So I was flying MNL - AUH last week in Y. I selected a seat in the economy space section, and the day before the flight, I availed of the Neighbour-Free Seat option, paying about US$150.

I received a confirmation email of my successful purchase and the additional seat was reflected in my booking. All good.

Got to check in at MNL and the check in agent said that since the flight was full, they might need to occupy my extra seat. She said that they would try to avoid it if possible, but that if someone was there, I would be refunded.

Sure enough, about an hour before takeoff, I received an email notifying me of my refund and that the extra seat was cancelled.

Needless to say, I was annoyed. I was looking forward to the additional space.

What annoys me most about this is the execution. This seems like the sort of thing that would be offered when they know loads are light, why even offer it a day before departure if it's clear that the flight is quite full? There was no indication in the confirmation email that this could happen, it just said that the booking was confirmed. If they had made it clear that this was a possibility, I wouldn't mind nearly as much.

The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.