Best CF airplane stories

[BreadInCaptivity]

Inspired by another thread.

About 5 years ago we were flying back from the USA. We'd booked Premium Economy seats on Virgin. Configuration is 2-3-2.

Our two late teens were in front of us and we had the 2 seats directly behind. All settled in when a family of 4 embarked with 2 young children (around 5 and 7 at a guess).

They proceed to the 2 seats behind DH and I and start putting their bags down when the mother asked (politely to be fair) if we would mid swapping seats so they could sit together as a family.

Given our two were older (and once headphones were on were not going to be engaging with us) we decided to be nice and said ok.

Can you guess where this is going?

Asked where the other seats were, looking around the PE cabin a bit baffled as it appeared to be full....

Yep - they'd only booked 2 seats in PE and wanted us to take their 2 seats in economy 😂.

Clearly we said, no (with rather incredulous expressions on our face's) and sat back down. Parent then both start calling us selfish (oh the irony) and demanding we move. DH made the point that if sitting together was so important, then booking in the same cabin might be a good idea for the future, but as stands he was sure if they went down to economy the people in the seats next to those they'd booked would be very happy with a free upgrade 😀.

The response from the Father "I'm not giving up a better seat I've paid for"....to which DH deadpanned "I couldn't agree with you more"...at which point DH and I couldn't stop laughing enough to respond further.

Cabin crew eventually had to get involved as the parents had an argument over who was going to sit where. Mother won and spent the first 20 mins of the flight making loud passive aggressive comments to her child about "mean/selfish" people until crew got involved again and told her to pack it in or they'd be moved to economy if they didn't stop harassing us.

Thankfully the rest of the flight was uneventful but DH and I still chuckle about it now and again 😃.

Anyone got any others?

I would have woken her up, cheeky cow!

“mushpush · Yesterday 18:31
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On a lot of short haul European flights when you book business class, the plane isn't configured with lie flat business class beds like long haul flights, business class is the same 3-3 formation as economy, but the middle seat isn't sold - it's essentially your extra space that you don't get in economy. We recently flew business UK to Germany - 3-3 configuration. The centre business seat has a little "your space" sign on, they're not actual seats for sale, they're blocked out for extra room. So we booked two business seats but are allocated 1a and 1c, 1b isn't a true "seat" for someone to book or pay for, it's left totally empty for the space it affords without companies needing to actually configure traditional business seating on short haul flights.

If this was the situation then she's totally got a point - they've paid a premium for the extra space, for someone to be put in that seat due to overcrowding or not - she should get a refund at the least.”

Exactly this. That woman wasn’t a CF at all. She was completely right. I’ve done a few flights like that and having the middle space free makes a real difference to comfort.

It makes me smile when people do this. Same as a Mexican wave in a stadium. Just silly fun.

Ryanair, priority gives you carry on suitcase and under seat. I want to be on fast to get my case above my seat and get off quick the other end on a regular journey I do.

I’m assuming The Middle East and India, possibly China, in my experience as someone who used to live in one of those regions and has travelled to all of them.

It used to be mind-boggling to see what people thought was acceptable to bring on the plain, and how much.

BACK to the empty middle seat on "Biz Class short haul.

Who gets to use the empty seat if both aisle and window are booked, let's say by strangers to each other. (I understand the cost of the free seat is factored in to the fare as explained). Do they share it?

To be fair in those times, we would be travelling as a family. My dad, my mum and me. Only my dad was smoking.
So yes he would have been sitting in the non smoking area and then getting up to go to the smoking area.

(we also had done flights with all 3 of us in the smoking area 😳😳)

Because we were living overseas then, we were also talking about 2x 12 hours flights…..

I was waiting for ‘reader, I married him’.

@2024christmas Would you really do that because someone wouldn’t swap their booked seat with you???
Wow.

CFs who race to board the plane, stow their cabin bags in the first available overhead locker take their allocated seat much further down the plane. On landing, as soon as the seat belt signs go off they're straight to the front, pick the bag up and are queueing to be first off. Works for them, makes it a nightmare for everyone else who now have their bags rows and rows behind them.

