Page 13 | Not to have given up my seat on plane

Rainbowgoldover · 2024-05-26T06:14:44+00:00

Just wondering .... I flew home last night from holiday with a friend. BA flights , flight out was dreadful, cramped seats , allocated at check in so we had last row next to the toilets ... On the way back we learnt our lesson so paid to book seats, I booked an aisle seat, friend booked a window seat, flight about 70 per cent full. The person in the middle seat , asked me if I would move so she could have the aisle seat. I refused and said no I booked aisle and don't want to sit in middle seat. She said but I want to be near my family in the row opposite. I still politely refued to move. Cue lots of aggro, she finally got the flight attendants to move her accusing me and my friend of talking over her , we absolutely were not, both had headphones on watching netflix. If you really want to sit somewhere why can't you pay 23.99 and pre reserve a seat, don't make others feel bad for not giving up theirs ?

TwixOwl · 26/05/2024 17:25

I was flying home from Italy with my nine year old. I paid extra for the child to have window seat and me to have the middle seat. Flight about 1.5 hours.

Man comes along who had the aisle seat and asks me if I would move to his mother's seat about four rows down so he and his mother can sit together because she likes him to rub cream in her legs.

I was so astonished that he was asking me to move and me to separate from my nine year old child. I refused and then someone else moved so mum could sit in front of him.

At no point did he rub any cream!

greengreyblue · 26/05/2024 17:30

I’m pretty sure at one point in the past you were not allowed to move seats. I think it was in case of a crash and identifying passengers etc.

Minimili · 26/05/2024 17:31

dicokno · 26/05/2024 14:11

And contributing to the problem of people ending up not being seated next to travelling companions (though they should pay to reserve seats if they really are bothered about it). That does sound like a contradiction - what I mean is, if lots of people book the aisle and window in the hope of getting the row to themselves and therefore more space, more people who want to reserve seats later or who are only able to check-in/book later will end up separated from those they are travelling with and may try to get people to swap so they can sit next to a child etc.
I'd like to see the airlines introduce something in their seat booking system which means pairs or groups can't split themselves up like this if it means leaving a single seat on its own in the middle somewhere. ie. they have to book window and middle or window and aisle or aisle and aisle next to each other, whatever.
I've booked many concerts online and the majority of the booking systems are set up so that you can't book in a way which leaves a single seat on its own. (ie. if you choose row 3 and there are some other people in it already, you can't book seats with a gap of only one seat between you and the others, has to be two or more seats.

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I recently booked with TUI and tried to book window for me and aisle for DP and it didn’t allow me.
The booking system said you couldn’t leave an empty seat between you.

Last year we booked the day before we flew (different airline) and the plane wasn’t very full so I booked window and aisle because those are our preferred seats. As the plane was nowhere near capacity I expected that we would probably have the row to ourselves as there were plenty of other seats available.
If in that situation someone had been placed between us then DP would offer to swap to the middle so we aren’t really inconveniencing anyone except ourselves as we lose a seat we paid for.

I book and pay for seats as close to the front row as possible so I’m booking for location in the plane as well as seat preference, my DP just sits where I’m happiest, if he ends up in the middle then he does it for me so I can be next to him and have the window seat.
I was absolutely terrified of flying and found sitting at the front of the plane by a window helps with my anxiety, I make sure I book and pay for seats as soon as I can.
Last time we flew was pricey as there were only the extra leg room seats free as it was so last minute but we did get the whole row to ourselves so it was worth paying the extra £100. It’s unlikely the aisle seat will be free this time but as long as we are at the front I don’t mind, it makes sense TUI have the system so you can’t leave a seat between you, it must make it difficult to fill the seats.

Before you could book and pay for selected seating the cabin crew would always try to find me a front window seat because I was so scared of flying. I quite often was allowed to board first so I could find a suitable seat.
I hated feeling like I was being difficult and having special treatment especially if I didn’t get the option to board first and if anyone was asked to switch seats for me. I would never ask myself and if anyone refused I would accept it with complete understanding and try to cope.

