Flew from LHR-SFO recently in a First to be told at the boarding gate that my seat was broken and that I would 'have to move'. Now, these things happen, but is the boarding gate really the most appropriate time - could they not have told us earlier? It was said in such a dismissive tone like it was the norm.

Onboard the crew moved us around but we couldn't sit together and ended up in Row 5 which was so noisy in comparison to our front row seats. As an aside, the First cabin (NF) was in such a tatty stats.

Are we eligible for compensation?

Thanks.