Sitting next to disabled pax
Would be interested in your thoughts.
I am a FQTV and earlier this week boarded a CRJ of a European carrier.
I was in the window seat and then a party of 3 filled the rest of the row.
in A + C it appeared to be the mother and father of a mentally retarded guy of about 25-30 yrs in D, I was in F.
I was unsure of the details, as our native languages were different and my second language didn't help.
The young guy could not even stow his hand luggage under the seat in front or fasten his seat belt without my assistance.
Under the circumstances, I asked to be reseated, because
1 - we spoke different languages, so I could not communicate easily with him
2 - I had no idea how he would react if we had a mod turb encounter or similar event and his parents were across the aisle - I would probably have had to intervene and I felt very uncomfortable about this
3 - I have a close relative with similar problems (not so severe) and am aware of how unpredictable the behaviour can be
The crew seemed quite surprised that I asked to be moved and a little upset.
If this had happened on you flight what would you think?
Does this kind of situation happen frequently?
Thanks for your input.