I think you're kind of making my point for me here. The examples I gave I regard as mild, there are plenty of people (and some of them are reading this thread) who've had far worse done to them by strangers. I tried to put across that even for the children who are capable of speaking out, the act of doing exactly this can be just as traumatic (or more so) as whatever it is they are speaking out against. Putting the onus on a child for being 'mature' and 'responsible' enough for 'whistle blowing' seems very unkind, very unfair and extremely irresponsible.

And you're right, grown women AND men can also be vicitms of inappropriate behaviour by people sitting near them.

But this is what I put to you. If I, as a grown woman, prepared to speak her mind, STILL find myself in situations where a man can gain some gratification from pushing himself or rubbing a part of his body into me - not forgetting that I fully realise what the man is up to, where a child may not - and realise that there's nothing I can do or say (or prefer not to, you have to weigh the consequences from time to time) then what hope has a child getting through this mine-field?

I realise that not every bloke who sits with his legs wide open is doing so to gain a degree of sexual satisfaction, but enough men do it so that those who do have ulterior motives can do so openly and with impunity. (In fact I view ALL men who sit with their legs wide open as providing a 'protective blanket' for these perverts under which they can continue their actions. Perhaps this is harsh, but I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from)

Anyway, I agree, moving someone out of their seat is unfair. If BA or another airline is going to implement a policy like this then there should be seats earmarked for UMs, and Check In staff can cherry pick passengers without seat reservations to sit near or around these seats as they feel fit.

I just wanted to put forward another point of view with my original post; that of a child who is supposedly being protected by these rules and highlight some of the dangers they are being protected against (and just as in the example given earlier about the little girl being asked entirely inappropriate questions, it's always best to remember that the kind of 'molesting' most likely to happen on an airplane may not be the kind the child will have been warned about and know to complain about.)