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?

Well, a pp says this:

A few people have said it should be obvious Row A was front row, in my local cinema Row A is the back row. So don't think it's a big a clue as some might think.

Google agrees. A is usually the front, but not always.

YABU, when it should have been clear that you’d booked front row seats (it’s very evident on the booking page).

YABVVU for saying that you felt to tell the woman that your child was autistic too. It’s not a competition. She clearly booked those specific seats to accommodate her son.

Vue, Odeon & Showcase have different prices for different seating. So that's 3 already

Ah it’s a genuine mistake don’t worry about it a minute longer. The lady was rude but that’s her, not you. If you said oops sorry and move in the end then no harm done.

Even my local independent cinema has premium seats....which are at the back.

I think I would be annoyed at having to move in the dark....as if it's dark that suggests the lights have gone down and everyone is ready to watch and they came in late.

However I would have known A is the front, especially with the image shown which does show the screen at the front. It's the same in the theatre too.

I go to the showcase all the time and they don’t where I am - it’s all recliners though

Surely if you and your husband can’t work out which seats you’ve booked, can’t manage to see if you are or are not in the right seats when challenged, can’t do a screen shot and can’t move your own children then your lives must be full of similar mishaps.

Turning up to parties on the wrong day, losing your car in the carpark and hanging wallpaper upside down that this is a blip on the radar for you.

OP even included the fact that the seats cost extra in her second screenshot. She went to odeon where they charge more for better seats and she knew this when booking

It's obviously a new way for them to screw money out of punters along with massively overpriced drinks & popcorn. All of our local cinemas have a single price for all seats but I took a look at the Vue cinema that opened recently in a nearby city & that has 3 or 4 different ticket prices for each screen.

TBH we only go to see movies at our local cinema which is £4.99 regular or £7.99 for IMAX screen.

Also why was the husband weebling off to find someone in the cinema? Just ask someone else on the same row?

Maybe he was escaping from the embarrassing confrontation, @Heronwatcher !

OP Yanbu, and neither were the other family. As you say, it was a genuine mistake, and I can see why. The ODEON need to put SCREEN where the SCREEN is, to prevent such errors. Weird that they don't, most other brands do, these days.

How much blumming food did you take in that one of you couldn’t move it? I hate, really hate, people who can’t sit for an hour or so in a cinema without eating their stinky food - and leaving it lying about in the cinema when you leave instead of clearing it up. Eat before you go in and take a little baggie of sweeties to munch on, or wait until the film is finished and make going for a pizza part of the treat. Don’t for heavens sake start teaching your children they can’t sit in a cinema without eating.

I would support any cinema chain that cut out the adverts and instead brought back the cinema interval when you could buy a choc ice and a carton of kiora orange juice ( not related to real oranges in any sense) from a bored teen age usherette with a tray around their neck.

ps and the other woman was right, you were in their seats and should have been politer.

The convention in cinemas, theatres & other venues is that row A is always the front row.

😂

@LetsGoOutside what was the film, and did your kids enjoy it in the end?

I’m with those pp who get that it was a genuine mistake on your part, and I can see how it took the shine off what was supposed to be a fun family treat. For future reference, the seats will always only have the number on them. You need to look elsewhere at the end of each row for the row letter. I believe you when you say you couldn’t see it, but from now on you can be assured it will be there somewhere so keep looking! Or ask before you sit if unsure.

Love how you cropped the image to exclude that the screen is clearly at the front

I did this once, I went to a different cinema chain than usual and when booking I thought I booked the back row but on the booking page the screen was at the bottom not the top and I just didn't notice. I was mortified when 2 people were confused as hell when walking past us, I had a quick check on my phone then realised and had to skulk off to the front row 😂mistakes happen, don't sweat it, at least now you know.

I voted yabu. I do understand that if you haven’t been to the cinema for a long time you might have mistaken the rows as I’m sure I did that years ago.

But I’m not entirely convinced that there were no letters, that’s an Odeon and I’ve never been to an Odeon with no letters.

You should have moved when they asked you to as you were in the wrong. Yes she was a bit rude but she was probably pissed off that you were in her seat.

It sounds like you made a genuine mistake and now you know for future reference when booking online, that the screen is always at the front of the seats (disclaimer: have found this for every every cinema I have booked online).

Our cinema has 4 different screens, I know that 1 is the big upstairs one,but can never remember which is which with the others. With 1 you walk in to the bottom and up stairs, and with another you walk in at the back and downstairs, so I can see how you were confused thinking that disabled would be at the front when you booked.

It does vary from cinema to cinema.

Also most cinemas have a seating plan displayed, usually once you go through the door to a particular screen.

These were obviously front seat to me; row A is always the front and they are facing the screen if you look at the seats. I've been in a similar situation where I had the right seats, but the wrong day! I moved immediately and swapped them at the box office. I do think she could have been more polite about it though, especially as she was clearly late if the house lights had gone down.

You were unreasonable not to check better both when booking and sitting down if this wasn't something you were familiar with. Even if you didn't realise the massive glowing Odeon rectagle as being the screen, why would you assume A was at the back? I get that it could be but why would you assume?

I am not sure I would have moved straight away if I thought I was right but I wouldn't have sat down without knowing I was right. The numbers and letters are always there even if tricky to spot (especially after they turn out the lights).

I am a check, check and double checker so can't understand people who just wing it and hope for the best!

I would hate having to challenge people who were in my seats so I can see why they were a bit grumpy when you didn't move.

We sat one row behind where we should have been after going in late in the dark. The people who came in whose seats they were acted like we had murdered their first born child, when we moved, explained and apologised, I could still hear them complaining.

Yes, I think the strength of the reaction is what prompted @LetsGoOutside to post about it. As a pp said, we all make mistakes and so when on the receiving end of someone else’s (ie someone’s in your seat) there’s really no need to go straight to aggression. I suppose in both cases, the people arriving to find their seats occupied were running late, so that could ramp up the stress levels.

I can see both sides of this. They wanted to get their Autistic child settled before the movie started so it must have been really frustrating for them that you didnt just believe them.

Just one of those annoying conflicts and I'm sure you won't make that mistake again.