Not to have given up my seat on plane

[Rainbowgoldover]

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 ?

Oh yes - I remember those days when EasyJet didn't have allocated seating 🤣🤣🤣

How does booking an aisle help the friend who wanted a window? Why should she pay £23.99 for a seat she doesn’t want? To make you happy, a stranger?

Or maybe their bluff was called and they just sat where their boarding passes told them?

Ywnbu, and I’m puzzled as to how you consider you could be.

But goady fuckers always pop up wittering on about how families should book seats and thus making them pay more than others. There really is no need and any issues can be avoided by early online check in. My kids are now old enough to sit on their own anyway but this seat booking is a rip off farce.

They were clearly hoping no one would be in the middle seat.

I might have considered swapping with her friend in the other aisle seat.

She would then be sat with her fwend (still cannot fathom why a grown adult can’t sit mere inches further away from a friend for a flight, but that is another thread entirely) and you would still have your aisle seat. And still be sat in the same set up of being between two friends.

But ultimately, no - I wouldn’t have swapped on principle, ridiculous behaviour.

Hahaha elbows out, run as fast as you can to the plane 😂😂😂 every man, woman and child for themselves!!

Some people want the view from the window, some want the aisle to stretch their legs a bit more or be able to walk around. Not manipulative.

It’s not clear at all except in your imagination.

I would have done it for about 50 quid

@Teateaandmoretea Teateaandmoretea · Today 21:19

They were clearly hoping no one would be in the middle seat.

Utter nonsense. As others have said. Some people want a window seat, some people want an aisle seat. Two mentally competent adults are going to choose where they want to sit that suits their preferences. Why should one choose a seat they don't want (the middle seat) if they are paying? It's a flight - even if it's long haul in most cases it's not going to be more than 14 hours or so. It is possible to cope with out being cheek by jowl with your partner/ spouse/friend/relative - assuming well, healthy adults.

NO ONE except an idiot would expect the middle seat would be unoccuppied because flight profit margins are so tight these days (hence charging for every seat reservation, checked bag and breath you take) that flights are scheduled to be overbooked. It's rare these days in economy at least to have many unsold seats.

The people who are banging on about this obviously don't fly very often.

Ooh! That's a great idea if you are asked to move.

Yes but I expect to be reimbursed by you right now for the cost of my own reservation and for the inconvenience. £100 should cover it.

Prize idiots!

Even if they did hope nobody would sit in the middle seat...so what? Someone did, they accepted it. Better than expecting someone to leave the seat they paid for to please you!

I’m just a nice person and would have moved. ‘Do to others as you’d have them do to you’ type thinking.

But why move when you wanted that seat and paid for it? That’s being a martyr, there’s no reason to move that trumps her own reason to stay in her paid for seat.

@Caketea but the other passenger doesn’t have your saintly attitude does she?

They didn't give a reason, mainly because they didn't reply at all

But then, as I learned with several other flights using them, there was little point in paying for a seat anyway as too many of them were broken

You'd expect someone who had paid for their reservation to move for you when you hadn't? Is that what one should do to others?

Or you'd pay for a reservation that was essentially useless since you'd give it up if someone wanted it?

I'm a nice person and wouldn't have. To each their own

This idea that a seat on an aeroplane has intrinsic and measurable value is wild. It's a plane. If you've got a ticket you've got a seat. It's not like you'll stand all the way to Australia if you don't pay extra.

So you'd pay twenty to thirty quid for a stranger to choose your seat?

They deliberately separate everybody to get them to pay.

We've had this happen twice on our honeymoon. First time a couple were say in our seats and wanted to stay because they were on their honeymoon, dh was going to agree till I told them to shift because so were we! Female of said couple kept glaring at me until I told her she was CF and it would be a shame if her face got stick like that.

Second time was a family who wanted to all be in the same row. Mum was with 2 kids, dad was 3 separated by the aisle. We booked our seats specifically and this time dh said no. Their seats were one row behind us anyway so not as if the kids were being split from parents as dad was still sat with them.

We always book our seats as our kids are little and can't sit without us. Dh would rather do it for free at early check in but I'd rather not take the stress that we could be split from one of the kids. I just see it as a cost we have to absorb.

Oh maybe because the middle seat is the least comfortable?
People are just cheeky, cheap and disorganised.