I witnessed (again) a situation in UA related to this topic this week, whether family boarding, or paying for seats. Upthread I said that family boarding can lead to seat poaching.
A mother with two children preboarded my UA flight. The GA half-heartedly tried to tell her that she was not permitted to board, but the mother claimed needing extra time.
Mother and children sat in the first row of E+, and boarding continued. Apparently their actual seats were 3 middles near the back, including the last row (which UA often blocks off in case of these situations) Two of the passengers who had seats in row 7 apparently confronted her, but gave up and took middle seats. The woman in 7D did not give up. (7D is arguably the best seat in Economy on a UA Airbii) The FA's tried to convince the mother to be reseated, or to take other seats, but she refused to move out of row 7.
The FA had the passenger from 7D move into the galley (directly in front of my seat) until things were resolved. The woman was very calm and quiet, and said that she was empathetic for a mother and chidren, but that she had paid $150 for E+ access to meet her particular needs. She was severely claustrophic, had booked months in advance, and had paid for a seat which met her needs. To move from 7D to the last row, middle seat, non recline for a 5,5 hour flight was not acceptable, especially as she had paid a signficant amount for E+.
The purser finally asked the pilot to intervene, and his response was 'move the family'. Since that wasn't going to happen, ground staff was called. A manager arrived (the crew later said to me that he didn't work for UA or former CO, and was an airport staff member) The manager didn't understand the situation, thought that the woman from 7D had been assigned a middle seat, and was trying to dislodge the family from their rightful seats. His response was for her to 'take her seat'. The woman tried to explain that she wanted to do exactly that, but he cut her off. Then he announced over the PA that he would buy a drink for someone who would take a 'lesser seat' for this woman, but that they would have to give up their aisle seat for a back row middle seat.
Of course there were no volunteers, and he finally told the woman to deplane, and that she could fly 'in the next few days'. There was no offer of IDB or VDB, no hotel offered, no guarantee of a flight. The woman asked who would reimburse her E+ fee, and she was cut off with a threat that if she didin't deplane now, the police would be called to remove her.
During this conversation, 3 FAs, the purser, and the pilot were all visibly upset, and whispering 'this isn't right' and 'it isn't her fault'. When the threat of police was made, the pilot intervened, and thanked the manager and told him it would be handled. The woman burst into tears, and redfaced walked to the last row middle seat. Several people heckled or booed as they thought that she was the reason for the delay. After takeoff, we were advised that due to the lengthy delay there was no fresh food service on the 5,5 hour flight.
I did offer up my F meal for her (admittedly not a hardship as I wouldn't eat it anyways), and the purser gave the crew instructions to give her anything she needed complimentary, and to take care of her.
None of you will be able to convince me that this was handled well, or that the woman did anything wrong, or was somehow to blame. At OLCI, there were about 1/3 seats free in E, including seats together. I was in the gate area for about 25 minutes before boarding, and did not see the mother speak to the GA. Perhaps she thought that UA is like WN, and didn't realise that she in effect committed theft of service (UA crew often used to ask seat poachers how they would be paying for the E+ seat they poached, and on more than one occassion I had a passenger be threatened that they would have to move or pay on landing)
In the end I wrote to support the crew, but also to try and ensure the woman has her E+ fee refunded. UA has a 'no refunds' policy for E+, and I suspect that the manager filed a report making her out to be the issue, when in this case it was absolutely the mother (and in this case not the airline either) who was at fault.
Apologies for the long post, but I myself was the woman in 7D in past, and have experienced similar situations several times. Perhaps some of the parents who think that they are in the right will understand why sometimes the behaviour of some parents influences how some of us feel about this topic.