Ok PTravel - can I ask then what you do when you get the unexpected op-up or upgrade at the last minute, but the only seats avail to you and your family (or travelling companion) are scattered all over the C cabin????

Do you forgo the upgrade because you didnt get your window seat and your family (who are young) are seated everywhere???? Or do you kindly ask if someone could help you out and swap?

Please tell

I have been in this exact scenario and I planned my trip 6 mths ahead, had my seats and everything organised! Viola, get to checkin, get given an op-up for a 14 HOUR flt. My child is in a completely different row to me by a window (lucky girl) - some rows are staggered in C class! She is anxious about flying! Thats her special need, so we need to sit together to keep her calm. We were told we could get the FA to sort out our seats once we boarded. Ok fair enough, I was none the wiser and hoping we wouldnt have any issues. Now I am on FT I realise what a BIG DEAL this is for some people!

We get on board, and sure enough the person seated next to my daughter, is split up from their partner. Although we didnt realise this, we hung around my seat which was 25F, without realising in fact that my daughter had the better seat (25H). The couple were only too pleased to swap my child out of her window, next to me in the middle seat of row 25, so they could sit together. In this case it worked, no one was inconvenienced and if anything, we got the less attractive seats out of the deal (ie middle row of C class). I have posted about this on another thread.

But my point is - we had planned ahead, done our research etc etc for Y cabin, not for the unexpected (and very welcome) bump up to C CABIN! So sometimes people are in a situation they didnt plan for and may need to ask a "KIND" stranger if they would mind swapping so they can sit together.

Sure its annoying when you have planned your perfect seat and some annoying stranger comes up and asks kindly to swap because of their situation, I totally understand that. It has happened to me on SQ where I was told by an FA basically, to move to the back row of the plane so a family/friends could sit together. We got the bum deal! But I do feel that each situation may be different, as the one I have just described and sometimes families CANT help it if they end up all over the cabin.

If no one could swap, and we were split up and my child ended up next to you, would you be calling Child Services?? Luckily not everyone has the same attitude as you . BTW, in our country, Child Services and the Police would laugh at you, and tell you to call when you had a real child protection issue! Just my humble opinion