AlanW, while you seemingly belittle the experience from up there on your pedestal, the 37 times (THIRTY-SEVEN!) was just a 45 second snapshot. The actual count was hundreds and hundreds of times, and, frankly, I don't want or expect my children to have to sit and listen to that sort of language. Unpleasant people are part and parcel of life, feeling genuinely threatened and fearful of the situation turning violent, and being trapped less than a meter away from the person who would be issuing the violence, I can assure you, was not an experience I care to repeat. While airlines, nor indeed anywhere, guarantees to keep you from being offended, they do have an obligation to keep you safe. This was an entirely avoidable situation that fortunately didn't turn any nastier than having an extremely uncomfortable flight, but I shouldn't have to spend 2 hours trapped in a metal tube sat next to a passenger who genuinely could have started throwing punches at me, my wife, and my kids. Without making sweeping generalisations, the passenger in question looked very much like he could handle himself.

A selection of the other beauties I noted down during the 45 second transcription I took;

What’s your f'ing problem you c***
I’ll knock you spark out
F'ing spare seat f'ing c***
What’s your f'ing problem
Look after me you c*** or I swear to god
F'ing knock you spark out
Are you talking about me you c***s
F off
F'ing staring at me

I could go on, but don't think I need to.

Anyway, eventually - and it was actually the day after BA belatedly replied and said they had referred it to Iberia - I got a reply from Iberia themselves. They did apologise for our experience, and offered 20k Avios per passenger, and covered the additional parking and taxi fees we incurred while delayed by the police. I was happy enough with that outcome, even if seemingly I should have just accepted the situation as being normal.