enviroian

I'm glad you stood your ground. When this happens to me I simply say "no, thank you" and not more a word. It's none of his business why I chose that seat or why I won't move. If said tool you mentioned said something ridiculous to me like that I would have said "you're lack of planning doesn't constitute an emergency on my end" and promptly sit down. Any more shenanigans from his and it's about now when I hit the call button and have the flight attendant sort it out.

BearX220

Isn't it the essential rule of in-cabin seat-swap offers that the inconvenienced party should be offered something better, not worse?

Bohinjska Bistrica

His wife is probably fed up of him making a scene of himself in public.

beachmouse

I know tiny earbuds are trendy and easy to put in hand baggage and all, but the big over the ear headphones are pretty good at discouraging seat swap requests- put them on, mostly close eyes, and even the jerks tend to be reluctant to give someone who seems to have dozed off a shake.

ScruttonStreet

Or more likely his wife didn't want to sit next to him in the first place.

Steve74

This has reminded me of a bizarre row I was involved in at the JFK Lounge back in 2008. I had flown in from Sao Paulo on AA and transferred to the day BA flight to LHR, and managed to bag 64A despite only checking in (and moving myself to 64A) when I got to GRU about 12 hours before departure of the 178.
After 20 minutes or so in the lounge, I was called by the receptionist to come to the front desk, where she told me that, "someone with a baby wants your seat."
I shrugged. "OK, what are you going to do for me then?" I asked. "How about [18F]?" she said (or some other such non-memorable seat).
"How about something in row 1 to 5?" I replied. Now, it was the middle of the Brazilian summer and I was wearing combat shorts and a t-shirt, so a jump up to F was not really expected. "No", she replied. We went through 64K, also a good seat in my mind. No dice. Then the pax in question came out of the J lounge. And things very quickly degenerated into a row, my abiding memory of which was me keeping my cool and him very quickly throwing his toys out of the pram and storming off in a huff. The receptionist displayed absolutely no effort to reconcile this situation further, so I went back to the F lounge, thinking I had been booted out of my seat. Of course, when we actually got on the plane, I kept my seat, and he was in a downstairs bassinet seat, so he just wanted to get upstairs. On that basis, I was vaguely insulted they actually asked me the question, and even more so they didn't make it clear that the change would be entirely voluntary, never mind being sworn at by another passenger.

Funnily enough, other (more polite) attempts to remove me from 64A also met with a negative response.

T8191

Memories of our first 747 upper deck, where I had completely failed to understand the layout and staggered seating. A very kind gentleman (they do exist) gave up his 64a so that we could be collocated in 64a/b. Afterwards, 63a/b were OUR seats, with her window-side escape manouvre!

Pilot37

The 64A/K story reminded me of a trip coming back from CPT a few yrs ago. Myself and the O/H were in 64A/K as we both knew once dinner was done we’d be asleep for the majority of the flight, so gazing into each others eyes wasn’t really necessary!
Once we climbed the stairs and started to unpack in our respective seats the gentleman in 64J, who was travelling with his teenage son in 64B, asked if we’d move to allow them sit on the same side. If the child had been younger I may have relented, but there was no ‘minding’ required of said teenage son and so I politely declined and said we’d prefer to stay where we were. This was not the response he wanted and so tantrum mode was turned on with multiple standing and sitting from his seat, slamming of the overhead locker and rocking of the seat pod each time he moved to ensure maximum awareness that he was not happy!

After dinner with the lights dimmed everybody crashed and I don’t actually remember a single interaction between him & his son who was just across the aisle from him - but it made me smile what people feel they are entitled too!

Pilot37

AviationMoose

Less a specific DYKWIA incident, and more a rolling pattern of behaviour. In GCS on Saturday; very loud American lady and her docile husband. Conduct witnessed included:

• Asking one of the lounge staff (a very helpful Asian lady who had just helped me find something) where the bottles of water were. When staff member paused for a micro-second, probably thinking how best to explain the setup, she blurted 'Oh, so you don't speak English!' and walked away. (I checked on the staff member afterwards).
• Demanding a bigger plate at the buffet. No, they're not the biggest, but don't be ridiculous.
• Shouting at the staff and indeed anyone within earshot because she didn't clock the two entrance/exits, like it was somehow their fault! 'Where's the goddam elevator we came up in!'
• Tutting and loudly sighing behind people not taking a remotely unreasonable time to get food/drink. Some people can take an age, but nothing unreasonable was happening here.
• Sitting in a block of four seats in the north end of the lounge and putting bags on the other two so nobody could use them; then getting moody when asked to put them on the floor.
• Shouting at staff: 'I have to take a train?! They don't do this in Newark!' Though I didn't know at the time that Newark does indeed have a terminal-connection train.

cjb666

I have given up my preferred seat so people can sit together, including 64A and K. One time was on a flight from MIA to LHR and I got the whole of the lower cabin to myself!

Steve74

I'm not all bad, I once gave up a gate upgrade to F, in order to return to 64A - "someone else can have it".
I really did like 64A.

martin102

Flying back from Mauritius and was booked into 62k. The steward met me at the top of the steps and said someone would like a swap. I said Ok. He said it�s into 3A! Very happy with the swap. Husband was in 62J with wife in first class. Met her coming up the stairs saying the things I do for love.

FlyingScientist

"Ma'am, I don't know how to break it to you, but this isn't Newark..."

rarelyfly23

Gentleman in 5F decided to stand up from his CS about 4mins from landing into JFK today to demand someone collect his various bits and pieces. As a crew member very quickly attended to him, he just kept saying in an increasing volume 'you're a diaster, you're a diaster, I'm going to complain about YOU' and various expletives with regards the wider crew.

(Don't get me wrong, there were a number of issues from the moment we boarded that even I noticed as an infrequent flyer, but time and place perhaps for that particular hill to die on?)

Flythe96flag

All it takes is the right demeanour, and for those who may be oblivious, the right look, and for the truly hopeless, the right tone.