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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

On plane and couple sat in our seats

107 replies

ivykaty44 · 26/06/2017 19:27

I just sat down on the aisle seat but my DP then didn't know where to sit. Cabin crew asked to see this couples boarding passes but the woman started shouting that she's nervous traveller and has to sit by the window & can't be apart from her do.

There were seats behind free so we said we were happy to sit elsewhere, then we find another couple had been split up unnecessarily - so they moved to sit together. And we sat together

But really, why had ground staff split these couples up when it wasn't necessary - isn't it UR to split people up on planes when they don't have to be? Surely this is just churlish

OP posts:
MrsPeterDoherty · 26/06/2017 22:41

But that's not the choice @expatinscotland*

The choice is paying £22 +£10 = £32 or £22 + £15 = £37

So really, is £35 flat rate so very different?*

I'd rather pay £22 and sit in a random seat, a plane is just a flying bus. 2 people would have to pay an extra £26 under your suggested pricing model. Why can't I have the lower price, and you pay more if you care where you sit?

FruitCider · 26/06/2017 22:48

I had this on Ryanair flight once. I paid for the window emergency exit seat on left (my favourite seat) of cabin to the tune of £15 each way.

I didn't scramble to get on the plane as I had prebooked seat. Got there to find a man in it.

"This is my seat, can you move please".

Ignored

"I have paid for this, I would like it now".

Ignored

So I leaned over the seats and said

"THIS IS MY SEAT. YOU NEED TO MOVE".

He looked at me.

"YES, YOU. IM TALKING TO YOU. THATS MY SEAT YOU ARE IN".

"I need this seat I get sick".

"Ok you can pay me the £15 this seat has cost me if you really want it".

He moved Wink

GreenTulips · 26/06/2017 22:48

Then everyone else is known to be a seat paying dodger and feck them

i do pay for my seat - what I don't buy into is this 'snobbery' of those who chose 'their' seat are some how 'better' or more deserving than those who just want a lift to where they're going

I've paid for 4 seats with 3 kids on a 1/2 flight - I don't care where we sit

JaneEyre70 · 26/06/2017 22:51

Never feed a drama llama. We were asked once, I replied happily in exchange for the fee in cash that we paid to pre book and we are bought a drink each. We got a filthy glare and the drama moved along Grin.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 26/06/2017 22:55

I don't think anyone is saying they are more deserving - but if they have paid for a specific service, don't they have the right to expect to receive that service?

If you decided to buy a sandwich from the trolley when it came round, and another passenger took your sandwich, because they wanted one, thought they deserved one, but didn't want to pay for one, would you let them have your sandwich?

Of course you wouldn't! So if someone has paid to pick a particular seat, why shouldn't they get to sit in it?

sodablackcurrant · 26/06/2017 22:57

A Summer of discontent approaches. Should be fun.

Glad I no longer have to travel in the School Holidays. Such bliss come September, or in June. Not too hot and cheaper flights.

You would not pay me to fly anywhere in July and August. T shirt worn out now and payback time.

Ellieboolou27 · 26/06/2017 23:02

I've prebooked and pre paid for my seats, travelling with a 4yo and a 20 month old, I'd happily let them have my prepaid seat - as long as they look after my kids for the duration of the flight Grin
YANBU

GreenTulips · 26/06/2017 23:07

but if they have paid for a specific service, don't they have the right to expect to receive that service?

Yes - you do - but you don't get to judge those who chose not to pre book.

If you brought a sandwich you wouldn't wave it in the face of someone without a sandwich would you?

Sweetnessishere · 26/06/2017 23:18

We are off on a budget charter flight this weekend. I have a prebooked seat for extra legroom as I have dodgy knees, the other 3 will be sitting somewhere on the plane, don't care where it's less than 4 hours. If anyone is in my paid for seat I will be asking them firmly to move.

roundaboutthetown · 26/06/2017 23:19

AGnu - you do realise, I hope, that it would be very expensive for an airline to send two planes out to a destination, so that it can have a smaller plane available for the journey home that day than the one required on the way out?! Or do you think the same passengers get the flight home the same day they left???... Or that airlines have unlimited numbers of planes sitting around at airports all around the world, not just at the airport in the country where they are based, so can pick and choose from a selection at the drop of a hat?

roundaboutthetown · 26/06/2017 23:22

What airlines would like is for all their flights to be jam packed.

lalalalyra · 26/06/2017 23:28

I don't judge people who don't book their seats. I do judge people who don't book seats and then feel entitled to sit wherever they like regardless of those who have booked them.