I think it makes sense you need to book and pay if you have a preference to avoid having to decide who “deserves” the more desirable seats. If someone is that desperate for the seat you have booked then they would have paid for it at the earliest opportunity.

SmudgeButt · 26/05/2024 17:39

I'm going to try this the next time I fly. Buy the cheapest seat possible. And insist that I need to be in first class because I don't like the people seated around me. I'm sure it will make me very popular!!!

Hateliars34 · 26/05/2024 17:43

I hope BA refunded your seat if you were forced to swap!! Did you tell the flight attendant you specifically paid £24 to have the aisle seat? And did you also mention this to the person who wanted to swap?

WhereYouLeftIt · 26/05/2024 17:49

CecilyP · 26/05/2024 11:58

So what? What if every pair of travellers chooses to do that? On a first come/first serve basis, there will only be middle seats left; later bookers who actually want to sit together will be prevented from doing so. It’s thoroughly selfish behaviour. If they really didn’t want to sit next to each other and wanted specific seats, they could have at least chosen separate rows, seeing as there was no real point of them sitting in same one.

Paying for seats? They actually paid for 2 in the hope of getting the 3rd one free!

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"What if every pair of travellers chooses to do that?"

And what if every traveller decides to put headphones on and sing along loudly to Chas and Dave? That's as likely a 'what if' as yours!

It's very clear that the majority of people choose to sit together (if possible). So your 'what if' is meaningless, nothing more than a poor attempt to make the FEW people who choose not to sit together feel bad about their choices. Are you always so intolerant of people who make different choices to yourself, Cecily?

MaidOfBondStreet · 26/05/2024 18:05

Rainbowgoldover · 26/05/2024 07:30

Thanks!

A polite request is fine , it was the aggro when I refused to move

Calling over to her friends I've asked and she has refused, cue them saying but what about your bladder!?

Then causing a fuss with the flight crew!

Read about this mind of thing but never had it happen to me before

@Rainbowgoldover She was an entitled cow, and getting her mates to say "what about your bladder?" Well she should have paid then shouldn't she?!

Nah, sod the tight entitled cow

Itloggedmeoutagain · 26/05/2024 18:18

If she had a dodgy bladder she could have swapped with the family she knew in the aisle seat and one of them could have had her middle seat

FrenchMustard · 26/05/2024 18:21

DH works for easyJet, seating booking is a fucking pain in the arse. Inevitably you always end up with a handful of people who don’t book, prime example is people with young kids. They can’t sit on their own and no one ever volunteers to move so at least one parent is with them, so the flight gets delayed until people are forced to swap. Was far simpler when you got assigned a seat on check in or when you had to leg it to the plane from the gate as there was no allocated seating!!

Dentistlakes · 26/05/2024 18:30

YANBU, you booked and paid for a seat. The only time I have ever moved was for a brother and sister who were returning from a family funeral. She was obviously distraught and it was better all round if her brother was next to her. Anything like that and I would move, otherwise no.

FrenchMustard · 26/05/2024 18:40

To add to my post…YANBU to not want to give up your seat

CecilyP · 26/05/2024 18:45

WhereYouLeftIt · 26/05/2024 17:49

"What if every pair of travellers chooses to do that?"

And what if every traveller decides to put headphones on and sing along loudly to Chas and Dave? That's as likely a 'what if' as yours!

It's very clear that the majority of people choose to sit together (if possible). So your 'what if' is meaningless, nothing more than a poor attempt to make the FEW people who choose not to sit together feel bad about their choices. Are you always so intolerant of people who make different choices to yourself, Cecily?

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Yes, I think I probably am! I think OP and her friend were being selfish, and instead of just owning it, she comes on here to complain about the other woman to try and garner our sympathy.

While, I doubt every pair will try and do this, it could become more common and be a problem for the airlines. Although, as a PP posted, the TUI website would not allow her to take this option.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 26/05/2024 18:46

Hateliars34 · 26/05/2024 17:43

I hope BA refunded your seat if you were forced to swap!! Did you tell the flight attendant you specifically paid £24 to have the aisle seat? And did you also mention this to the person who wanted to swap?

