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?

On the topic of overselling seats: I was on an internal flight in the USA last month, with my DS. We bought our tickets with airmiles but from memory, when booking, each return flight would have cost us about $400 + fees and taxes around 6 weeks before departure. We were sitting at the departure gate on our return leg when gate staff came onto the tannoy offering $400 per person for anyone willing to take a later flight (there was one more that day), and they needed 4 volunteers. No takers. 8-10 mins later they offered $600 per person. No takers. 5 mins later, they offered $1,200 per person! Only two takers. Not sure what they did with the two remaining oversold seats, maybe they had no shows. But it did make me wonder. We absolutely had to get back for that evening for various reasons. But out of almost 200 passengers, only two were willing to change their plans for a few hours for a massive $1,200! I was very surprised. If I hadn’t had those plans (to do with a long-awaited hospital appointment) I would have jumped at $2,400, even in Delta credit. Incredible only two other people could and would.

Why is that CFery? Maybe she was just being thoughtful? If the person next to me was clearly trying to sleep, I would offer to swap so I don’t have to wake them if I need to get past.

Oh, I have just remembered one. When checking in at the airport in a beach resort in Thailand, two men who were checking in the next counter to us asked for a free upgrade on the next lap (Bangkok to Heathrow) and were turned down. They then called the check in assistant a bitch. They then said could they have the two seats at the back of the plane where there are 3 seats in front so I seat has extra leg room. They were told these seats were already taken. They asked how they could possibly already been taken.When we got on the plane we had a nice surprise that we had these seats and access on the other side of the plane another couple who had also been checking in at the same time had them too.

@Allwatchedoverbytrees why the hell are you quoting the very long OP. We all know what you are replying to, you really don't need to quote the whole thing literally 3 posts down..

Years ago, when I boarded a transatlantic plane with my two young children, there was a mix up with seats and we were seated all 3 apart. As I settled the kids into their separate seats, I loudly informed them of where the sick bag was, and to use it as and when necessary. Cue a rush to swap with us so all 3 of us were together. Result!

If I ran an airline that's how I'd have spun it.
Click for discounts, not for add-ons.

Airline A advertises in bold flights on a route for say, £200, meal, seat choice checked bag included with a note saying you can reduce that by as much as £80 from that headline amount by clicking for discounts,

OTOH

Airline B advertises flights on the same route, in bold for say, £120, with a note saying you can add meal, seat choice, checked bag for £80 by clicking for add ons…

Human nature being what it is B will get more takers…the market researchers who advise airlines will tell you most people find the upfront “sticker” price very very compelling.

On a 14 hour flight with DH, DD and DS. DS was not yet 2 so he was in my arms (he wasn't a baby though!). I had the aisle seat. Lights turned off and we all tried to get some sleep. I was awoken by the woman across the aisle from me putting her feet on my arm rest!! She had plenty of space as there was an empty middle seat on her row. It shocked me so much that I pushed them roughly off...she didn't try that again.

The system of giving everyone a seat when they book would not really work. The seats left would be the worse ones and they wouldn’t get many late bookings.

Exactly. And if you are flying alone or don’t care where you sit you get it at the advertised price.

Nothing is ever marketed as ‘prices up to £x’ but always as ‘prices from £x’.

It used to be like that though.

We'd paid quite a sum to upgrade to premium club seats on a Tui Dreamliner for a 10 hour flight. Seats are in 2's. I was sat with DH and 15 year old DS was sitting in front of us. Due to trying to accommodate passengers who hadn't booked any seats a stewardess asked DS to move from his premium club seat to the back of the plane to accommodate a family who'd not booked seats together. Needless to say I quickly intervened.

@Kinsters Imhave had that happen to me on a few occasions. I always move them.

BA flight, partner and I hadn’t reserved a seat as weren’t that bothered. When we got on I had a bulkhead aisle seat and there were quite a lot of free seats around.