Not CF, just surprising. We were on a flight from Mumbai to Dabolim, Goa, a few years ago. There was a wonderful smell of curry wafting down the aisle. I wasn't expecting any food as this was a short flight. Then I turned round and saw that the woman behind me had a large bowl of rice and another of curry at her feet and her hands wrist deep in it mixing it for her family. It did smell good, just disappointed I wasn't getting any!

They certainly do. I know someone through work who had the police called.. he was arrested as easyJet told him he could not take his large bag on 😂 he told them he was allowed it on an earlier easyJet flight. He obviously caused delay due to his behaviour. What an ass 😂

On the other hand, we were flying to Budapest last year and the plane was full of stag dos. They were ok, just a bit rowdy. Anyway, we got on and the rowdy, semi drunk group were right behind us and I sort of mentally braced myself for an interesting flight.
Just as we were about to leave a young family with two small, big eyed cute children got on. All their seats were all over the place. The air steward said “we have a family here and I’d be grateful if anyone would allow them to sit together” and four of these young men immediately went “yep, we’ll move, no worries” and all their mates went “waaaaayyyy” and general merriment was had all around. It was nice.

Agree!

A meal came round and me and DH ended up having to open packets and the like for them. Thankfully they went to sleep too eventually.
It's because of people who help their children that 'parents' like this get away with it, I would have asked the cabin crew to wake one of them to deal with their children.

Not CFery but stupidity (or maybe language barrier, no flying experience)
Flight to KL (I think). Coming in for landing, crew seated and strapped in.
5 mins to landing, woman gets up to use the loo - steward says loudly " toilet is closed, get back to your seat". Woman returns to seat.
4 mins to landing, man gets up to use the loo. Steward "GET BACK IN YOUR SEAT"

I was on Emirates Dubai to Delhi. Middle seats x 3. Sat in my middle seat next to an old Indian lady. She proceeds to use multiple blankets and pillows so she can sleep against them-- using me as the wall to lean against! I was afraid to move or go to the loo lest I disturb the foundations of her snuggly structure!

Another story, not CF but really funny. Flying London to Delhi. 3 seats, me, my husband and a woman in her twenties who got moved there after having some issue with her original seat. She was quite arsy and entitled with the crew.
In front is the cutest little girl, around 2 years. She kept peering through the chairs and smiling at us. Then suddenly, up she pops again and blerggggg, vomits through the chair gap all over us. The parents were mortified but I thought it was hilarious. However the entitled woman was furious, kept going 'oh oh oh' and made the crew move her again. Every time the kid popped up I was thinking 'take coverrrrr'!

There surely should be FAR more restrictions regarding seat reclining! If someone refuses, why can’t it be politely (in the first instance) explained that should they carry on refusing, they may be declined a flight with that airline in the future?

It’s absolutely shocking that someone sitting behind CF recliners, should endure long haul flights, not being able to eat etc comfortably! How the fuck to these people manage on train journeys etc where they can’t recline! Beggars belief!

NZ to London. Had economy seats booked for self, 2 kids 6 & 3. Seats 2 aisle & one middle.
Arrived at airport early, plenty of time from a NZ domestic flight. Airline told me wait at desk for “extra help buggy to Intl terminal”
It never arrived and had to run w 2 small kids and big suitcases on trolley across terminals & roads. Literally last to check in now.
100% airline fault, had planned to walk calmly hour+ earlier.
Our seats now taken by group of grumpy elderly Americans with “bad legs” who airline had given my 2 aisle seats.

Old folks having a go at me & I said, it’s the airline … yell at them. Or sit next to my kids. 100% airline giving my seats away.
They needed aisle seat for their legs! The old folks went mental when airline gave me back my seats. The old folks wanted all 4 aisles seats in a row. the one seated now behind pushing my seat to upright the whole 12 hrs, literally threw kids meals on floor when it arrived & mistakenly given to them as tho it was toxic waste. Whole flight, pushing my chair and insisting to staff they get an upgrade.