You must be joking ... BA did it to myself and a friend once when they swapped the aircraft on a 9 hour night flight, so instead of the window/centre seats booked at £63 each we got stuck on a centre row of 4

I did ask for the difference in cost to be refunded and answer came there none

LumpyandBumps · 26/05/2024 18:47

When I travelled recently with a friend we decided not to sit together as neither of us wanted to pay to sit in the middle seat.
We booked a window seat for me and an aisle seat for her in different rows. I don’t know if it would have been possible to book in the same row as I didn’t try.
A man tried hard to get the man in the aisle seat in front of me to swap with his wife. He really wasn’t taking no for an answer. He kept saying that his wife was just about to get off the plane. He was very vague about her seat and of course it turned out to be a middle one. The man he was trying to swap with was amply built and quite reasonably said he had paid for an aisle seat as he didn’t fit well in a middle seat.
Once everyone had boarded there were some spare seats and the cabin crew found 2 together for the man and his wife.
I have to admit that when I finally saw his wife she did look very stressed. If there was a good reason for him not booking them seats together he didn’t mention it.

Hateliars34 · 26/05/2024 19:32

Puzzledandpissedoff · 26/05/2024 18:46

You must be joking ... BA did it to myself and a friend once when they swapped the aircraft on a 9 hour night flight, so instead of the window/centre seats booked at £63 each we got stuck on a centre row of 4

I did ask for the difference in cost to be refunded and answer came there none

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But then what was the point of having paid for a specific seat?!

I never pay for seats in advance but if I did and then got the same as people who didn't I'd be fuming!! What was their reason for not refunding you when you didn't get what you specifically paid for?

YouwouldthinkIhavemoresense · 26/05/2024 19:34

qwertyqwertyqwertyqwerty · 26/05/2024 07:20

I'd have probably swapped because I don't see the harm in doing so.

You booked your seat, so didn't have to swap, but this is an example of how having to pay for something additionally (guaranteed seats) drives unhelpful interactions.

Edited

Oh leave off . What a ridiculous comment.

cherish123 · 26/05/2024 19:35

YADNBU
The woman was really rude to you. I like an aisle seat too.

JohnPrescottsPyjamas · 26/05/2024 20:11

How about this for entitlement?

On a long haul TUI flight - we’d paid for extra legroom in economy. Everyone loaded and the flight was already running late, when the cabin crew make an announcement that there is a honeymoon couple onboard that want to sit together and unfortunately, if no one volunteers to move to allow this to happen, they will get off the flight which will result in a further delay as their bags will have to be offloaded too!

I assume some very, far more generous person than me agreed to move as we took off very soon afterwards - but again, they’re bloody grownups and would probably spend the whole time at the resort wrapped up in each other anyway, so 9 hours on a flight apart wouldn’t have hurt them. Either that or paid for pre booked seats.

WrongWayApricot · 26/05/2024 20:26

I wouldn't want to be sitting between someone I've annoyed and their probably also annoyed family, so I'd swap. YANBU though. I also wouldn't book a seat with my friend but have a non booked seat between us, that would feel weird to me.

Lavenderblossoms · 26/05/2024 20:52

You paid for it. She did not. Yanbu x

Barney16 · 26/05/2024 20:54

dreaaamm · 26/05/2024 15:29

@Barney16 Barney16 · Today 15:27
I wouldn't swop. And I'm always in the middle because DH is, frankly,too ample to sit anywhere except the aisle. I dream about an aisle seat..

If you want an aisle seat and you are pre-booking seats anyway, why don't you have one across the aisle from you husband? easy to chat across the aisle and then you get your wish.

Great idea. I'm definitely going to do that next time. Tbh, never occurred to me.

SerafinasGoose · 26/05/2024 21:00

LightandAiry · 26/05/2024 10:18

I did swap twice on a recent flight both times for parents with young children. I felt like not doing it 2nd time I was asked (child was about 12) but the Mum looked very stressed out so I swapped. If we had pre-booked I may have taken a different attitude.

