The fact of the matter is that the rule states that UM's cannot be seated next to "Male passengers travelling alone"! Therefore it is actually up to the checkin agent to ensure when the UM is being allocated a seat that it is next to a female. What happened on board this flight happened because the crew member WAS IN THE WRONG. This man was NOT travelling alone so therefore does not come under the ruling AND even if he was, the rule does not state that the male needs to move, the crew member should have used some cop on and just move the kid without causing any fuss or even needing to reveal the rule.
Every company has idiots like that who both get the rules wrong and seem to glee in imposing their version of the rules on others...suppose its a power trip thing! 18th January 2010 13:27
Apaddyinuk,
Sadly these mistakes do happen from time to time.
These situations are not cut and dry. The check in agent may well have seated the female of the couple next to the UM. People often swap places when they get on the aircraft. I am sure you have done it yourself.
The child was allowed to be sat next to the male pax anyway as he was travelling with his wife. It really seems unfair to accuse the ground staff person of getting rules wrong when they clearly have followed the rules.
The crew member unfortunately did get the rules wrong by asking the man to move as he was accompanid by his wife.
A more experienced crew member would not have made this mistake.
This problem is something that BA needs to bear in mind when rushing people through training courses to work on board as temporary crew. There really is so much to know and learn to work on board as cabin crew. As an ex trainer I am fully aware that there is a limit to how much can be learnt and absorbed in the proposed 3 day training.