Airport seating etiquette

[SnugglyJumpersMakeItBetter]

Who's being reasonable/unreasonable in this situation?

Large airport departures (not the gate). Unmovable lounger type metal seating arranged in pairs in front of huge window where you can see the planes. Every seat is taken. Couple in their twenties are using one of these pairs of seats. One half of the couple decides to go and have a mooch round the shops. They leave the seat empty but a suitcase at the foot of it to show it's 'taken'. Woman in her thirties comes and sits down on the free chair. It's very clearly part of the pair of chairs and the individual sitting on the other tells her it's 'in use' and is not happy about having this stranger sit there invading her space - the woman in her thirties says she's exhausted and will leave when the partner comes back. They sit there awkwardly together on their phones until the partner comes back about 10/15 minutes later and the woman in her 30s leaves.

Who, if anyone, is being the cheeky fucker here?

The woman trying to prevent another person from using an unoccupied seat is the CF.

No one. Seat was in use , person using left it for a wee/drink or whatever and another person sat down in the temporarily unoccupied seat for 10min rest.

Having a relative who needs to sit I think it's unacceptable to reserve seats when you have a wonderful round the shops. This person did say they would vacate when the person came back.

No-one was a CF. The other woman had the right to sit down, if she was struggling. It isn't like being at a cinema/restaurant etc. Likewise as long as she wasn't overly aggressive, it was ok for the woman 2, to ask her not to sit there. She might not have been aware that there were no other seats.

If the person had just nipped the bathroom then reasonable to hold their seat.

If browsing the shops then not reasonable.

The person using the chair and then vacating was being generous. They could easily have continued to sit their when the person returned from browsing

It all sounds remarkably sensible.

The woman had every right to sit down and did a nice thing when the original occupant returned.

The “reserver” is the CF. Trying it on with the suitcase is neither here nor there IMO but telling someone that the seat is “in use” when it plainly wasn’t is CF behaviour. The person that sat in it, and then moved when the partner returned, was gracious to vacate.

What a non event.

What a non event.

What a non event.

Were other chairs available nearby?

There are no reserved seats at the airport lounges and gates. You reserve one by occupying it. When you get up and vacate the seat is free. Its not like a cafe where you have got a meal to consume.

Remember one time at Gatwick when I had come from the buffet with a tray of hot food. All tables were occupied but one with no chairs. The next table had several chairs ranged around it, obviously taken from there. There was one man guarding them while his family were off wherever. I took one of the chairs and he objected. I told him you cant reserve 6 chairs for people who go flitting off. "Who said I cant?" "Ive just told you sonny. I'm not going to stand up while you keep seats for your selfish friends?"

I always call obnoxious men sonny as if I am talking to a small child. He sat there with a face like a smacked ass. There was nothing he could do. He could hardly assault me over a seat. Love it.

I mean I would not have wanted to sit next to a stranger so closely but if there was no other chair to sit on then I don't think she was a CF for taking the seat. and she did move after the partner came back.

I’m stealing that.
‘Sonny Jim’. What a fab put down!

Anyone else think @SnugglyJumpersMakeItBetter is the one who went off for a wander round the shops?

If I needed to sit in a seat that was vacant because someone had gone for a wander round the shops, I wouldn’t have moved when that person came back. It’s completely unreasonable to think you can reserve a seat in a busy airport while you go off for a mooch fgs.

I'd give up a seat for someone who was struggling/disability/injury etc. Otherwise first come first served.
Wonder if that group of 3 will end up travelling to the same resort/hotel, and the couple will try to reserve sunbeds?

I suppose it's unusual, but ultimately the seat doesn't actually beling to anyone. If she was feeling poorly, I wouldn't mind. Should've put a bag on the seat to indicate it was taken.

I don't do sunbeds (fair skin) but if I wanted one that had abandoned stuff left on it I would throw them onto the next lounger or onto the ground where they would get trampled on and move it a bit away. Then sit back and watch the sparks fly. You reserve stuff by using it.

The woman on the lounger lost my sympathy when she said that the second woman was “invading her space”. Fair enough to try a “sorry, that seat’s taken” but “invading my space”?! Fuck off snowflake.

Good on the tired woman to stand her ground and explain she was exhausted. However, the only right thing to do when shopaholic boyfriend came back and exhausted woman stood up was for Woman 1 to say “No, no, please stay where you are” and give up her own lounger for the boyfriend!

In any event, two people can perch sideways on one of those loungers if needs be. Couple could have done that for the rest of the wait.

The person hogging the seat with their suitcase was being reasonable.

Really don’t understand this MN penchant for finding the innocent party as guilty as the twat party.

While I don’t agree with the concept of reserving sunbeds, reserving and using can’t possibly be the same thing. That would make no practical sense.

No-one owns the chair. If anything, I’d say the person who sat down was good to say she would let the original person have the seat back when they return. If I’m sat in a public space, I decide whether I’m ok to potentially lose ‘my’ seat before getting up for the loo.

Adding on to that, I’ve been known to loudly ask ‘who does this bag belong to’ in the airport if it’s just sat on a seat. It has a reasonably high success rate of getting me somewhere to sit 😂