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?

In the past 2 years I've flown with Air France, Jet2,Ryan Air and SunExpress x 3 - I haven't paid to book seats since Covid as the kids are older, yet every time we've all been put together. I check in online as soon as it opens...

The worst fellow passengers are the ones who listen to devices without headphones closely followed by the seat kickers. I usually find a quick word followed by a death stare stops it so no real CF stories from me!

A close friend was travelling alone from the East coast of USA to Italy in Premium Economy. She boarded to find the seat next to hers occupied and the women had her smallish emotional support dog with her. The dog was sitting on my friend’s seat’s fold down tray. My friend politely asked if the woman could move the dog to her own tray. The woman refused and said that she would rather the dog didn’t sit on her tray. Friend politely suggested that the dog could sit on the owner’s lap, that was ‘not possible’ either apparently. Luckily the cabin crew intervened and moved my friend to another part of Premium and asked the woman to put her dog in his little carrier. My friend is a dog lover and wouldn’t have objected to sitting next to the little dog but certainly didn’t fancy sitting next to that woman for 9 hours.

To pivot away from seating, I've always thought the ultimate CFery on airplanes is people who absolutely take the piss with giant carry-ons so big they don't fit down the aisles and so heavy they can't lift them into the overhead lockers!

Do airlines ever take passengers to task on this?

Ha ha! I can really hear your stewardess saying 'we aren't rushing' in a strong Scouse accent! What a great person to have in your corner, and so glad your son got some freebies after you'd all been disturbed by those tossers.

one thing I’ve had a few times… men asking to switch to my aisle seat for the legroom / for context I’m 5ft nothing. Would they ask someone taller?? Why don’t they book an aisle seat. Am I mean to say no because I like to go and pee when I want 🤣

Maybe Dawn Frenchs steak was crap twice?! I've certainly been served a duff meal twice, doesn't make me an arsehole for asking for it to be rectified both times.

Not a CF but I was once convinced I was about to meet my fate. On a flight from Sydney to Johannesburg I was sat next to a man who kept his puffer jacket on, didn’t eat or drink a single thing, didn’t watch a film, didn’t listen to any music. He just sat watching the plane move on the map and every now and then checked his phone…….for 14 hours. I had convinced myself I was going to die. In hindsight he was probably terrified.

MANSPREADERS
stop taking up both armrests, keep your legs in your own area and don’t overspill into my seat.

I got on a Ryan Air flight last year (says it all!). The agent had booked our seats. We’d paid for extra leg room. On the way out, I travelled with a colleague and we sat on the extra leg room seats at the opposite side to the doors, where the bulk head is. All fine, no seat belt extender needed.
On the return I was travelling alone, the seat allocated was right by the door. I couldn’t fastened the belt and asked for a self belt extender. The cabin crew explained you couldn’t sit in the emergency exit seats if you needed an extender (slightly mortified but that’s another story.) The three seats at the opposite side (where I had sat on the way out) has someone in the middle and aisle but the window seat was empty. The cabin crew gentleman said, if you go sit in that window seat, I’m fairly sure it’s empty but if it is taken I’ll ask them to sit here in your seat.
So gets up to go sit in the window seat and the woman on the row behind my original seat. Says excuse me, I wanted to sit there, that’s my family your sitting next to. I should be sat there. So I said sorry, I’ve paid for extra leg room so I’ll be staying here. She then kicked off that she had had an operation on her foot and needed the extra leg room and I was so rude taking her seat etc. Cabin crew just looked on a bit shocked. I still don’t fully understand why she was kicking off, her family member could have swapped with her or my original seat was empty if she wanted to upgrade. She spent the next 1.5 hours of the flight tutting and talking about me. Thank god it was a short flight.
The three extra leg room seats by the door stayed empty for the whole flight.

I also have a nice story.
I was flying solo with a 2 month old and a 3 year old. We had the window and middle seat (with baby on my lap obv) and a man had the aisle seat. We were in the front with the extra legroom because of the bassinet .
The aisle seat behind us was open.
After everyone sat down the man said he will move to the row behind us so my ds could lie down and sleep and we could have more space.
I said no don't worry, but he insisted.

As for moving myself
I genuinely don't mind swapping like for like seats. My dh and I were once placed separately on a flight and so we're another couple. I was seated next to the husband and swooped with the wife. I mean I wasn't sitting with my dh anyway, so what's the difference between row 7 and 12? Also don't mind swapping to a middle seat a long as it's not between two burly or obese people.

