Originally Posted by
joshuamillman
Absolutely rediculous situation. Flying LAX-EWR. It was one of those days where everything was just wrong and I was miserable. I was on an A321 and had an aisle seat in coach row 8. I picked the seat when I printed my boarding pass. Didn't pay extra for it, but I selected it and it was on my boarding pass. Not only was it an aisle but it was toward the front of the plane.
I board and sure enough some guy is sitting in my seat. I stood in the aisle and faced him and before I even said one word he looks at me and says, with attitude "don't even ask me to move. this is my wife and daughter here and that's your problem, so go find another seat".
Oh, and it gets better. He takes that tear off stub from the boarding pass and flicks it at me.
I didn't say a word. Not wanting any type of confrontation. I look toward the front of the plane and motion with my hand to the stewardess to come over.
She comes over and I explain the situation. She asks for the guy's boarding pass, which is now on the floor by my feet. She reaches down, picks it up and then the unthinkable. She hands it to me and says "ok sir, this is your new seat. It's a window seat. Here you go".
Without arguing or creating a scene I took the seat. Second to last row of the plane window. Crushed for 6 hours.
This is the type of customer service you get nowadays.
And plz don't lecure me about what I should have done. The plane was 100% full. I couldn't move anywhere. If I had done anything it would have caused a massive scene on the plane.
Obviously in hindsight you know what you should have done, so no problem, I'll spare you the lecture.
My only further comment is that clearly the flight attendant (now I WILL lecture you that the term "stewardess" is now at least 15 years antiquated...don't use it anymore) took her cue from you and "assigned" you to the poacher's less favorable seat to similarly prevent the massive scene and just take the path of least resistance to getting the plane boarded and to wheels-up. Yes, she was wrong to do that, but she did it anyway. Flight crews are completely weary of the overall childish and/or boorish behavior of their SLC (that's "self-loading cargo") these days, between seat disputes, WOBS (that's "the War for Overhead Bin Space"), and everything else, and are just trying to get through each flight with as little confrontation as possible. Yes, "the type of customer service you get nowadays". Sucks, doesn't it?
