I quite enjoy these threads!!
My story.....
I was flying back from AMS to LGW in BA's Club Europe last June. I checked in online at T-24 as soon as it opened and had the choice of virtually every seat in the Club Europe Cabin (Only 1A&B had gone) - so I bagged 1E.
Got on the plane and settled in, and was stuck into my book while waiting for boarding to finish. I was dimly aware of the arrival of the passenger in 1C when they chucked their bag on the seat... and a couple of minutes later heard a loud voice say "I'm sure she'll move for you dear!" I looked up to see two dragons glaring at me - one was obviously my seat mate, the other her travelling companion who clearly (from the comment and the fact that she hadn't moved down the cabin) wanted to sit together.
I looked back and said politely, "If that comment was directed at me, I'm afraid I don't want to move - when I checked in I had the choice of just about every seat in the cabin and this is the one I wanted to sit in the most, so Sorry - but no!" The ladies then had one of those private conversations that are loud enough for everyone else to hear about inconsiderate young people with no respect for their elders (nice of them to describe a 53 year old as young!!), and then I realised that seatmate was proposing to get her friend to sit in the middle (blocked) seat between us.
At that point I caught the eye of the stewardess and she came over to see what was going on.... and told them in no uncertain terms, that the middle seat was blocked off for passengers comfort - and could only be used if both the aisle and window passengers agreed to it.. The dragons then looked at me expectantly again - and as they had been so rude - I said no again - explaining that if I wanted to sit 3 abreast i wouldn't have bothered paying to travel in Club!
The stewardess then sugggested that they ask the companion' seat mate if he was prepared to swap seats (he was in in 6E), but they said that my seatmate didn't want to sit all the way back there... (neither did I honeybunch!!)
Anyway companion was told to go and take her seat, and dragon 1 threw herself into her seat - and proceeed to glower at me for the rest of the trip as well as fill up the middle seat with her bag, and tutted and glowered at me when I asked the steward serving us for drinks and responded to his questions.
As we were leaving the plane - I couldn't resist saying to her that had they actually asked me directly to change in a pleasant tone - I might have considered it if they had a good reason for sitting together in the front row, but the way they had gone about it had ensured that there was no way on God's earth that I was moving out of that seat!!