I'd have got the scissors out if I was allowed to take them on the plane and given her a hair cut. The entitled, cheeky fucker.

I wasn’t affected but still tell the tale. I was on an Air Canada Heathrow to Ottawa flight a few years ago and had paid for a bulk head seat. I’m tall and crave a bit of leg room. It was a 2-4-2 configuration.
I was on the aisle with three seats next to me and these were taken by a youngish woman with 5 children. The older two sat across the aisle.
The woman, possibly South Asian, dealt with all the children, including a young baby, with immense patience - the youngest boy being particularly challenging.
Once we had landed, the woman leaned over and asked the eldest daughter to go and get her father to come and help with the hand luggage. I was amazed to from up front - the father had been in business for the duration of the 7 hour flight. Not once had he come back to see how his family was getting on.
I gave him a very hard stare but he was oblivious.

@WiddlinDiddlin
if i was dawn french if the steak was eurgh i wouldn't have sent it back.
makes me wince every time i see that woman on the tv. and to think she did a tour about what a complete bellend she is/was but never did she mention steakgate.

she was literally nearly three steaks pam

Flying to Malaga this July, 6 of us all paid for the extra room seats. We were getting sorted and sat down but there was a lady blocking the aisle next to us. Then the steward asked what she was doing she said she was waiting to see if we all wanted the seats as she wanted to sit there. Yes, yes we did - after all, we'd booked and paid for them. The steward told her to go sit down in her allocated seat.

except she hasn't paid for it. Thats the point of the post

absolutely not. Amazed at the number of people who try this on - even worse in your situation.

Exactly. We enquired about buying upgrades into Premium Economy on our flights last week. It was £550. Each. One-way, not for the return. To expect someone to swap that seat because “you want it” is insanity.

I read that Vogue story and thought to myself, how to show people what low class dregs you really are.

Dreadful behaviour.

Honeymoon 25 years ago, had splashed out for upper class on virgin long haul. Woman behind me window seat removed her shoes and the next thing I see is her foot propped up on the little window ledge next to my seat, like a foot away from my face. Was very unimpressed when I asked her to remove her foot from my vicinity and called the stewardess over to say she had a a bad leg and had to keep it straight on a long haul flight. Yuck they agreed with me and made her put her foot down and she literally spent the entire flight muttering how awful I was 😁

When the budget airlines first started, I think Easyjet was the first, there were no seat allocations at all, it worked like a bus, you got on board and sat somewhere. It did mean that there was a great dash to board first!

I once was sitting in a window seat in economy on a long haul flight. Two children behind me and two next to me, none older than I'd guess 10. They were causing mayhem, fighting etc so much so I was having to intervene to stop them hurting each other. Ones behind kicking seat, pulling sister's hair etc. I was assuming their parents were across the aisle from them and tactically ignoring them. But no, the CFs were both sat in business class, leaving me to manage their offspring! I did so for about 2h until one of them popped back from business class. I asked them if they planned to sit with the children as they needed supervision. No, she said, and mosied on back to BC. I told the cabin crew (who had witnessed the situation and assumed the kids were mine, though I was 20 or so at yhe time and certainly not old enough for them to be mine!). Cue them telling CFs one of them had to sit with the kids. They were NOT happy.

We've just booked our flights to Cyprus next month.. DH argued that there was no way we would pay £20 each, each way, to book seats in the front of the plane, and we shouldn't pay £10 each,each way, to sit together. So we decided to just take what we were offered.

We've been allocated seats together, aisle and middle, in the font 5 rows of the plane each way. Result! But it is a bit of gamble

We were doing a tour of China with a few internal flights. One couple on front of us reclined their seats immediately and I could barely move, certainly no chance of lowering the table, On the next flight they were in front of us again and I crossed my legs so he couldn't lie in my lap on this flight. he wasn't happy.

If you inform the air line your child's disabled you automatically get allocated two seats together free of charge

I've recently come back from Germany and the delightful child behind me fucked about for the whole 2 hours. Dropped the tray and flicked it so it keep bouncing then slammed it back up whilst also kicking my seat. Mother was oblivious when I kept turning to look at her between the seats and managed to knit some monstrosity. When we landed and everyone stands up, a lady in our row have a broken foot and was in one of those boot things. As she was attempting to get out of her seat woman and beat child forced her way through to get down the aisle pushing boot lady back in her seat. She was an entitled prick and what made it worse, my friend I sat next to )who would accepted her son doing this) thought I was I was the in reasonable one.