IMO, it's a pity people do this.

If the answer were a default 'no', the CFs would stop imposing themselves on others. And if the justification for doing so is to be kind, then I'd rather be kind to the majority of travellers who do consider others - by sparing them further altercations of this sort - than to the CFs, who don't.

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 26/05/2024 21:00

Sillystrumpet · 26/05/2024 17:18

When you check in on line if you don’t pay you are just allocated a random seat,the ones no one else wants.you don’t know who is in them, as it is irrelevant.

airline flying is menu pricing. The base level is ticket only, you can then pay for bags if you wish. Or a seat , if not you take the random seats that no one else wants. But you fly for less.

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I'm not sure the auto allocation is based on the seats no one wants.

With RyanAir definitely yes - in fact a strapline of their advertising relates to not ending up with the dreaded middle seat. One of my more entertaining RyanAir flights was when there were just six of us on the plane and we were all autoallocated middle seats. Air stewards had to request us to move to the extra legroom seats to man the emergency exits otherwise we couldn't take off.

With EasyJet, however, I've always been allocated an aisle or window seat - could just be luck of the draw

pootlin · 26/05/2024 21:03

JohnPrescottsPyjamas · 26/05/2024 20:11

How about this for entitlement?

On a long haul TUI flight - we’d paid for extra legroom in economy. Everyone loaded and the flight was already running late, when the cabin crew make an announcement that there is a honeymoon couple onboard that want to sit together and unfortunately, if no one volunteers to move to allow this to happen, they will get off the flight which will result in a further delay as their bags will have to be offloaded too!

I assume some very, far more generous person than me agreed to move as we took off very soon afterwards - but again, they’re bloody grownups and would probably spend the whole time at the resort wrapped up in each other anyway, so 9 hours on a flight apart wouldn’t have hurt them. Either that or paid for pre booked seats.

In these cases they should kick the couple off the plane and tell them their luggage will catch up with them.

Innocent passengers shouldn’t be held hostage by these twats.

Hope they’re divorced now.

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 26/05/2024 21:10

Minimili · 26/05/2024 17:31

I recently booked with TUI and tried to book window for me and aisle for DP and it didn’t allow me.
The booking system said you couldn’t leave an empty seat between you.

Last year we booked the day before we flew (different airline) and the plane wasn’t very full so I booked window and aisle because those are our preferred seats. As the plane was nowhere near capacity I expected that we would probably have the row to ourselves as there were plenty of other seats available.
If in that situation someone had been placed between us then DP would offer to swap to the middle so we aren’t really inconveniencing anyone except ourselves as we lose a seat we paid for.

I book and pay for seats as close to the front row as possible so I’m booking for location in the plane as well as seat preference, my DP just sits where I’m happiest, if he ends up in the middle then he does it for me so I can be next to him and have the window seat.
I was absolutely terrified of flying and found sitting at the front of the plane by a window helps with my anxiety, I make sure I book and pay for seats as soon as I can.
Last time we flew was pricey as there were only the extra leg room seats free as it was so last minute but we did get the whole row to ourselves so it was worth paying the extra £100. It’s unlikely the aisle seat will be free this time but as long as we are at the front I don’t mind, it makes sense TUI have the system so you can’t leave a seat between you, it must make it difficult to fill the seats.

Before you could book and pay for selected seating the cabin crew would always try to find me a front window seat because I was so scared of flying. I quite often was allowed to board first so I could find a suitable seat.
I hated feeling like I was being difficult and having special treatment especially if I didn’t get the option to board first and if anyone was asked to switch seats for me. I would never ask myself and if anyone refused I would accept it with complete understanding and try to cope.

I think it makes sense you need to book and pay if you have a preference to avoid having to decide who “deserves” the more desirable seats. If someone is that desperate for the seat you have booked then they would have paid for it at the earliest opportunity.

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Yes, I noticed that with TUI airlines - I suspect it's because their clientele are likely to be mostly couples and families. And doing the window + aisle booking wou,d likely result in families and couples being split up and not having the most wondrous start to their holidays