13:18

some parents can even afford business class - shock! horror!

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Vintagejazz · 03/06/2014 13:19

YANBU. It drives me mad when a family board late and then expect everyone to move around to accommodate them.

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sparechange · 03/06/2014 13:21

I don't understand this?

None of the budget 'first come, first served' airlines have premium economy. So whether they were the first or last on the plane, they would still be going to the seat printed on their boarding passes.
If the child wasn't allowed to sit on their lap, it would be because they were in an emergency exit seat. Which you have to pay a premium for, but aren't 'premium economy' tickets.

So either the airline messed up in allowing a child that was too old to sit on their parents lap onto the plane without a ticket (but they would have kicked them all off) or someone could have swapped their 'normal' seat with an exit row seat

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forago · 03/06/2014 13:21

an airline would never let a 4y old on the plane without a boarding pass i.e a seat

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ShanghaiDiva · 03/06/2014 13:24

Forago is correct - so how did 3 passengers get to the plane with only 2 boarding cards?
Or was the issue that seats had been allocated in different parts of the plane?

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Vintagejazz · 03/06/2014 13:28

Actually now that I've read the other posts I've realised none of this makes sense. As posters have said, you have to be booked into premium economy so it doesn't matter how late the couple were, their seats should have been waiting for them.

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ProudAS · 03/06/2014 13:31

I reckon they'd got two seats in premium economy and wanted to kick someone out to make room for them all.

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ToffeeMoon · 03/06/2014 13:35

"My partner and I work very hard and we decided to treat ourselves to a holiday with seats in premier economy as we were flying long distance and my partner is tall.

Fine going out and we had a wonderful holiday.

Then coming back we were all sat down on the plane waiting to take off when parents got on with their young child. Again fine, if they've got the money to do that then good luck to them. A flight is public transport after all."


I don't see the relevance of any of this to your thread. Did you look around your cabin congratulating everyone for being able to afford such special seats? Or did they stand out because you were a bit peeved that a horrible child might spoil your luxury flight?

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SpottieDottie · 03/06/2014 13:38

YANBU. Sorry to hijack your thread but it reminded of this:

I was on a flight recently and had the misfortune to be sitting next to a very large man, to the extent that he had to have an extension seat belt and that was extended to the full limits of it's length. He was travelling with his wife, adult daughter and two grandchildren and they had three seats in a row and then two individual seats. AIBU to think that he should have sat in the row of three with his family rather than sitting next to a stranger? I had his elbow over my knee for the entire flight and he insisted on putting the arm rest up so he could fit in the seat. I told him that I wanted the arm rest down and suggested he put the aisle side one up.

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ProudAS · 03/06/2014 13:40

My partner and I work very hard and we decided to treat ourselves to a holiday with seats in premier economy as we were flying long distance and my partner is tall.

Fine going out and we had a wonderful holiday.

Then coming back we were all sat down on the plane waiting to take off when parents got on with their young child. Again fine, if they've got the money to do that then good luck to them. A flight is public transport after all.

I don't see the relevance of any of this to your thread. Did you look around your cabin congratulating everyone for being able to afford such special seats? Or did they stand out because you were a bit peeved that a horrible child might spoil your luxury flight?

Perhaps the OP doesn't see why she should move into economy to accommodate a family with at least one member who hadn't paid for premium. If so then I agree with her.

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ProudAS · 03/06/2014 13:43

YANBU Spottie

I assume the grandchildren were small so wouldn't have needed as much room as a random adult traveller and might have enjoyed cuddling up to their grandad.

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