Plane seat drama

[itstoohotnow]

Just returned from a European break, booked 4 plane tickets for DH and 2 DS (19 &16) and I, eldest DS decided too old to go away with mum and dad so stayed at home. I contacted the airline as cheap non refundable ticket but said I can use it as a spare seat between DH and I so all good.

On return flight, only 2 hours long and we have seats A (me) B (spare) C (DH) and D (DS) then a couple with a baby in E & F

Couple with baby realised we were together and pretty much demanded DS moved to seat B - I politely pointed out it wasn't a random spare seat but a booked and paid for one, now I have 2 kids so appreciate it's hard to travel with a little one and would have offered the seat but they were so bloody rude and entitled. I pointed out we had paid for 4 seats and they had only paid for 2 - so asked for a contribution towards cost £30 (by this point they are just demanding the seat because they have a child)

They got pretty rude and offensive (called me a fat b**ch) so I said no, stewardess said was up to me

Should I have given them the seat?

Why is it cheeky to ask for reimbursement?

OP paid for the seat, she didn't just luck out to be next to an extra unreserved seat.

The trouble is that then DS ended up sitting next to a couple who were fucked off and had a small child!

I think I would have said 'you can if you ask nicely' before it got to the fat bitch part of the conversation but ultimately done whatever felt better for you and DS. I doubt this was him having to sit next to them.

No way! Similar situation when travelling alone with my baby. (Me, couple, then their son and an empty seat across the aisle). Didn't cross my mind to ask them, but they said they'd left granny behind (!!!) so offered to move and then declined when I offered to pay for the extra seat. It's all in the way you approach these things

Why? They could have booked three seats, but chose not to. They aren't special.

No fucking way. Rude cunts.

It may depend on the airline, and according to the OP the airline OK’d it:

I contacted the airline as cheap non refundable ticket but said I can use it as a spare seat between DH and I so all good.

Bear in mind these days with on-line check-in and lots of folks traveling hand baggage only the no-shows might only become obvious once the aircraft doors are closed, so most occasions the airline doesn’t have the time or opportunity to reallocate empty seats.

Usually I'd say you were not unreasonable. However, saying no, then saying yes but only in return for money, quered your own moral pitch.
It should have been a definite no; your optiom sadly, was petty

No way would I do anything to help out anyone who was rude to me.
You owed them nothing.

So you'd let your own family be cramped so strangers who actively chose to only pay for two seats could ride in comfort??

If they’d asked nicely, I would have moved seats without question.

However, being demanding would have put me off. I wouldn’t my have asked for money though .

I feel a bit sorry for your DS if he wasn't involved in the conversation, and you and the couple were fighting it out for which of you had to put up with him. Was he happy to keep his aisle seat or did he spend the flight being crowded/kicked and wishing he'd been allowed to move?

Why do people think that being abusive will make you more inclined to do them a favour? No OP you weren't being unreasonable, there is no way I would have considered it if they spoke to me like that either

no you did right.
similar happened to me on a holiday. I booked an extra seat for my DS who was only 10 months. He didn’t need a seat but I wanted the room so he could seat and play without being on my knee all the time. Lady on the end aisle asked me or told me to put my baby on my knee and move along as my elbow was knocking her. It want she was very very large. I told her no and I had paid for the seat. She said that isn’t right babies seat on knees. I said yes for take off and landing but I had a seat to give my baby room. She wasn’t happy.

I don't blame the other couple for asking (the first time, nicely). I fly low-cost a lot and there are plenty of people who sit in their allocated seats without questioning it, and might not even have known that it was allowed for DS to move from D to B. So they might even have thought they were doing OP a favour too. (Of course, once "no" was said the couple should have sucked it up.)

not with that attitude no

Absolutely not. CF. You paid for the seat. Once they start throwing round insults they can fuck off.

But sometimes it's the only way to get stupid people to realise that they can't just demand things (that someone else has paid for) for free

It's like the people that try and get people to move around for them so they can sit together. They never offer the better seats to the people they are asking, they ALWAYS want to inconvenience others AND end up in the best seats, even when other people have paid for those seats

YANBU. You paid for it, they chose not to.

Asking for money is weird

This is my understanding and experience. I think OP was fortunate to be able to 'keep' the seat.

I absolutely wouldn't have given them the seat under the circumstances. If they hadn't have asked in the first place, and they were polite and pleasant to my son, then I would probably have offered it to them, but not if they asked.

Exactly. If they asked nicely I may have given up the seat because I know it's hard travelling with a baby but that does not give them the right to be rude and act entitled.

No way, well done you for standing up to rude, entitled people.

How hard is it to ask politely FFS?

Why is it cheeky to ask for reimbursement?

It isn't, but the point is OP wouldn't have needed to if the other family had done the decent thing and offered

They never do though, and since this kind of entitlement is rude in itself that's hardly a surprise

No. You were right not to give it to the entitled twats