I understand it was a somewhat distressing situation for you, before the flight and also as you boarded, but maybe with the benefit of hindsight (and I am not trying to be harsh), how much difference would it have made if you did actually sit separately for one of the shortest longhauls in the network, coupled with the fact that it was a night flight and many of your fellow passengers would be sleeping anyway?

Not trying to provoke a reaction, but I cannot understand the obsession with sitting next to family, friends etc when it comes to sitting in a metal tube. (Travelling with young children is another matter, of course).