[dutchyankee]

@ canucklad, 100% with you on that one. Political Correctness has run rampant and the number of people playing the sex/race/sexuality/religion card whenever confronted has become absurd. Like you say, people actively seeking to be offended to get some personal gain from it.

[Ah,Mr.Bond]

On the subject of those who do not want to pay for pre allocation…
This happened in the BA lounge at Singapore in March travelling back CW……
Lounge receptionist [LR] “Would Mr AhMrBond [AMB] please make himself known to the BA staff on reception desk”
AMB [thinking] “Ohhh, could this be an upgrade into First? I have only ever been called to reception once before and this is what it was about”….. so eagerly made way to lounge reception.
LR “AhmrBond, you have exit row window 62K booked on the upper deck this evening” [this was the 747-400 so is the only acceptable seat worth taking in the entire CW cabin and was booked specifically, and non negotiable!!]
AMB ” Yes that’s right, why?
LR “Well we have a family travelling tonight who are not seated together so wonder if you would be prepared to move?”
AMB ” Er, Well, this is the best seat in CW and was booked specifically…. 2 months ago…. er, depends where I would be moved to…”
LR “Oh not far, just to the adjacent window exit seat, 62A”.
If you can imagine the look of both disappointment of not being upgraded, and relief that the suggested alternative was the same seat on the other side, and not in the middle of 4 on the lower deck, which is what I expected it would be.
Had the option been the latter, the conversation would not have ended so amicable. I would not have tolerated a move to an inferior seat for such [or any] reason.
Turns out that in the lounge a family of 4 arrived. They were rather obnoxious, stuck up, well she was anyway, sounded like they lived in London’s Kensington or Mayfair or such like, the 2 children were brats.
On boarding it was one of the brats that sat in my original seat. Certainly no effort of thanks was made by the parents for saving their precious daughter from sitting next to some random.
Chances are there was 4 seats all together in the lower deck that they could have taken no problem, but bet they they thought were above sitting in the main cabin and insisted on being upstairs. If you are travelling with young kids, then sorry, if you book with an airline that charges for seats, then you pay. It’s clear you do not want to be split up. Don’t rely on others generosity, especially when you are trying to blag the most prized seats on a BA flight!
To finish off though, I will say that charging for business class pre allocated seating is an absolute disgrace of the highest order. This would have costed the family over £1200 round trip in pre seat allocation, not surprised they did not do it.

[Poshgirl58]

Canucklad, I like it! Reminds me of an ex-colleague’s description of “Richard Cranium”. I will leave the loose translation to you.

Dutchyankee – never had any problem with Monarch 😉 One day I will turn left not right…….

[Charles-P]

‘AhMrBond’ Fully agree re Business Class seating pre-allocation charges, a disgrace.

On the occasions where I have been told I must pay to choose a seat I have made clear if that’s their policy I will cancel the ticket and fly with someone else.

[Tim2soza]

Flying back from Dubai in C on Emirates many moons ago, one person decided they needed to be centre of attention for the whole flight. Food and wine not up to scratch, seat poor, Q’s for the loos not acceptable, everything. The cabin crew were given a tough time. Said person in possession of a lot of recently purchased bling; I suspect from Dubai Duty free. A very fancy watch was taken out of its box and waved around for all to see.

On arrival into LHR, and passing through the customs green channel, out pops a customs official. “Excuse me, please could you step over here and open your bags for an inspection” – I am convinced the cabin crew called through to set this up. I passed by a fuming PAX with a wry grin on me!

[AnthonyDunn]

@ Charles-P – 17/06/2015 13:36 BST

“On the upside my South African agent tells me that this new “self identify as black” is going to be a real boon to him as he can now reach his black empowerment quota by simply asking a few of his white staff to reclassify themselves…”

Absolutely priceless!

[AravindhaPrakash]

I had a similar experience though not so much confrontational !!! I flew TAM from New York to Sao Paulo-a 10 hour flight in March. I paid for and obtained a bulk head Aisle seat with extra leg room. A couple walked into the plane and looked at me and gave me the most disappointed and unapproving look. The male then sits next to me while his GF sits 4 rows back . He then asks me if I would change seats and sit where his GF is sitting. I politely told him that I paid and needed the extra legroom space. I then asked him why doesn’t he shift to the seat next to his GF and have that person sit here. To which he very cooly replied- “She is not worth the trouble”

[JohnHarper]

Only one experience of this from many years ago Mrs JH and I boarded an aircraft to find our exit row seats occupied by a couple with four children. The mother was insistant that she had to have the extra room to ‘see to them’ during the flight and that seats in exit rows should only be given to parents with children. The crew explained that young children were far too young to sit in an exit row and even if they had been allocated which they had not they would have to move.

Mother threatened all sorts including finally that she would not travel. She unfortunately for her called the bluff of the crew as the jetty was reattached and the door opened and all six were required to leave the aircraft. There was a round of applause from those who witnessed the way the crew handled this unfortunate episode.

[FRANCESCABARNES]

Caucasian???

[wastedlife]

January 2008, flying back from Sao Paulo to London via JFK, First on American, Club on BA day flight. I was in the Gold lounge having breakfast, when I was called by reception. “Oh good” I thought, thinking that generally meant I was being moved somewhere between rows 1-5. Not this time. “You’re in 64A aren’t you?” the receptionist asked. “Yes” I said. “That’s a baby bassinet seat” she continued. “Yes” I said. “Someone else needs it” she said. “Well, what are you going to do for me then?” I asked, wishing I wasn’t wearing shorts (it was the middle of Brazilian summer) and a t-shirt that said “Love Missile” on it. At this point this took a turn south.

“Er, how is 60J for you?”
“No. No way. What about rows 1-5?”
“We can’t do that sir”
At that point the gentleman in question arrived – looked a bit like Sean Pertwee – and the whole thing descended fairly rapidly into a row. Or rather, he completely lost his temper as I pointed out to him I had only selected the seat about 12 hours previously and if it meant that much to him he could have got there ten hours before me – and I refused to move unless it was to F. Then he flounced off into the Galleries lounge and the receptionist just zoned out.

Wasn’t exactly sure what the conclusion was, so went to talk to the gate agent, who told me to stay in 64A, and that she would deal with Pertweealike. Whom of course I saw on the ground at LHR, happily sat in a bassinet seat downstairs in Club with his wife and babe – at which point the penny dropped that it was just a try on to get upstairs.

[Cedric_Statherby]

I join this thread late – and have much enjoyed it – but I am surprised no-one at all has commented on the *other* bit of Miss Obnoxious’s tirade that started it, when she fired the unanswerable “I don’t appreciate your attitude just because I’m a woman”.

Does she mean that she thought Charles-P’s attitude to her was just because she was a woman, or that she did not appreciate it just because she was a woman (and a complete **** to boot).

[Charles-P]

Cedric – When I first posted this I did not include the full extent of the exchange between us and she did indeed claim I was displaying some sort of misogynist bullying. She was very much the “I know my rights” type, the irony is of course she was in the wrong.

[stevescoots]

Unfortunately it’s all too common when flying out of US cities, especially low income ones. You can guarantee some coach passengers will try to carpet bag first seats and it takes a crowbar to get them to move

[SealinkBF]

I don’t think rudeness is limited to ‘the younger generation’ and definitely not ‘low income’. What a thing to say.

[jsn55]

More fuel for my mantra: board early, stow quickly, whip out book, head down, never look up, one-word answer to questions. There are so many weirdos on airplanes … I want nothing to do with any of them. I know I have missed out on getting to know memorable people over the years, but having to put up with some of this behaviour is never worth it.

[Author]

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