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Original poster

Plane seat drama

387 replies

itstoohotnow · 02/08/2024 12:29

Just returned from a European break, booked 4 plane tickets for DH and 2 DS (19 &16) and I, eldest DS decided too old to go away with mum and dad so stayed at home. I contacted the airline as cheap non refundable ticket but said I can use it as a spare seat between DH and I so all good.

On return flight, only 2 hours long and we have seats A (me) B (spare) C (DH) and D (DS) then a couple with a baby in E & F

Couple with baby realised we were together and pretty much demanded DS moved to seat B - I politely pointed out it wasn't a random spare seat but a booked and paid for one, now I have 2 kids so appreciate it's hard to travel with a little one and would have offered the seat but they were so bloody rude and entitled. I pointed out we had paid for 4 seats and they had only paid for 2 - so asked for a contribution towards cost £30 (by this point they are just demanding the seat because they have a child)

They got pretty rude and offensive (called me a fat b**ch) so I said no, stewardess said was up to me

Should I have given them the seat?

OP posts:
Original poster
itstoohotnow · 02/08/2024 13:39

JabbaTheBeachHut · 02/08/2024 12:54

They called you a fat bitch and you're wondering if you should've given them the seat you paid for?

In fairness it's quite accurate Smile

OP posts:
CloudywMeatballs · 02/08/2024 13:38

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 02/08/2024 13:33

We do the same - dh likes the window, I much prefer the aisle. Anyone coming to sit in the centre seat usually seems to assume (hope?) I’ll want to move up, to be next to dh, so I have to put them straight.

Show quote history

I don't know that anyone who has sat in the middle seat between us has ever known that we are even together! Once there's someone sitting between us we keep to ourselves.

Kisskiss · 02/08/2024 13:38

They should be ashamed of themselves. Rude d!ckheadz

PiggieWig · 02/08/2024 13:37

I might have considered it but I wouldn’t be giving anything to someone who called me a fat bitch, so that’s the end of that.

Elphame · 02/08/2024 13:36

Of course not.

It they want it they can pay you for it!

GCAcademic · 02/08/2024 13:36

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 02/08/2024 13:33

We do the same - dh likes the window, I much prefer the aisle. Anyone coming to sit in the centre seat usually seems to assume (hope?) I’ll want to move up, to be next to dh, so I have to put them straight.

Show quote history

Fair enough, but I hope you don’t spend the whole flight talking to each other across the poor person in the middle. I’ve seen people do this, and it’s really bloody rude.

Getonwitit · 02/08/2024 13:35

Not a chance.

Bunnycat101 · 02/08/2024 13:34

Given you paid for it, I don’t see why you should have given it up but I also don’t know if you can guarantee a no show seat.

i was on holiday last summer and the lady in front of me was in a 3 with her child but her husband didn’t travel. Another family of 3 was refusing to sit in their seats which were apart (hadn’t paid to be together) and it was all kicking off as air steward was trying to juggle people around and wanted to move the 2 in the row elsewhere so the other family could sit as a 3. First women said she’d paid for it and it was hers. Steward saying her husband was a no-show so it was for the airline to reallocate. We were an hour late taking off as we missed our slot and lots of angry pissed off people.

notimagain · 02/08/2024 13:33

There’s a bit of a difference here from the usual argument we get where people just want to avoid paying to choose a seat and then argue for a swop when they get onboard.

It’s one thing to ask people to move from a seat they have paid maybe £30 to choose…..a one for one swop….

It’s a slightly different matter asking them to completely give up a seat they have paid a full fare for…..

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 02/08/2024 13:33

CloudywMeatballs · 02/08/2024 13:09

They achieved a much higher level of comfort.
When my husband and I fly together we always book the window seat and aisle seat. Most of the time there is someone in the middle seat, but occasionally we get lucky and have the seat free.. We can stretch out more, put stuff on the seat, use the middle seat's tray table, etc. It does make a difference.

Show quote history

We do the same - dh likes the window, I much prefer the aisle. Anyone coming to sit in the centre seat usually seems to assume (hope?) I’ll want to move up, to be next to dh, so I have to put them straight.

GingerPirate · 02/08/2024 13:33

No fucking way.
Sorry for being rude.

yeesh · 02/08/2024 13:32

No chance

Whammyammy · 02/08/2024 13:32

No. You were right not to give it to the entitled twats

Puzzledandpissedoff · 02/08/2024 13:31

Why is it cheeky to ask for reimbursement?

It isn't, but the point is OP wouldn't have needed to if the other family had done the decent thing and offered

They never do though, and since this kind of entitlement is rude in itself that's hardly a surprise

TonTonMacoute · 02/08/2024 13:30

No way, well done you for standing up to rude, entitled people.

How hard is it to ask politely FFS?

Ilovelifeverymuch · 02/08/2024 13:30

GCAcademic · 02/08/2024 12:30

No way. Not when they spoke to you like that.

Exactly. If they asked nicely I may have given up the seat because I know it's hard travelling with a baby but that does not give them the right to be rude and act entitled.

Growlybear83 · 02/08/2024 13:29

I absolutely wouldn't have given them the seat under the circumstances. If they hadn't have asked in the first place, and they were polite and pleasant to my son, then I would probably have offered it to them, but not if they asked.

HawkersEast · 02/08/2024 13:28

AnnieMcFanny · 02/08/2024 13:09

I wasn’t aware you could claim the seat if one of the passengers decided not to fly. It would surely be a ‘no show’ and the seat would then go back into the system to be allocated to another passenger.

Edited

This is my understanding and experience. I think OP was fortunate to be able to 'keep' the seat.

PrincessHoneysuckle · 02/08/2024 13:28

Asking for money is weird

skyeisthelimit · 02/08/2024 13:25

YANBU. You paid for it, they chose not to.

Oldfatandfrumpy · 02/08/2024 13:24

JMSA · 02/08/2024 12:34

Asking for money for the seat is really embarrassing.
But there's no way they should have been so rude:

But sometimes it's the only way to get stupid people to realise that they can't just demand things (that someone else has paid for) for free

It's like the people that try and get people to move around for them so they can sit together. They never offer the better seats to the people they are asking, they ALWAYS want to inconvenience others AND end up in the best seats, even when other people have paid for those seats

2sisters · 02/08/2024 13:24

Absolutely not. CF. You paid for the seat. Once they start throwing round insults they can fuck off.

whynotwhatknot · 02/08/2024 13:24

not with that attitude no

samarrange · 02/08/2024 13:23

I don't blame the other couple for asking (the first time, nicely). I fly low-cost a lot and there are plenty of people who sit in their allocated seats without questioning it, and might not even have known that it was allowed for DS to move from D to B. So they might even have thought they were doing OP a favour too. (Of course, once "no" was said the couple should have sucked it up.)

Aprilmaymum · 02/08/2024 13:21

no you did right.
similar happened to me on a holiday. I booked an extra seat for my DS who was only 10 months. He didn’t need a seat but I wanted the room so he could seat and play without being on my knee all the time. Lady on the end aisle asked me or told me to put my baby on my knee and move along as my elbow was knocking her. It want she was very very large. I told her no and I had paid for the seat. She said that isn’t right babies seat on knees. I said yes for take off and landing but I had a seat to give my baby room. She wasn’t happy.