I was sitting next to an American businessman whom I assumed had connected from another flight on the way to CDG last month, sitting in the last row of CE which was the A319 overwing exit Row 9.

He insisted on talking on his Blackberry right up until well after the engines were on, despite frequent attempts by the cabin crew to get him to turn it off.

He first put his laptop bag under the seat, before I asked him to move it. He refused. The cabin crew asked him to move it. He complied.

Then out came the laptop. I asked him to put it back, once again explaining that we were in an emergency exit row. He complied (he's getting there... slowly... ).

Then the jacket came off. He first put it under the seat on top of his laptop bag. When that got moved, he succeeded in trying to hang it on the table catch on the back of the seat in front. The cabin crew asked him to move it. It got moved to the B seat, before finally moving it to the overhead locker at the request of the cabin crew.

His response to me after this debacle; 'It's complicated sitting here, isn't it!'. Well, I just nearly exploded with laughter.

He turned out to be quite a nice chap, we had a brief discussion about the benefits of the extra legroom at the emergency exit seat.

He seemed to be a regular traveller, with AnotherAirline's frequent flyer cards on his bags (IIRC) and only taking one drink and refusing the meal. I've always thought it's this type of person that would cost me my life in a potential evacuation situation. Luckily I was the one in the window seat...