Originally Posted by
rickg523
I think this is an unreasonable position. In case of an emergency requiring evacuation, a parent whose child is 7 rows behind him, is not going to leave the airplane in an orderly fashion. He's going to get his kid and you don't want to be in his way when he's heading upstream. It's a serious safety issue and it should be a regulatory requirement that children under 12 be seated adjacent to a parent.
The parent could always put the child in the "forward" seat of the pair, no? [Assuming that "the nearest emergency exit may be behind you" doesn't apply.] That said, if I'm seated next to a small child and it's a real emergency evac, I'm grabbing the child on my way out and, if possible, signalling the parent.
That said, if asked politely and offered a similar seat (e.g. non-bulkhead aisle in same class of service as I will have (universally) booked) then I am much more inclined to go along with it than if I (a) find a poacher seated in my seat (yet another reason to pre-board) or (b) someone 'makes demands'.
The last time I agreed was on 'Flot to accommodate a couple and I was offered aisle for aisle, and wound up sitting next to a guy I had a great convo with. The last time I refused was when the alternate seat (still aisle for aisle) was next to a person who had been a total [crap] show in the boarding area, and during boarding, and probably in all other aspects of her life. And I mean there was lots of
DRAMA. I declined and basically said, "I'm not sitting next to that horror show" at which point the guy resigned himself to his fate.
O/H