Bumped off extra legroom seats during checkin
UPDATE: They changed my seat again (though no notifciation, had to check "manage booking" manually), to basically the same as the original seat, just on the other side of the craft.
Original post:
I booked (and paid a hundred bucks) for an emergency exit row seat ("extra legroom", 70C) on a long haul (SQ325 FR-SIN), and during check in I noticed my seat was changed to another seat (49C, no extra legroom). Since I am quite tall, not getting the extra legroom will probably make the flight miserable.
I tried to get a human person on the phone without success, and after chatting to two agents they could only tell me that they'd escalate this to the proper team, whatever that means. I don't have high hopes. There was also never any hint of at least refunding the seat reservation fee.
All the extra legroom seats are taken when I try to change my seat, so I guess there's not much that can be done to get me in my originally booked seat.
Any tips on what to do? There are some seats on PE I could upgrade to for 500 bucks, however those are middle seats and I don't know if it would make the flight so much more enjoyable.
I also have the same seat type booked on the return trip a few days later, any idea to avoid this to happen again?
Would it make sense to contact ground crew in FRA and ask for a solution? Not expecting an upgrade to B, of course, but maybe at least a discount on a PE upgrade?
I'm quite annoyed by the whole ordeal., which took me 2 hrs today already to try to resolve on the phone or by chat (in vain), especially since a lot of my colleagues were telling me that SQ would be a much better experience than the usual long haul carriers (Lufthansa , United).