If you want a specific seat then you should book it.

SerfTerf · 26/06/2017 23:29

I'd rather pay £22 and sit in a random seat, a plane is just a flying bus. 2 people would have to pay an extra £26 under your suggested pricing model. Why can't I have the lower price, and you pay more if you care where you sit?

But that's the point. There is no option to pay £22 and do without a seat. You MUST pay something for a seat. Under EasyJet's pricing structure at least. EVERYONE is already paying thirty something.

MrsKlugscheisser · 26/06/2017 23:45

I now feel obliged to tell you the story of my forthcoming holiday with a friend. We are flying out on EasyJet. She is returning on EasyJet and booked via the EasyJet website. I am returning on another airline and am coming back a few days earlier than her. I booked five days later than her on lastminute.com. Nothing to link us at all, but we have been allocated seats together. How freaky is that?

melj1213 · 27/06/2017 00:30

You MUST pay something for a seat. Under EasyJet's pricing structure at least. EVERYONE is already paying thirty something.

No you don't ... if you want to book SPECIFIC seats then they will cost you either £15 for extra legroom (plus speedy boarding and extra cabin bag), £13 for up front (speedy boarding and extra cabin bag) or £4 for a "normal" seat. If you want to guarantee a specific seat or to sit with your group, you have to choose one of those options.

HOWEVER, if you choose not to book a specific seat they will allocate you a seat, for free, when you check in but you have no control over where they put you and there's no guarantee that you will be seated with any other members of your travelling party.

I am flying with them on Friday and I have paid £0 for my seat out because I am travelling alone, have no preference as to where I sit in the cabin and no need for speedy boarding or extra bag allowance. Flying back I have paid £13 to sit in seat 2A because I will be bringing extra stuff back with me that I know won't fit in my carry on case but would fit if I could take 1.5 cabin bags ... so instead of paying £30 checking in a bag that I carried in the cabin on the way out I'm paying £13 that not only gets me that bit of extra bag allowance I need but also has the added benefit of a specific seat and up front boarding.

Blimey01 · 27/06/2017 00:36

expatinscotland
Why the hell should a person who doesn't care where he/she sits have to pay more just because some cheap cunts don't want to pay to sit together and then try to take the piss?

The airlines just love this attitude. NO-ONE should pay extra to sit together. If nobody did there would be less of a problem. You sound a bit thick...

Floggingmolly · 27/06/2017 00:41

They're in it to make as much dosh as possible. It's a bit thick to proclaim what they SHOULD and SHOULDN'T charge for.
They can and they do.

malmi · 27/06/2017 00:56

AGnu

"Completely jam packed", i.e. every seat sold, is exactly what airlines are hoping to achieve. They would rather fly the smaller plane full than a larger one with empty seats. So if they have the option to swap the planes around to increase their loading figure then they will do so.

MadreTranquillitatis · 27/06/2017 01:15

Blimey01, expatinscotland is not thick at all
You on the other hand sound a bit rude...

Justaboy · 27/06/2017 01:22

Naughty Airlines trying the split people up and all over the aircraft! why they might want to hold each other if the planes going down!

Actually i saw a statistic today that your more likely to become a Nobel prize winner or become prime minister than be killed in an air crash;!

Toadinthehole · 27/06/2017 01:38

I don't see the big deal in the OP. If an airline offered me alternative seating that was as good as what I was entitled to, I'd take it. It's none of my business if the airline moves someone else to facilitate this.

emmyrose2000 · 27/06/2017 03:26

I would have made them move. But then I am a bitch.

You are not a bitch to insist on getting what you've booked/paid for/been allocated.

In OP's shoes, I'd have insisted the seat stealer move and wouldn't feel the slightest bit bitchy or guilty about it. Why should I? I'm not the one doing the wrong thing.

LemonRedwood · 27/06/2017 06:34

GreenTulips

If you brought a sandwich you wouldn't wave it in the face of someone without a sandwich would you?

No, but if I'd bought a sandwich and then someone else took and ate that sandwich I'd be pretty pissed off.

roundaboutthetown · 27/06/2017 06:38

But did the OP pay extra for her seat? Sounds like she didn't, if she didn't care where she sat? Personally, I would rather not give up my seat to a rude tosser who just sat themselves in it, but probably would if they asked nicely and I didn't care where I sat.

PunjanaTea · 27/06/2017 06:42

Tell them to get out of your seats and sit in them. Do not give an inch.