They only gave them “upgrade” after all meals served so they literally got nothing but a good seat for a few hours.
They were embarrassing old c*nts.

I’d never swap an upstairs economy for a downstairs economy. The upstairs ones are so nice!

Oh gosh I know exactly which airport this is and it brings back many a nightmare!! The walk between domestic and international terminal is BRUTAL with small children and juggling luggage. Those CFs sound absolutely insane though, throwing children’s meals on the floor?! Bloody rude and entitled much?

I fly weekly for work, and have my fair share of stories - although I tend to fly on commuter routes (LCY or LHR to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Dublin, NYC, DC) and mostly at commuter times, like early morning out and late afternoon back. Also mostly in business now that I have status or points, so probably less hassle than some other routes!

My issue is that I am a solo, female, youngish (early 30s) traveller and so I tend to get targeted for ridiculous seat swap requests. Because I prefer an aisle, both in economy and business (obviously less of an issue for longer flights), I pay for it myself if it's an airline where I don't have status.

I will swap seats if it's EQUIVALENT (aisle and no further back) or better than my current seat, no problem. But of course that is never what is offered. I am so incredibly over getting targeted by families and couples for swaps that are to their benefit but not to mine.

At the extreme end of this, last week I was flying LHR-FRA in BA Club (so blocked middle seat). I was in 2A, guy in 2C. 2C proceeds to plead with me to swap seats with his wife. I ask to see the boarding pass for the seat I'm swapping to (yeah, I've played this game before) and he gets all shirty. Turns out the wife is back in economy. I politely suggest that he may want to upgrade the person next to his wife back in economy if he wants to sit next to his wife so badly. He declines and gives me dirty looks for the rest of the short flight (which I found hilarious).

Flying to Bodrum in Turkey, I'm sat next to a woman and her young daughter (6 ish ??) we have taken off and the woman rushes to the front of the cabin and returns with another young girl, plants her in the seat next to me and asks "you don't mind keeping an eye on these two while I sit with my friend". She did not actually wait for a response from me as she zipped back to the front of the plane and I am left with these two young slightly bemused girls staring at me. I actually had a tablet with me with a load of kids films on it so hooked them up with the headphones and let them watch Frozen while I read my book. In fairness they were very sweet kids but I could not believe how the parents had just dumped them with a stranger on a plane. The lovely cabin crew actually made me a large gin and tonic to go with my book. Predictably the two mums at the front were sloshed by the time we landed and I did not even get a thankyou. Poor kids.

Not specifically because somebody didn't want to swap that is their decision and fair enough I would respect that and crack on ... I got an impression the poster had been very rude with her attitude in the decline of what I would say is quite a sensible suggestion.

Taking what the other poster said about the fact they wasn't rude I wouldn't have done that.

Tbh though how my bladder is up in the air it would be most hours unfortunately anyway.

A few years ago on a little rattletrap TUI package holiday plane back home from Cape Verde. A couple with a small baby came on board with the baby and its car seat. The cynic in me suggests that they were angling for a free seat rather than holding the baby on their laps. Car seat was too big to fit in the overhead lockers. There was no other space for it anywhere and it could no longer go in the hold. They were asked why they hadn’t checked the car seat in as hold luggage in the first place and they didn’t really seem to have an answer. They then appeared to just assume that there would be a spare passenger seat on the plane and they could plonk the baby in its car seat into the plane seat. They even told the cabin crew cheerfully that the car seat was approved for plane seats!! The flight was rammed and we sat on the tarmac for nearly an hour while there was a loud discussion between them and the cabin crew about what to do. The flight was completely full. Eventually a saint of a passenger offered to get off the plane and take a later flight so there would be a spare seat for the baby’s car seat. The couple then blathered they couldn’t take that seat because it was nowhere near where either of them were sitting. Two other saintly passengers then moved seats so the couple could sit together with the baby in the car seat. Karma was unleashed when the cabin crew told the couple very firmly that yes they would be paying for the extra seat and very carefully wrote down all of their details to ensure they were charged for it!