Recently, traveling solo, and as I settled into my window seat, got comfy and the airplane doors finally closed, I realised that on this 90% full flight the two seats next to me remained unoccupied. Yippee! This is a rare win and as it was a 6 hour overnight flight where sleep was expected, very welcome that I’d be able to stretch out. Also no one to wake and clamber over if I needed the bathroom. That is until nearly an hour into the flight a bloke from one of the middle seats got up and without a by your leave, plonked his arse into one of the seats next to me and remained there for the rest of the journey, watching a film!
Exact same thing happened on the flight home, except this time the flight was only 60% full and during daytime, so not quite so galling. This time, a little old lady, without any acknowledgement or word to me sat herself down in one of the empty seats next to me and stayed there for the duration.
Who is being unreasonable here? Are unoccupied seats fair game for anyone wanting to upgrade from their assigned one or am I the one with a sense of entitlement thinking I have some sort of ownership of empty seats next to me and should be left to enjoy the rare luck I thought I had been handed?