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?

oh come on, don't be disingenuous - most people would like the extra elbow room on the low budget / charter flights if you could. It's a definite bonus. The difference would have meant the OP and her DH squashed up together doing the jenga like balancing of books, ipads, coffee etc that you get on these flights. Not impossible but far nicer to have a bit of latitude.

Nooooooo!

Not

A

Chance

@Soontobe60

A spare seat on a flight is fair game to anyone else on that flight.

I’d be a bit cautious about advising that without adding a couple of caveats…

Firstly there’s the issue that some airlines allow the purchase of seats to allow extra comfort, so a seat being empty may not mean it is spare.

Secondly aircraft load/balance can mean passengers should not move from their assigned seat(s) without at least discussing it with the crew.

No no and no !! Good on you

Is it? I would have said I or me and thought either would do ,and it certainly didn't leap out as horrendous grammar.

At least it wasn't between DH and myself :-)

This thread takes me back a few years to my first overseas holiday after my partner died, I went down to the beach and had to pay for two loungers and an umbrella, they wouldn't let me pay for one lounger. I put my stuff on the other one, clothes, bag etc., great, no sand in them. Someone later came over and demanded the lounger 'Yer not usin'' but when I declined his kind offer to relieve me of it he became quite nasty, he had a CHILD who couldn't have a lounger because of my selfishness. I didn't even bother asking him to split the cost.

No!

Boarding a flight is not the opening stage of a seating negotiation. I really do wish that every person asked to engage in this ludicrous game of shunting around like cattle to suit others' whim or demand, immediately and without explanation said a firm and non-negotiable 'No'.

Given the airlines clearly know it's a problem and don't care, a default response of 'FO, CF' is likely the only way the CFs will ever stop asking.

Babe in arms is a pain, but what were they thinking they'd do - if the baby is small then it can't exactly just be plumped on the seat next to them safely!? If the baby's old enough to sit on their own, they'd be wise to just book a 3rd seat for the baby.

(this is what I did after getting of a 3 hour flight aching because my 1 year old was technically young enough to be on my lap, but in practise, too big to be comfortable for hours)

ANYWAY - I also have 2 sons - not as big as yours, and we're rapidly approaching uncomfortable to be sat crammed togther in a 3 row seat, so YANBU to keep the spare between you since you'd paid for it.

Could be true - the couple just sounds so horrible I’d want to be far away from them! But I take the point he had an aisle there, and I’d prefer that at any age to squashing between Mum and Dad.

Also they didn’t want the spare seat which was the middle one between the parents - they wanted her Ds’s actual booked seat.

Yes that’s sort of what I’m saying in a round about way.

I always pre book an aisle seat. In late April when I flew up to Canada, the man beside me in the middle seat asked if i would change with his girlfriend. I asked where her seat was, it was three in front of us and also aisle. I need aisle. So no problem. Coming back home I was sitting with a woman and a man, they asked if I could change with their child. asked where the childs seat was, window a few aisles away. I politely said no, I am sorry I need aisle. said child was in his 20's lol. they were not happy. I pay to sit on the aisle as I have had major bowel reconstruction, and the altitude sometimes makes me have major cramps and sometimes vomit. I NEED to be able to get up and into the toilet at any given minute. I fly tomorrow to Canada. It was supposed to be in 7 weeks, but my doctor has called and there is an issue he wants to explore. I now leave tomorrow and paid for aisle. Not giving aisle up but will gladly change aisle for aisle if it makes someones life easier. If I were travelling with my husband and we PAID for that middle seat, not a shot in hell are we giving it up. When we travel together we purposely book window and aisle and hope that the middle is free. LOL

Yes, it’s only a two hour flight. I don’t mind sitting next to my husband and son.

This

Nor do you get guaranteed a specific seat even if you paid for it in case of equipment change/ defect seats / accomodating people who
by law have to sit together or close by ( kids under 12 have to be within reach of parents in adjacent seats/behind/across aisle ) to put on oxgygen masks in emergency.

I presume you don't get the money back either. To be honest I'd refuse to fly. I'm a nervous flier and pay to sit next to DH. I'm sure no one would want me digging my fingers in their hand and arm as hard as I can on take off...

Isn't 'I' the object, not the subject, in that sentence, so it should be 'me'?

I contacted the airline who said to check him in online and then let the gate know we were traveling as 3 but had the 4 seats and only 3 cabin bags

You can only have cabin bags for the number of actual passengers not seats booked so it's not a way to get another bag on

.....don't come in here knowing what you're talking about. Are you trying to undermine the entire ethos of AIBU?

I said I would have offered the seat when I saw they had a baby (on boarding), not once they called me a fat bitch.

I just don’t see the big deal for a two hour flight, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion )and their own paid/for seat.)

I really don’t know why people are so bloody entitled - seems to be an epidemic of it. They knew you’d paid for the seat, didn’t want to make a contribution and then got nasty and abusive. No chance. Like you l’d have offered the seat if they were polite and reasonable, and mindful of the fact that it wasn’t something they were entitled to as you had booked and paid for it. But rude and arsey - most definitely not.

No, definitely not. Rudeness shouldn’t be rewarded.
Doubt they’ll learn though.

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

Should I have given them the seat?

Apparently not!! I'd have been tempted to tell them that I'd just discovered that I needed the extra seat after all, now that I know I'm fat.

You've paid for and chosen the seats that suit your family. Even if you had agreed to move, if it was a very young child, airline probably wouldn't have been happy. Some airlines will let children under two travel in a plane seat, but I think has to be on an approved seat - if the airline you used allows this, then the couple should have paid for the seat.