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 ?

Because I don't care which seat I'm in!? Sadly airlines don't have an option to guarantee you won't be sat next to someone rude / obnoxious / smelly / top big to fit in their own seat. If they did, I would happily pay £££ 😂

NBU for booking a seat and wanting to use it, but being stuck between two friends is hell. I don’t book/pay a seat because I don’t mind where I sit and let the airline allocate me one, and if I have the middle seat it’s usually in a row with two other people who don’t know each other which is absolutely fine with me. Once I was stuck between two friends. BIG difference, believe me, even if they claim they don’t talk much to each other during the flight.

She sounds like the half-cut idiot on a flight from Sydney to London back in the 90s. Noisy troublemaker from the start, eventually stood up demanding to be let off because she wanted a cigarette.

We were several thousand feet over the Northern Territory desert at the time. Consensus from the other passengers was "Open the door and let her out!"

BA have charged for seat selection for years now (think 2009).

OP you paid for your preferred seating, as did your friend. You had your seats which you chose to sit in, if others what to do the same then thats up to them to pay the fee and if not, expect to have whats left.

If I travel in a row of 3 with DH we either choose those seats (dont care if anyone in the middle) its what we choose and like, or both isle seat.

You did absulouty nothing wrong.

The other lady could have booked and paid for seats if she was that bothered

OP I wouldn’t have swapped either

I always pay for an aisle seat because I am claustrophobic. I literally would not get on a plane without knowing I definitely had an aisle seat. If someone asked me to swap I'd say, sure, as long as its to another aisle seat. Surely most people realise that the majority of people in aisle seats have paid or want to be there for a specific reason? Claustrophobia, need to be able to get up for the toilet easiy etc. I'd be embarrassed to ask someone to swap an aisle (or a window) for a middle seat. Its an absolute CF piss take.

They will have definitely had a few exchanges though. So it is a bit weird/awkward and not what I personally would have done. But OP is not in the wrong as she paid for the seats!

So basically, it's OK be selfish and inconsiderate, as long as you've paid money to be selfish and inconsiderate.

This is such a common situation now, as airlines screw extra money out of families by getting them to pay a premium to make sure they sit together , instead of just booking them seats next to each other.

As someone has said earlier in the thread, social media is full of ' Was I right not to move' stories from single travellers who have paid for specific seats and won't move for families.

As a family, I would make sure we are sat together, even if it meant paying extra, but we live in a very entitled world now, and not everyone would do the same..

Having said that, friends booking seats and leaving a gap in between them is also quite selfish.

Isn't it selfish and considerate to refuse to pay and bank on guilt-tripping those who have paid in order to get what you want?

Next time you go out shopping, are you going to donate the contents of your shopping bag to the first person you see who is worse off than you? Wouldn't it be selfish and inconsiderate not to?

Why do the dh and pp have to sit next to each other exactly?

I’m sure they can sit and read or watch a movie and it’s no different to people who don’t know each other

And how is that being selfish choosing a seat and paying to sit in said seat, then someone who has not paid for the seat wants it??? Who is being selfish there

Inconsiderate, again how.

🤣 No. It’s just ok to use what you have paid for. If you don’t think it is, then you better start giving away everything you’ve bought that someone else would like. 🤣🤣🤣

I think we are talking about different things. I said earlier in the thread that I had a really awful flight stuck between two friends who had booked the aisle and window seat and talked over my head, and someone else said I should have paid for a seat... But I don't care what seat I'm in, it's being sat next to rude / inconsiderate people who feel entitled because "I paid for my seat" which is the issue.
If a flight is full there is always going to be someone say between you, not everyone is going to be able to pay to avoid it?!

I always want - and book - an aisle seat, less claustrophobic, plus I don’t have to climb over anyone fast asleep when I need the loo.
Dh always wants and books the window seat - we don’t care who sits between us.
I wouldn’t swap seats unless there was a real and very pressing reason.

Maybe by the time the stranger booked the flight the only seats left were singles? If all couples do weird bookings like window and aisle it will only leave middle seats free even if you try and book!
You could argue that they could have booked sooner. But someone has to be last! And sometimes trips are last minute.
I once booked a last min Europe break with my husband about a month before going. Other than the very last row all seats together were booked. There was at least 10 rows with middle seats only free. I can guarantee you they weren't all single people in those rows.
We paid to book the last row together. But if we hadn't been lucky and got those seats we would have had no choice but to sit in the middle of people. Whether we paid for them or not we'd have be stuck in between people.
And on the day the flight was full. So lots of people had no choice but to sit in the middle seats.

This is perfectly fine. What I don't understand is why you need to be in the same row?

The unreasonable party here is the airline company. No one should have to prebook tickets at an extra cost. Tickets should be more expensive to cover that so that people have the freedom and choice to pick their seats. The whole system is an utter farce.

Exactly. If you're not going to be talking to him anyway (which you shouldn't be as you'll be making the person in the middle uncomfortable) then there's no need to be in the same row.
Book separate rows and leave people who want to be next to each other able to book those seats. By booking separate rows you leave 2 lots of 2 seats free rather than 1 single.

It’s not like the middle seat person suddenly decided that they don’t fancy their middle seat though. Then yes, they could have paid to choose their own seat. It sounds like they didn’t fancy being talked over, which is reasonable. OP says that they weren’t talking, but how did the third person then even know that they were friends.

Very good point!

We don’t need to, so if we can’t, because of booking a bit late, we aren’t bothered.

As far as I can see, the only reason adults actually need to be next to someone else is if they are travelling with small children - in which case they need to book in time, and pay the extra, if necessary.

Yes, it’s very much okay to sit in the seat you’ve chosen and paid for.

But is it ok to choose and pay for the aisle and window seat on the same row? I don't think so.

Yes. It’s very much okay, and people are indeed free to choose to do just that. You aren’t required to like it.