Easyjet - Upset re seat allocation

[BeaLola]

Ok - I'm adding my big girl pants (literally) as I can appreciate not everyone will agree with me (this is fine) but please accept that Im embarrassed and upset about this....

So today I check in online for our holiday - thare are 4 adults going inc me &DH. I do not want to pay extra for extra leg rooms seats or to sit somewhere specific or even all together as we are not bothered - its a short flight - I ignore those options & let them alloacte me seats - the allocation I dont see until I checked the boarding passes - I have been allocated a seat in row 11. I checked on the website to see where seat is & the info blurb basically says you can't sit in that row if you need a seat belt extender which I will (I am larger but can fit seat just have a large stomach). I try to change seats but cannot as checked in so i go to the chat function.

The agent (real person) basically says I can move but I have to pay extra £ for a suitable seat. I say I dont want to pay any additional £ but he advises as its my choice I have to if I want to move - I do point out that the seat was randomly allocated to me and I happy to sit in that row but the regulatioons on the website wont allow me to. He says my only option is to pay. His other suggestion is that I swap with one of the other 3 in the party - but they are also in row 11. He then says staff will sort it when I board ... Im not happy with last suggestion because for one what if there isnt a spare seat & also its embarrasing & could delay tinhgs trying to switch nce on plane. Feel really upset :-(

@BeaLola It does seem unreasonable that the airline has allocated you a seat which, by their regulations, you can't sit in and they won't resolve this before you fly. It seems incredible to me that no-one in Customer Services can access the seating plan and just manually swap over two seat allocations, but maybe there's good reason for it - who knows? Sadly OP, it seems that you're just going to have to let the cabin crew sort this out, unless you're prepared to pay extra £ to switch just your seat - how much would it be worth to you OP to save any potential embarrassment? (Not that you should feel any.)

It is annoying but don't pay to swap.
Those seats are in demand!
Get on, find row 11, plonk yourselves down. Politely ask for a seat belt extender. They will say oops sorry we will have to move you. Tell them your whole family is happy to swap so that another party does not have to be split up.
Another party will be overjoyed to swap for the extra legroom.

We once got allocated 2 exit row seats for me and husband with our kids several rows back. We split the kids and one of them sat in exit row with me. Told not allowed. I said oh its my husband's seat, he can swap back but our kids will be without a parent (one was a teen) so let us know if they need anything. Steward unprompted asked the folk sitting near our kids if they wanted an exit row seat. There were multiple volunteers!

The airline doesn’t ask for your BMI or dress size upon booking, they allocate randomly for free. If you know you need a specific seat- because you need an extender- then you pay for that seat.

@Mrsttcno1 she doesn't want a specific seat and didn't ask for one, that is the whole point, read the OP.

And they cannot ask someone to pay extra to have a seatbelt extender

I have. The free service the airline provides is randomly allocated seats, if OP needs a different seat because she needs an extender then she pays for that.

So I have been allocated an exit row seat and ended up needing an extender (I don't always need one so didn't think at the time), I asked for an extender at the seat and the steward very discreetly said I would not be able to sit there and asked the passenger travelling alone in the row behind if they would mind swapping as I wasn't able to open the exit row door if needed- they actually said no as they needed their bag close by, no probs, someone on the opposite aisle to them swapped and all was fine.

Honestly, everyone is so busy getting themselves settles and sorted that no one bats an eye.

Flying on easyJet I was actually given an extender while in the exit row. Didn’t realise it was against policy, they never said. The belts on the way out had fitted me, as they usually do on easyJet, but the exit row belt wasn’t as long. They never moved me.

Also I wouldn’t risk leaving it to the plane. We had this on our Cyprus flight and nobody offered to move, the party of 2 ended up leaving the plane. It was lots of families and couples and we had all paid to sit where we were, nobody was prepared to move for someone who didn’t bother to make sure they had what they needed.

They won't embarass you, just tell them discretely you need a seatbelt extender and they will move you - it's happened to me in the past.

