Originally Posted by
djpil
On a Virgin flight from Melbourne to Brisbane last month and I was in the aisle of an exit row. Two largish ladies next to me took nil interest in the emergency procedures and I doubted my ability to help them, from the aisle, to open the door. My best bet was the door to my right - guy in the adjacent aisle seat was taller than myself, younger and seemingly stronger. Bad news, in the window seat was …. before I could note a description he was moved and replaced by an airline staff member - good. Big guy in the exit row right in front of me requested a seat belt extension and that was enough for him to be moved elsewhere. 2 out of 3 wasn’t bad.
For UK airlines, needing an extension seatbelt is an automatic disqualification from being seated in an emergency exit row. So there are limits to how “big” a passenger seated here can be before they are required to move. But paid seating or not, I would hope our cabin crew aren’t afraid to move people as required, for whatever reason they feel prevents people from being seated there.