Easyjet flight attendant ( seat related).

[pinkhousesarebest]

Can I preceded this by saying that I have always paid for my seat when travelling with my dc up until a certain age and that I have also often changed seats to accommodate young families? However yesterday on an Easyjet flight, we were asked to swop our paid for seat to the seat behind, with no window so that the woman’s child could see out. No medical reason- just she wanted a view.
I said no, I was fine thanks. About five minutes later another attendant arrived, demanded our boarding passes, scrutinized them furiously. And then began to lambast me because I hadn’t swopped with the woman. She said they had been going to reward us with a free meal but now, because of our lack of humanity, would not. This was at the top of her voice. I said, reasonably, that I had paid for my seat and I would be sitting in it but by this stage she and her colleague were speaking loudly and gesticulating in Portuguese.
Is this acceptable? Surely the airline must accept responsibility for putting this family in this seat( right at the back of the plane. ) How did I become the bad guy in this? It’s still rankling today.

Did they then move up the aisle asking everyone else?

And again, easyJet do not serve lunch, they come round with a random assortment of food. Details are importantly when telling a story.

They have a menu with meal deals, hot and cold sandwiches, hot meal items such as a curry, etc. You can order up front or on the plane itself.

It might not be a plastic tray with a hot meal, a bread roll and a drink but it's still food which could form a lunch or dinner.

I assume the crew meant items on that menu.

The attendants were rude but I'd have let a kid have the window seat. If I book seats it's because I want to be seated with whoever I'm travelling with. I think sitting in the last row is a bonus as I always seem to sit in front of someone who kicks the seat, not just on planes.

Tonton this is the reason I posted on here I think. Just to know how other people would react and to be prepared for the inevitability of it happening again. I was asked in the summer to change my window seat against an aisle seat for a child - which I did but the exchange was extremely courteous and the flight attendant very nice. (Aer Lingus). This was a completely difference exchange.

Why? If I paid £50 or whatever to get a window seat, because I find it more comfortable or love the views out the window, and a parent decided to not pay to give their child the seat, why should I donate £50 to the airline and swap?

at the very least the parent of the child should instantly transfer the value of the booked seat if the person decides to move

They serve pizza, chips, curries. I’d call those meals even though no bread roll in a packet.

I like kids. I used to be a kid and lots of people were kind to me and I pass it on.

Have you made a formal complaint OP

1. They tried to shame you on the plane by talking loudly

2 They missed your seat out when serving lunch

The staff involved acted very unprofessionally and made you upset and uncomfortable

I don't know that there is any way an attendant could guarantee you'll get your seat reservation refunded though, so that would be a hard no for me.

@pinkhousesarebest I would have done the same as you and said no. If I pay for a window I want a window (similarly an aisle seat...no-one pays for a middle surely!) and that is because I'm either looking out of it or snoozing up against the side of the plane.

The free meal is laughable...they don't even do 'meals' any more it's all crap food 😂

In my experience having recently booked with both ryanair and easyjet they have forced us into paying for seats together at the boking stage when booking with my 10 year old. The passenger must have picked the cheapest option and thus the worst seats. Shocking customer service on this flight

But you have donated a large amount of money to the airline for literally nothing. I like kids a lot too. I would likely move if the parent offered to pay for my seat. I just find it odd to move when you have paid for your seat and that grifty parent could have booked and paid for the seat themselves but relied on someone to just donate it for free to them.

Air travel is such a pain isn't it? I used to regularly fly between Scotland and London, there was always something. No ice, no food, can't find the other passengers, plane still in Glasgow.
Last time I flew from Cornwall to London the pilot told us twice about how many crew had phoned in sick which was why we were delayed.
It's all so in your face.
And stressful.

Really surprised by what? Are you new to Mumsnet?

This thread comes up repeatedly and as you can imagine, the majority of people aren't going to say and OP is BU for not moving from a seat they've booked and paid for in advance.

That's Easyjet for you. Rude staff. I stopped flying Easyjet years ago for this reason.

They won't even refund you the seat allocation fee! We were on a flight and accosted by a family who chose not to pay to seat their children with them. It's really unfair as you do feel a pressure to move, the flight attendant said if we said no the plane would be delayed while they're tried to rejig everyone's seats so my DH kindly moved to accommodate them as soon as he was in his seat he asked if he could refund the seat booking fee and the flight attendant said "Well you didn't HAVE to move"

Then the cheapskate parents who didn't bother to pay to accommodate their children bought two massive bottles of gin. Priorities 🙄 everyone just needs to say no as these parents rely on people moving to justify not paying, it's so cringe.

They probably offer to move because you will be talking across them all the time...

Shockingly bad behaviour on their part! I'd be very upset! It's not your fault other people don't want to spend the money to pre-book seats. I'd definitely complain, emphasising how you were judged, and made to feel guilty, and possibly suggest retraining!

Highly unlikely! I’ll usually be reading my Kindle, dh stuck in a book, or watching a film if there are any. So the middle-man has never had cause for complaint.

My husband’s a senior officer at EasyJet. This was his meal on Christmas Day. It was a long flight and served to everyone.

I’m sure that’s what she meant - what I would call the mid-flight sales pitch is the same as them serving lunch

I’d be fascinated to know why you think she is lying about this. It’s not an award-winning, newspaper stealing story of some sort. It doesn’t make her look good or bad. It’s just an interesting thing that happened (or not if you don’t think it is)

That's lies. That's a crew meal that's not available to the passengers.

Airlines must provide crew meals as they can't exactly pop to the shop and buy themselves lunch on a 14 hour flight, one that doesn't involve getting off the plane.

The selection of sandwiches and snacks in the magazine is what's available to us customers.

Absolutely complain -appallingly unprofessional of them.

Very strange behaviour. If it was just because of that surely they would have asked other people instead of specifically only targeting you. Why was it only your seat they wanted and not just any with a window?

Presumably being back row it was also the worst seat on the whole plane, being next to the toilet and with no reclining option if you need to escape the people in front of you also reclining.

I travel EasyJet around 20 times a year and have never experienced anything but courtesy from staff.

If this happened in the way you say it did OP, and you were polite in your dealings with them, then you should complain.