Hi everyone,

This happened to me today, and really bothered me for the rest of the day:

I flew SNA-LAX-SBA-SJC to visit my SO and rack up some miles today. It didn't start on the best foot, as all flights were more than 15 minutes late, and it looked like I would miss the SBA-SJC segment. Turns out they were late too, and I was the sixth and last passenger to board. This being a turboprop, the FA had asked everyone to move to the rear of the aircraft and take any open seat prior to my arrival. When I arrived I found a couple happily occupying the exit row seat I reserved 3 weeks ago. I politely informed the lady of the situation, and she replies that it was with permission from the FA. However, I specifically reserved the exit row because it had the best pitch in the entire aircraft, and I wanted that for this run. It meant so much to me that I paid extra in time and money to make sure I had the same seat assignment throughout the trip. The FA came by and the passenger reluctantly got up to move one row up, but not without shooting me very dirty looks.

This basically ruined the rest of my day because I'm in a dilemma - I wanted the seat bad enough to reserve it 3 weeks ahead and fight to keep it, but I'm also the type of person that wants to make everyone happy.

Was I within my rights to do this? Would you have done it? Would you have done different?