Originally Posted by IsleOfMan

I'll be the voice of dissent. Do you know the full story of the family looking for accommodation? Is it possible there's more to it than just the convenience of a family sitting together, hence the (mildly) drastic measure of paging you to the desk?

I have 2 sons with ASD and it absolutely would not be a workable solution for my wife and I to fly separated from them, even by a row or a few feet. If that meant giving up an upgrade and keeping our original coach seats, so be it. That said, if it would be workable to maintain the upgrade I would be genuinely grateful to a GA who made an effort to sort it out. I wouldn't be bothered by the GA being 100% transparent when explaining the situation to anyone else involved, but others might appreciated discretion as well, and I can understand that and would personally hope their privacy was put ahead of the OP's desire to not have his name announced in public.

I'm not saying this is the OP's situation, but sometimes there is more at play than meets the eye. If it were this type of situation, I wouldn't think anything the GA did was out of place. The OP would certainly be within his rights to cling to his assigned seats, but it would make me question his humanity a bit if, knowing the details, he still wouldn't swap and still felt as annoyed at the request.

If it's 100% clear that it's mom/dad and their teenage kids with no other issues at play and you want to be that guy, go for it. But if there's a chance there's more involved that you just don't know, maybe think about making someone else's rough situation a little easier, even if there's only a chance that's the case.