its always a difficult thing and very much down to the CSD on the day.

Recently, I have had issues with 9 out of the last 10 flights I have taken and its getting a bit tiresome. This week the aircraft to AMS was broken and delayed an hour waiting for another, then coming back (not from AMS) the 747's PA system didn't work which the CAA refused to allow a dispensation for. After 2 hours the CAA decided we could go which was good as it was just about to be Canx.

When I came back from Boston recently my IFE was broken (again). I was in Y and there were plenty of seats in WT+. The person in front of me was moved to WT+ to allow the people with the baby more room (no issue with this). I on the other hand was offered a middle seat at the back of Y with 2 sleeping people to climb over.

So, who deserved what and what to expect ? I didn't make a fuss but just expressed my displeasure at yet another fault. I didn't mention an upgrade as I'm not like that and told the crew that from their point of view it was probably a solution and its not their fault I didn't want to move from my aisle seat with no IFE to a IFE middle seat at the back. However, in their position, I would probably have moved me to W given no other aisle Y seats.

Maybe I'm just going through a bad patch, but engineering seems to be slipping up almost constantly these days with a host of small faults being left to fester or not fixed properly. A couple of my CSD friends have also said there seems to be an increase in broken things not being fixed.

This all puts a strain on the crew and if you paid full fare Y, manage to get your aisle seat, then being shoved in a middle seat down the back just doesn't cut it.