Asking someone to move seats on a flight? Aibu ?

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You are completely in the right imo! I wouldn't have moved either. She was just trying it on

TUI has never seated me separately to my kids and I never pay extra. But then they're also under 10 so I expect that is their policy. If her child was presumably older, she should have paid.

YANBU. If someone is so scared of flying that they need to be seated with a parent/partner then you obviously pay in advance to reserve seats along with checking in online 24hrs to ensure you have the boarding card. Been doing this for almost 2 decades so it's not a new system or technology by any means.

Asking people to switch seats on the plane is just being a CF. If it had been truly unplanned, such as a last min rebooking onto a different flight then she needed to explain that to the stewardess and have them arrange the seat change.

You're not being unreasonable. If I hadn't paid and had just happened to be sitting next to DP, I might consider moving. But there's no way would I move when I paid money for those seats!

Did you tell her you'd paid extra?

If seats made "no difference" then she should have applied the same reasoning to herself.
And if her dd "was scared of flying and a minor" then she should have forked out for prebooked seats.

She was a CF for trying to guilt trip you.

Last time someone asked me this I said of course I would for the £40 I'd paid extra to sit together (loudly)

When she said 'why would I pay you for them' I said (again loudly) 'why would I give you £40 for free'

Lots of people smiling near me...

“No, we are happy in the seats that we have chosen” - would be my standard answer.

I would have moved because I'm an absolute mug but you were definitely not unreasonable not to. She was chancing it and should have paid like everyone else.

Flights are often cheap these days so the airline does the seat price which is no small fee

Not far off going to a restaurant and asking for the person next to you £22 meal because you haven’t eaten yet

Annoying that she thought it up for grabs

I wouldn't have asked but I would have swapped if I had been asked.

YANBU. I wouldn't have moved either, but - like you I suspect - would have felt a bit guilty and mean even though I'd paid to choose my seats.

I would have said it cost us £x to book these seats. If you want us to swap with you then give us £x. Why should we pay so you can sit together.

This really bugs me- I have lost count of the number of times there have been parents on flights with small children who haven't paid to sit together and expect people who have to move!

she put you in an awkward position by asking you
i bet you had Guilt

You are absolutely not being unreasonable, the way I see it you are all going the same way at the same time on the same plane, doesn't matter if you are at the front of the plane or the back. If you paid for them seats they are yours to be sat in. I'd of told her that tbh. I agree with if she was that bothered why didn't she pay herself to be sat next to the kid

YANBU
The mum should have sorted the seating situation out by just paying the money.

I wouldn't have moved either - or at least not without some kind of benefit to moving such as extra legroom seats or similar. Everyone is given the option to pay to select their seat and if it's important to you, you need to consider that cost when booking flights (similar to how you'd pay for luggage or drinks onboard). Airlines are not obliged to move children to sit next to their responsible adults. Across the aisle or in a neighbouring row counts. I also notice the use of the word should rather than must in the guidelines.

Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults, should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Children and accompanying adults should not be separated by more than one aisle. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults. This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children.

Yanbu

It is irritating that some people will use pressure tactics like this to bully you into doing what they want

YANBU, she should have paid to ensure she was sat next to her daughter if it was important to her.

Agree with PP’s though that I hate this paying to reserve seats on planes. I’ve just checked the cost to pre-book seats for our holiday in the summer. For 4 of us, they want £200 each way! So we’ll take our chances. 10yr old DD should be sat next to a parent according to their website, but 12yr old DS could end up sat by himself. He’ll be OK and will spend 10yrs staring at the iPad/watching films, but can’t imagine whoever ends up sat next to him will be overly impressed.

I would have moved.......for 44 quid 😉

Yanbu to want to stay put, however I might have told her that I had paid extra to choose my seats and asked how much cash 💰 she was prepared to give me.

Airlines need to make it clear they can't guarantee that children will be sat directly next to their accompanying adults. Would make the whole scenario a lot less common.