It appeared as if there was an attempt to con me out of my seat on the flight BA from Delhi today. I will relate as much of the story as I can and would want a clue as to what really happened.
Mrs C and I were booked on this flight but on different PNRs as different methods of payment were required. I selected 62A for moi and 62B for Mrs C. At OLCI at -24hours, the seats were confirmed.
I passed the boarding point after Mrs C. My BC was taken from me and I was told that “the seat was not working” and I had been moved to an equivalent window seat. I wrongly assumed that I had been given 62K and it would be a simple matter to of Mrs C swapping 62B for 62J. Just before I got on the plane I realised I had been given 60A –not an equivalent seat to 62A at all. I walked back to the boarding point and protested and I was then told that the entertainment system on 62A was not working. I indicated that I would rather sit with Mrs C without the entertainment than otherwise. They re-scribbled 62A on my BP.
On getting on the plane, there was a lady fully settled on 62A with Mrs C on 62B. I politely told the occupant of 62A that she was on my seat. She had a scribbled 62A on her BP. She was moved downstairs to her “original seat”.
On seating down ready to cope with my AVODless trip, the CC came and brought out the screen. I was surprised that the CC would not be aware of a defective AVOD system and the boarding staff outside were aware. I should point out at this juncture that there was actually no problem with 62A entertainment system. The whole cabin entertainment system failed about 1 hour 40 minutes to Heathrow but this was not a peculiar problem to 62A. I missed a significant part of the film “Hunger Games”
The flight take-off was delayed due to some medical emergency. The CC came back and told me that I was sitting on the wrong seat and that the lady was a recent upgrade and was given that seat. I had paid a full fare. I insisted that I had chosen the seat before the lady in question and I had to seat with my wife (a Gold card holder).
I am aware that BA reserves the right to change seats for operational reasons. I could not think of a valid operational reason for my being bumped off my seat. The lady in question had a very significant limp and had a slow gait. As an orthopaedic surgeon, I did not (do not) think that she should be occupying an exit seat.
The whole experience left me unsettled as to why there was a need to tell me a lie that the AVOD was not working in order to displace me from my seat. There was also the misinformation that 60A that I was being moved to, was equivalent to 62A. Even though we were on different PNRs, our surname is very unusual and we travel together most times and we are in the same household account. To try and separate us and replace me with a person who was upgraded who should not have been seating in an exit seat was poor management.
Is there a logical explanation for what happened and was it necessary to tell me lies?