Originally Posted by
BingBongBoy
Happened before and likely will happen again.
I operated ex-HEL Christmas even 2008... We had already been cancelled twice due to weather, we were the only BA aircraft that made it in on the 22nd, the return was cancelled, so we had pax from the 22nd, 23rd and booked 24th to try and accommodate. Some went on AY and we took everyone we could. CE was removed and the aircraft made all Y, we used the 2 jump seats at the back for commercial, we had two staff in the flight deck, there was not a single sitting surface available for anyone... And not a word was uttered. Everyone knew why and no one asked for anything bar their usual cup of tea or coffee, and being a HEL flight, about 20 alcoholic drinks.
It wasn't a HEL flight but I remember being on a CE no middle-seat-free flight in CE after one of the mass cancellations. No-one complained. I certainly didn't - I didn't even think to complain, let alone seek compensations. It was a pragmatic solution, and I was rather happy to see it got more people to where-ever they were going.
(For those interested, the person seated in the middle was a displaced CE passenger.)