AIBU… Genuine mistake

[LetsGoOutside]

What is the done thing when this situation happens? it was a genuine mistake. Picture of seats attached so you can see our thinking.

We have not been the pictures in over 5 years. Took the kids yesterday. Booked what we thought were back seats, they look like back seats on the pictures.

Film starts. Lady, Man and their child approach us. She says “You’re sat in our seats move.” My husband said “I don’t think we are, opens his phone to find the tickets.” I said what’s the seat number, I check both ends of the isle and they only say numbers not letters. So I came back and said I don’t know what to do. My husband said I’ll go and ask one second. The woman is getting more annoyed by this point. I said he’ll only be a minute. She said you need to move now, I said I can’t move both kids, all our food on my own it’ll only take a minute we genuinely think these are our seats. She starts pointing in my child’s face, whose three, saying move him, he’s in my son’s seat and he’s autistic. It’s my child’s first time at the pictures, it’s dark and there is a strange woman pointing at him telling him to move. He gets upset. Not that this is relevant but I felt like saying so, son is autistic too! Anyway husband returns and says yes we are in the wrong seats. We both apologised while moving the kids and our things.

I understand I was wrong, it was a genuine mistake though, look at the picture would you think these are back seats? Or if you go the pictures a lot is it obvious and we’ve just been really silly. 😂 I genuinely thought we were in the right seats and did everything we could to resolve it quickly.

AIBU would you have moved two young children under 4 if you thought you were right?

No, the wheelchair seats are at the front in my local showcase. I know that because we use them.

She thought you were cheeky fuckers who hoped she was going to give up and sit elsewhere.

I can accept you got confused about rows when booking. I don't believe you when you say you sat on the wrong seats thinking they were yours as your post makes zero sense. If you were sat on the seats you thought were yours on the wrong row, two of you would have been on the floor as they are wheelchair spaces.

In my local cinema the booking screen shows the layout the other way around, ie the cinema screen is shown at the bottom of the computer screen rather than the top. The Odeon one might therefore have tripped me up, especially as the screen isn’t very clearly labelled (it just says Odeon).

Row A in my experience is always front row.
Although the website should have indicated where the screen is on the seating plan.

Normally I would agree but, assuming she told the truth, the woman had an autistic child, not getting the booked seat could mean a wasted cost of tickets and a ruined evening.

It does. The first screenshot from OP was cut to remove it.

I can't find that post but I very much doubt that it is the case. It defies all normal theatre, cinema and concert hall numbering convention. I've probably on average been in a cinema, theatre, or concert hall once a week for the last 35 years.

To answer any questions…

I was pretty certain I was sat in the right seats that’s why I clarified. I honestly, honestly thought the back row on the picture meant the back row in the cinema.

I could have missed the letter on the floor while checking I was panicking because this woman was very annoyed, rightly so, as I was sat in her seat but I honestly thought I’d selected the back so I was trying to resolve the situation as quickly as possible but genuinely didn’t see the letters when I tried to check.

I picked the seats Monday night, I went Saturday morning. Yes there was space for a wheelchair but I couldn’t tell you if there was space for a wheelchair or not when I booked the tickets. There obviously was but I didn’t give that a second thought when I was booking I was select ling seats for my family. It’s only when we came out and I said how did I get that wrong and looked at the website I said look, it’s the back on my phone so I thought it was the back on the row. I then also noticed the wheelchairs seats and said I would think wheelchairs were at front too.

To add, no I didn’t try and chance my luck. No I am not lying about it being a mistake this was a genuine post asking…

I realise I was wrong for sitting in the wrong seat, but it was a genuine accident. If you thought you were in the right seat and someone told you, you wasn’t would you move before confirming this?

@LetsGoOutside but the wheelchair spaces are the same as some of your seat numbers. So did you also sit in the wrong numbered seats?

The back row in the photo is the back row in the cinema! That’s the row at the bottom, facing the odeon sign.

Considering you hadn’t checked any of the details or looked at the seat numbers and just sat at the back, I’d probably have realised I was likely wrong rather than making a fuss, sending DH to look, and refusing to start moving without your husband. You chose not to though and the woman carried on getting annoyed, she was rude but you both picked your actions. It’s done now though, it’s not a huge deal, maybe just pay attention when booking things in the future. I wouldn’t dwell on it any further

I've sat in the wrong seat before now, in all innocence, a simple misunderstanding, and I didn't just move, I checked and duly apologised for being a twit.

But equally, I have also been challenged when I was sat in the right seat and they had misunderstood or in one case were pushing their luck because they wanted to sit next friends who had booked before them, which meant we would not have been able to enjoy it as a family.

It sounds to me like you did the right thing and the other mum was just being stroppy. Don't let it put you off going again, stuff like this happens with most things and you just check and adjust if needed.

How long from when she told you you were in the wrong seats until you moved?

I feel like this is going to sound like a lie, but honestly it’s true. My husband walked in first, said “should we put the kids in the middle of us? What seats.” So I said the numbers and I said the back row.” He counted and sat down so I just sat with him.

So wrong row, and wrong seat numbers? And you had to send your husband to check?

To me though, the back row is the row at the top. From a previous poster who worked at a cinema it seems to be a common misconception.

It couldn’t have been more than 2 minutes.

But we thought we had booked the back row.

But according to the seat numbers, you only had 3 seats and some of those seats were actually the wheelchair spaces which I think is what the poster is wondering about

Two minutes while the film was on?

Thank you, that was my thinking. I absolutely apologised when I realised we were wrong.

We had four seats, it must have been a typo.

Yes

Row A is always the front row, but no excuse for rudeness.

And the other point? That you’d have been sat in the gap for the wheelchair rather than the seats?

Exactly. If this post is even true, OP just sat in the back. It wasn't a mistake as the seat numbers didn't even match.