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 really hope this isn't Whitney Houston. But suspect so!

On a Virgin flight from NY to London. Middle seats of 4, woman in front of me had the whole row to herself.
She reclined her seat, in front of mine, and refused to put it up when the meals came around. A hostess had to intervene and the woman was extremely rude. DD was curled up sleeping on the seat next to me so I suggested the woman move to the next seat and she could stay reclined. Still said no.
DD then woke up, stood on the seat (she was only little) and projectile vomited all over the woman.
I did point out if she had moved she wouldn't have got boked on.

Hadn't looked at it that way. Thank you. I understand what you are saying. I only know from my own business that prople love what they perceive as a discount or freebie. I might try the optional add on technique myself, see how that goes.

A few years ago I was on a flight and the cabin crew were securing the cabin for landing. Mum and a baby sat across the aisle from me, cabin crew tell her she needs to secure the baby for landing and she refuses, claiming that the child is already secure.

This goes on for about 10 minutes and in the end the captain comes out to tell her that she must secure the infant otherwise she will be in breach of aviation law and the flight will not be able to land. We miss our landing slot, enter a holding pattern for about 20 minutes and I miss my connection, resulting in an overnight stay at the airport. All because some woman took issue with being told to safeguard her child.

Journey back from Thailand. PE seats. A man had booked the first seat on the right window. Another man sat in his seat and said his wife needed him there so the kind man who had booked was demoted the the middle of the back row. The crew brought his specially ordered vegan meal which the man gobbled down immediately (I tried to alert crew but they were busy and he was FAST). Then he said it was not nice and demanded a second meal.

Whitney Houston?
I have read she was quite the diva.

A woman sitting across from us had three seats to herself. The woman in front of her noticed this and asked her to swap as she wanted to lie down. First woman said no, she would like to lie down herself as soon as she had finished what she was doing. The second one argued about it, called her selfish and then went on and on to anyone who would listen. She called the air stewardess and moaned to her, but she agreed with the first woman. The second one would not shut up so the stewardess eventually let her sleep in the back bit which is for the airline staff.

I think she assumed that by booking four of six seats leaving the middle seats empty, they would remain that way. Not that she had paid for the middle seats to remain empty. Pure CF entitlement.

I always have to pay to choose my seat - I often get very airsick, and need to make sure I'm over the wing in a window seat, with my travelling companion sitting next to me (between me and any other passenger) so that if I need to throw up, I can do so in relative privacy and not inflict it on others (except whichever of my poor friends and family has to sit next to me 🙃).

I can't imagine the height of cheeky f-ery it takes to not book seats but expect others to move once they're actually on the plane. Pay up like the rest of us.

A flight from Munich to London two years ago, I had been there on business and had added on a few days either side for a little holiday. Company policy was Economy on short haul, but okay to upgrade on our own dime. So I did for a very reasonable price.

The whole flight was full and every seat taken, I was in 1D (aisle) and therefore had to put up all my luggage in the overhead bin. Boarding was almost completed when an elderly couple comes on for 1A/C and proceed to make a fuss about the bin space over their seat being full. They then proceed to take out bags, including mine so I said "Excuse me, but what are you doing with my bag?". They started claiming it was "their" space and I had no right. Cabin Crew intervened and told them that this bin was full, but they would find space. CC did find space for them over row 7 or so.
The whole flight I got the evil eye from the woman all the way to the luggage belt.
They were joined there by their daughter, who had to hear about a "young girl who probably couldn't even afford to fly business" taking away all their hand luggage space.
Daughter quickly told them to shut up, as they weren't able to afford that, either, but she and her husband had switched seats with the parents to treat them, but given their behaviour even before we boarded she would think twice about that in future.
Joke was on them and I had a little glow as I was early 40s at the time.

Quoting the op isn’t as annoying as people complaining about it

Flying back from New York.

Older woman in front and across the aisle from me had ordered a special meal. Unsure what it was but they came out quite a while before the standard meals, as did our veggie ones. She sat and ate her meal really quickly. When the other meals as part of the main catering where being given out she took one from the FA who was trying to pass it to who was sitting next to her and put it on her own tray. When the FA explained she had had her meal and that this was for the person next to her she started arguing, saying she hadnt ordered a special meal. When the FA explained that she had eaten it regardless she got really huffy, loudly exclaiming how ridiculous it all was, grumbling about csutomer service and trying to meet everyones eye to get some sympathy.

She also kept trying to give her rubbish to any FA who walked passed, even those who were doing other things like pushing the drinks trolley.

@Another2Cats

Just doubling back to say thanks for the link to that “DYKWIA” thread..just started reading it and if carries on as it has begun it looks hours if not days of 😆and 😱.

Disabled people routinely have to pay extra for things we take for granted - I don’t blame this poster for doing what she did. If CF’s can cause so much fuss just because they want to sit together, why is she any different because her DS is disabled ?

Mine involves aircrew, budget airline.

Time for security briefing thing... cabin crew reaches up above me to get lifejacket etc out, and the seat belt drops on my forehead, it bloody hurt! They did all the right things, gave me a damp piece of towel with ice cubes in to hold against it, took my name and address etc.

Later on, I asked for a bottle of water. That'll be £2.50 please. Errmmm, I have a lump on my head, a splitting headache and I'll have that for free, thank you.

Frankly, @LettyToretto is correct.

In your comment you said:

"My DD and I were upgraded to business class because the flight was full 3-3 configuration (A319) The woman that had booked Business class started to complain because we had been given the middle seats and we were messing up their family. They had 4 seats from the 6 and expected the middle seats to be free."

