Q. I recently went business-class, for the first time in
my life, to New Zealand and back. On the second lap of the long return journey, from LA to London, I returned to my correct seat, one of two near a window, to find a couple in their sixties standing there. They said they had been incorrectly given seats away from each other and seemed to expect me, because I was travelling alone, to change to a seat in the centre. Since that would have had no window, I refused. I said I had never flown business-class before, I liked my seat and was looking forward to seeing the country around Las Vegas. The stewardess said I had a right to refuse and told the couple to sit in their designated seats for take-off, after which she would try to reposition them. The woman sat next to me. I had the impression that she was both wounded and amazed that I had refused to
budge. To my dismay, ten minutes into the journey after take-off, an elderly lady with a stick was escorted into one of the centre seats which I had refused and the man beside her was placed next to me so that the couple could then sit together in superior side seats by a window. Mary, as a divorcee, am I alone in having a distaste for the automatic precedence that couples get in this type of situation? This couple were obviously retired; they probably spend all their time together. Was it so awful that they didn't have adjacent seats for a journey of under ten hours? I would welcome your comments.
E.S., London W11 A. Your instinctive reaction was correct. Most readers would have sympathy for a mother and child separated on such a flight but would expect a couple in their sixties to be unbothered, if not actually pleased — especially at the thought that the mini-error might result in 'compensation: Indeed, the couple you mention were almost certainly exhibiting Bogus Distress Syndrome, theatrical over-reaction to a mini-problem in the hope of in this case, milking the airline for a free flight, air miles or future upgrades. In refusing to move, you were doing them a favour.
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