Woman next to me was part of a party of 5 who also hadn’t booked seats. They’d been spread around the cabin, one 16 year old son next to my partner.

Partner and I offered to swap seats but the 16 year old son didn’t want to! (Mother rolled her eyes). Had a lovely trip, mother was traveling home to where we were visiting and gave me some excellent tips.

But the whole thing did make me feel that BA were CF. They clearly deliberately split up both our parties, presumably to encourage people to pay the fee for something that costs them nothing.

Yes but times have changed and airlines can’t afford their planes taking off half full.

Flight back from Barbados to London.
We had paid for extra leg room seats. We were sat in the middle 3 of a 2-3-2.
On my left, the aisle seat was empty and the window seat was taken by a man minding his own business, who had placed his book, glasses and food on the empty seat.
A man walked out of the toilet, threw the items on the floor and sat down. Stated he'd decided he was going to sit there. He was incredibly aggressive to the man sitting in the window seat, who went to get a cabin crew member.
The new man was also very aggressive to the cabin crew member who advised him that he could only sit there if he paid the appropriate fee. She went to get the card machine but came back explaining that he couldn't move because he'd boarded the flight at the previous destination and it was too late. He was not impressed but did go back to his seat.
On the same flight, the lady in the window seat on the other side had the slide in front of her chair, reducing her leg room and the seat would have been cheaper than others for this reason. She spent about 15 minutes complaining loudly to the cabin crew that she wasn't allowed to put her feet on top of the slide container.....

That’s kind of what happens even now if you book late or don’t snap up a seat at the same time you make your initial booking…

I suppose we could really go back to the future (which I’m old enough to have worked in..) and simply not offer any seat choice or only allow choice at physical check-in…Oh happy days.😬

It's an old one (person died in 2012 - but this was going back much earlier, decade+). DH witnessed a very famous American singer/actress kick off in a pretty big way when she realised that they hadn't cleared the whole of first class (DH was in business but heard it all) for her despite not paying for all of the seats.

We were on a long haul flight. The plane configuration was such that there were 4 seats across the middle (and 2 in each aisle).

A family of 5 got in - they had a set of 4 seats together and then a 5th seat in an entirely different part of the cabin. Woman sits in the row of 4 with 3 children; the man had the seat on its own.

The man politely asked the people in the row behind if any of them would mind swapping so his family could be together. One person in the row was travelling on his own, so he said he was fine to do that.

Man then tells his oldest daughter (about 7 or 8) to sit in the single seat and asks the woman in the seat next to her (who had a similar aged child with her) if she wouldn't mind "keeping an eye" on her. Woman (stupidly as it turns out) says she will. Man then sits in the row with wife and other 2 children and absolutely all of them ignore the oldest daughter for the whole of the flight, leaving random woman to look after her.

This has happened to us with BA too. Long haul flight, booked seats together when booking / paying. Arrived at airport to discover we had been split into three separate seats. DD was a toddler, but we always booked and paid for her seat so we had room for the nappy bag and extra blankets etc. Spoke to the cabin crew on boarding, and they said there was nothing we could do - she had to sit on my lap for the journey. I said "I don't think so" - strapped her into her allocated seat, and started walking down the aisle to my seat. The young lad in the seat next to her leapt up and offered to swap straight away.

No I booked a holiday for September today. I managed to get extra leg room seats.

@BobandRobertaSmith

Sure, if she has offered politely it might have been kind, I can see that. Instead it was a very presumptuous ‘I should have your aisle seat’

It was an evening long haul flight, one of those meal and lights off ones. Everyone wanted to sleep. And her reason didn’t hold up, I got up many more times than she did.

The downside of this is that in an emergency, you will be responsible for opening the exit doors.

Sounds to me like you might have been the rude one.
I would have purposefully got up every half hour to wind you up.

And 1st out!

Yes we always pay attention to the special instructions we are given.

Err ok, and if those seats had not been available would you have declined to book?

At some point, regardless of the system used, the number of what might be regarded as good seats reduces.