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 :-(

In the nicest way possible, it sounds just a tad entitled. If someone with long legs needs extra leg room, they have to pay. Why shouldn't someone with a large stomach have to pay too?

No. This only happens when you're flying BA.
Yes bitter experience is speaking 😡

Wow, you're determined to be vile aren't you? It's the airline's regulations which state that people who need a seatbelt extender can't sit in the emergency exit row that is the problem. OP doesn't care where she sits on the plane (which is why she hasn't paid for a specific seat allocation) and could sit anywhere else with a seatbelt extender without issue. It's the airline's random allocation of her seat that's the problem, due to their own regulations.

@Mrsttcno1 ah, I see. So what if the OP had been allocated that seat but is disabled (let's say severely arthritic hands) and would not be able to open the emergency exit as a result? Same thing? Or is it just people who are overweight who need to pay extra?

You've completely missed the point. OP doesn't care where she sits on the plane (unlike your long-legged passenger example) so won't pay for a specific seat. It's the airline's regulations which state that someone who needs an extender isn't allowed to sit in the emergency exit row - OP would happily sit there if they'd let her!

Well that's no actually correct is it. The long legged person could cram into a normal seat if they wanted to and just be uncomfortable. They would not be told by the airline that they're not allowed in the free/normal legroom seat. So that's the difference. Nobody needs extra legroom, they can sit twisted round and manage. OP needs a different row as she isn't allowed in that row.

OP - I'm sure they will sort it on the plane and hopefully quietly. It would never cross my mind that some seats you can't have an extender for. How odd, surely the seats are all the same....guess not!

it’s silly as if there are seats you can pay extra for now why can’t they just swap you - you will in fact be getting a cheaper seat.
But if you get to the plane as PP says they won’t tell people why you need to swap (if indeed the plane is full). But I hear you - I once needed an extender and while it’s always discreetly asked and given my son was in the aisle seat and once said in his naturally loud voice to the Spanish attendant half miming and saying it three different ways! I’m like ‘jeez she understands English and I don’t need the whole plane to know’!

Ah, "SqueezyJet" as my sister calls them! 😂Well, I'm sure this will get sorted out with minimum fuss OP (as PPs have stated, there will be plenty of taller passengers who will bite your hand off for a seat with extra legroom that they haven't had to pay for!). Hope you have a great holiday! 😎

We had this once with Ryanair, 5 of us in the group (3 adults and 2 children). They put the 2 children on this row - under 16s can't sit there because of Health & Safety or whatever.

I am sure they do it to be awkward, as they had all the passport info, so how they randomly allocated 2 x 11 year olds in over 16 seats is beyond me and didn't think to change before the day is beyond me.

Anyway, the flight crew sorted it all out for us and moved people accordingly. Try not to be embarrassed.

Yes you cannot sit in row 11 (& I think row 10) if you are under 16, disabled, pregnant need a saet extender and some other categories as well.

I get that some views will be that I am being entitled and should suck it up for being large/overweight - I get that. Quite a bit of me is in proportion - unfortunately its the bit that the seat belt goes aroiund that is much larger - distended is probably a good word - if I wasnt "older" someone else glancing at me may think I was pregnant.

To be frank the agent made me feel awful - yes its only £30.99 for each flight to move so only £62 which in life isnt a big deal however on the grounds I would willing sit in any seat that doesn't have a restriction about the extender belt which mut be 90% of the seats or more it feels gutting and I do feel upset.

OP I fly a lot and I promise you, you can just say to the cabin crew 'I wouldn't be able to deal with the door, I tried to ask your call centre to move me but they wouldn't, can you help?' and they will happily move you. You don't need to mention the seatbelt extender. A lot of health conditions, invisible ones, mean you can't sit there any no one will care why, they will just say okay cool, and ask someone else to sit there.

Do you actually need a seatbelt extender? Because the easyJet belts are much longer than some other airlines.

Anyway last year we were the row behind the extra legroom seats and a family had been allocated them and their children weren’t allowed to be on the exit row so they just swapped the entire row 12 with the entire row 11 and it was fine we got the extra leg room seats and they were put on our row. Was simple enough and everybody was happy.

This is on you, to be honest - you don’t like your seat but you also don’t want to pay so you’re fine with bothering everyone else for a few £ worth, knowing full well most people get annoyed at having to swap seats, especially with strangers.

My partner is too tall to seat comfortably anywhere else so he just forks out the money for extra leg room and everyone keeps it moving.

I’m surprised EasyJet didn’t move you. I had the same issue with Ryanair when they allocated me an exit row. I went online to their chat and they did do the same speil about paying to move seats and I just said I wasnt prepared to pay. They then moved our seats for free.

This isn't a case, as some posters seem to think, of an airline or airlines generating their own awkward regulations.

The rule causing the problem for the OP comes from the regulator..(possibly sub para c in the link below).

What does seem to be the problem is the way Easyjet are managing the situation...not great.

https://regulatorylibrary.caa.co.uk/965-2012/Content/AMC%20GM%202/AMC1%20CAT%20OP%20MPA%20165%20Passenger.htm

Proud of yourself now you know OP's distended stomach is due to the medication she's taking?

In your situation I would pay.
Think it’s unfair that you risk splitting up another couple or family.

Correct.

But OP doesn’t want a specific seat. She wants literally any seat that she’s legally and safely allowed to sit in. Which she has paid for, by paying for a ticket onto the plane in the first place. But the airline have not yet provided her with one, hence her upset/confusion/concern.

I suspect that the problem is that EasyJet allows passengers to purchase tickets and choose a paid seat or change to a paid seat up until check-in. AFTER you check in - for example, when you arrive at the pre-security counter to drop your bag - they can change your seat and as long as you are willing to take whatever's left there should not be a fee, just as if you'd been bumped off a previous flight so needed a seat assignment. This should be routine for them and shouldn't be visible or audible to anyone else.

Policy is here (expand the "Restricted Seats" section): https://www.easyjet.com/en/help/booking-and-check-in/choosing-a-seat

I would discreetly speak to an air steward as you board and they will sort it out.

I dont mind the seat but the regulations say I cant sit there - I was trying to get moved to any bog standard seat which will take an extender seat belt prior to leaving in 3 weeks time so none of my other travellers is inconvenienced because of my fat stomach on the day of departure - I didnt realise that easyjet would mind me moving from a seat they could sell for more money to a cheaper one.

Im sorry that I have been ill - I didnt want to be and I dont like the side effects of medication but I am incredibly happy to be alive and have the chance to go on holiday with my family which a lot of other people don't.

Sigh. Did you even read OP's opening post? It isn't a case of her "not liking" her seat - she's perfectly happy to sit in her allocated seat, but the airline won't allow her to due to regulations which state people who need extenders can't sit in the emergency exit row. OP is literally happy to sit anywhere on the plane (unlike your DH) so why should she pay extra? It's not her fault the airline's allocated her a seat that she's not allowed to sit in.

I think that user is clearly an unpleasant dickhead so will have to no shame!

This is what happens when you don’t select a seat. You think you’re being flexible but you aren’t. The airline will ensure you’re placed in an appropriate seat.

And the reason she can’t sit in her freely allocated seat is?? The airlines fault… no, I don’t think so.