Yes, I have read the replies. I do fully understand the situation re. emergency rows, been sat in one on more than one flight.
No problems as far as I was concerned, fortunately did not have to become part of the the evacuation team!! Just another couple of thoughts to leave with you. One, in most cases (dependent on a/c) there will be more than one seat in the aforesaid row so another person can help if/when required.
Two, the uncooperative person featured in this scenario could easily have reacted in a much more positive or even heroic way should the worst have happened. I know you don't want to give her the benefit of the doubt !! I would have said it was more important to ensure the row was occupied by able bodied folk rather than very young children, the very aged, sick or infirm.
There still seem to be those on here who have a confusion in their minds between paying passengers sat on airliner and troops sat in a C130 (other military aircraft available !!). Yes, of course you can kid yourself you "have authority over the passengers". Yes, you can have cabin crew or even air crew bark orders at them: some will be compliant and shout "how high??), others will be much less willing to accept this treatment. Again I suspect there will be different reactions when we a "playing" with drills and a real genuine emergency.
I come back to the point that I uncomfortable with those feel it is acceptable to treat their paying customers as cattle to be unloaded if they are "non compliant". I am not talking about those who actively wish us harm or those who over imbibe. I am talking about folk who sit there minding there own business.
I fully understand why crew wear uniforms and for the most part it works fine. However there is a small minority who embark on an ego trip when in uniform.