No sympathy you should have paid to book seats ,

Why should someone pay extra to book seats when they have no preference as to where they sit? And it is not legal to charge extra for a seatbelt extender.

Yes, I'm well aware of that, I'm a frequent flyer. The point is the airline knows now and I don't see why the agent OP spoke to couldn't switch her seat now. He told her it was her choice to switch, but it isn't - it's the airline's regulations which make it impossible for her to occupy the seat they've allocated her. Get it now?

This is only if there is someone prepared to swap, as I say on our last Cyprus flight there wasn’t, and I imagine the lady on that flight did feel embarrassed however nobody was prepared to swap their seat for someone who didn’t bother making sure they had an appropriate seat.

That happened to me some time ago. Just go to the allocated seat and the flight attendant will sort it out. There will be no problem getting someone to swap as these seats have extra legroom and someone will jump at the chance.

The airline is legally obliged to ensure your safety and if they put you in a seat that cannot be made as safe as the others for whatever reason then they have to sort it out, not the passenger. It's pretty much a non-issue though as she won't have any trouble getting a seat swap once on the plane (which the staff need to organise as it is a safety issue, not a preference or comfort issue).

O thought the exit rows needed people sitting in them? I've seen people being moved into them when they were unoccupied

Indeed, and as PPs have stated, there will be many other passengers happy to swap due to the extra legroom in the exit row.

Are we sure that row 11 is an exit row? With Easyjet that's only the case on the A319 (https://www.aerolopa.com/u2). I ask because I'm amazed that the computer would give away four exit row seats (which they could charge for) unless they were pretty much the last seats available, which would normally mean the plane was leaving in about three hours.

OP, as others have said, it will be no problem, they will sort it out and there will be someone tall who will jump at the chance of more legroom. But if you don't pay and you leave checking until late, this sort of thing is going to happen, just due to basic logic. Imagine that you were the last person to check in (after all, someone has to be) and the only seat left was 11A — they would have to give you that one. I guess they could ask everyone if they need an extension, or if there is any other reason why you can't be in the exit row, when booking, but there are already lots of questions and some people would get that wrong (Headline: "I was denied boarding because of I made a tiny mistake in some daft piece of plane bureaucracy").

By the way, if anyone wants to know why the rules about the exit row seem so fussy (no younger children, no disabilities, nothing under the seat, you can't have your sweater on your lap), it all dates back to the 1985 Manchester disaster. Read up on that, and how people died because the exits were blocked, and you will want the rules to be followed to the letter. Something I learned recently is that the cabin crew have to ensure that everyone in the exit row has to understand either English or the home language of the airline — there were two Chinese tourists in the exit row on my last flight who didn't understand the flight crew, so they had to move.

This ^.

They aren’t going to tell everyone why you need to move and there are so many reasons why people can’t sit in the emergency exit row that no one will guess why you need to swap eg age, unable to open or unwilling to be responsible for opening the emergency exit, reduced mobility due to disability or injury, pregnancy, they want to stow luggage under the seat instead of in the overhead lockers, the passenger doesn’t speak the language of the flight crew etc.

It literally says they're all in row 11 on the opening post.

Op that sucks, keep on at them.

Would you say that if the reason for not being able to use an exit row seat was something else?

Thank you - feeling a bit cheered up now - I am a bit larger especially around stomach at moment due to medication.

For whoever asked I did go back online and there are still free seats available to book so to me seems stranger that then then offered all 4 of us row 11 which a new booker would have maybe been happy to pay extra for as extra leg room - it is £30.99 per person outbound flight (didnt check return).

I have contacted easyjet but automatic reply email said 14 days reply turnaround - we go in 3 weeks. I will be at airport early to drop baggage and also because I always leave hours beforehand because I would rather be early than stressing in any potential traffic jam

It says in the OP "His other suggestion is that I swap with one of the other 3 in the party - but they are also in row 11."