Something similar happened to me 30 years ago. I bought tickets for my dad, myself, and my three kids, one of whom was just under two. I didn’t want to have to hold her the entire flight and wanted her in a car seat for takeoff and landing. The flight attendant tried to pressure me into giving up the seat. I felt bad for the guy who didn’t have a seat, but it was the airline’s problem. They wanted me to give up a seat I had paid for, without their refunding the ticket. But at least they didn’t threaten me with jail.
Man they should just have taken the seat away from your kind and compensated him with at $200 voucher valid towards a fullfare ticket anywhere in the world in the next year [/scarcasm]