I'm sorry but this really is how business class works on intra-Europe flights.

You mentioned travelling on an A319, was it with Lufthansa? If you fly with any major carrier within Europe (well, with the exception of Moscow until Russia invaded Ukraine) then Business class is simply standard economy seats but with a blocked middle seat.

All that separates business from economy is a movable curtain. They move this up or down the plane depending on how many business class passengers there are.

So, yes, that other passenger was right to object.

Yes, I always get to sit next to adult Dd without us having to pay to select our seats due to dd’s disability. One tiny perk I guess.

Flight Heathrow to Toronto - I was in the middle 3 in one of the aisle seats. Next to me is a mum with a baby on her lap (no idea of the age, but not a tiny baby). The other side of her was her husband. Husband settles down for a nap, and mum cradles the napping baby....so it's feet were hanging over the seat divider hovering over my lap. She didn't speak English (or possibly pretended not to), so my initial polite request to move the baby was met with a blank stare. The whole flight was a battle of her trying harder and harder to edge the baby onto my side, so her husband could sleep undisturbed, with me shoving her arm back over towards her side. Why would anyone think I want their kids feet in my lap when I'm trying to read / eat etc?!

We always get allocated seats without having to pay for them due to my DS's disability. However if anyone wants to sit next to him for a flight so I can get some peace I would be more than happy to oblige! He talks non stop, and when he isnt taking he is stimming and shrieking.

Its not the posters fault the airline messed up the access arrangements and allocated her a seat her son couldnt sit in.

I was flying Stansted to Aberdeen with 4 year old DS and had paid for both our seats. It became clear after we had sat down that the plane was overbooked. They asked for people to volunteer for the next flight to Edinburgh with a bus taking them on to Aberdeen! Surprisingly there were no takers.
They then asked me to put DS on my lap for the trip to which I said no as I’d paid for his seat. Eventually we took off with passengers on the cabin crew seats and someone apparently in the cockpit! I’m not sure if that bit was actually true though!

I travel a lot for work and I've lost count of the times that I've got on a plane to find somebody sitting in my (economy) window seat who seems amazed that I don't want their middle seat instead. One - who moved into his proper seat without any fuss tbh and we chatted to each other periodically during the flight (as etiquette demands, only during the meals), is now worth (having just looked him up on Wikipedia) now worth £33 million - so I should have chatted him up/invested in his start-up...

I was travelling by myself, and had paid extra for a tiny bit more space. Got on and found a man sitting in my seat. I asked him to move, he just stared at me blankly. I showed him the number on my boarding pass, still nothing. This went on for some time.

This isn't actually what got my goat - he didn't speak English and I had the feeling he wasn't an experienced flier. It was when another male passenger piped up from across the aisle, saying to me 'Are you sure you have the right seat? Maybe check your ticket again?'. Yes of course the young female is the issue not the older male staring blankly. I had to get the flight attendant to move him in the end.

Actual data would be interesting, I also only have my own anecdata!

In the 5 years before covid, I was actually bumped once - though it happened the day before the flight left - was pushed onto a different flight even though the one I’d booked was still flying, no opportunity to stick with original flight. Not sure what was going on there and we didn’t realise at the time our original flight was still flying, thought they’d changed the schedule. I also took up the offer of vouchers in exchange for changing flights at the airport a few times and heard requests asking for volunteers that I didn’t go for even more. But these were all short haul flights in the US (the one I got bumped on US-Mexico, the others all internal). I was only flying around a couple of times a year then, so that’s a fairly high percentage. But those are presumably not affected by EU regulation? I think there was some US legislation/regulation that made the airlines ask for volunteers and offer incentives before they could bump without the passenger’s agreement, but not really that up on it.

I don’t fly short haul in Europe much anymore and haven’t had any similar experiences there since at least the turn of the millenium. I remember a few big scenes with passengers bumped at the gate back in the ‘80s, though!

12 hour flight recently and we'd booked 4 seats together for me, DH and DCs 17 and 16.
Young adult woman sat next to my DH, and her DP kept asking my DH if he'd swap seats. DH declined and explained we'd PAID to all sit together (we were other side of him).
CF then started pestering the man next to himself to let his DP sit with him, and the man declined for same reasons as us.
You'd think that would be the end of it. No. CF calls the flight attendant and says he wants to sit with his DP but no one will move. FA asks DH if he'll move, which DH declines (again), then FA asks the other man to swap who declines. She got shirty with DH and the other man and was very apologetic to CF and said she'd do her best to get someone to move for them!
Astonished really. Quite why the FA thought it was more important for a couple of adults to sit together who hadn't paid to select seats, than for a family who had paid for seats, is beyond me. But it seems CFs must sometimes succeed.

I’m fat. We paid for an extra seat (in economy) so between two of us we had three seats for a long haul, red eye flight.

A large family were travelling together but didn’t get seats together. There were 3 people behind us and the rest of the family on the opposite side and lower down. They asked the flight attendant if they could be moved but the flight attendant said the flight was full. They pointedly looked at our spare seat.

My husband and I agreed we would swap, (between ourselves quietly typing on our phones) until the dad behind us started effing and blinding. Comments about me being a fat see you next Tuesday. Bear in mind we hadn’t communicated with them at all!

He then spent the night flight jabbing the IFE in the seat behind me so I couldn’t sleep. Even when I moved to the spare seat, the jabbing continued.

I don’t think they had a good flight to the happiest place on Earth.