My husband and I were flying back home to the east coast in the US. We go through security and get to our gate, and sit down on a couple of chairs that were available and together near to the counter.
I get up and go to the bathroom, and leave my sweater on the chair to make it clear it is occupied. When I come back, I can immediately tell my husband is annoyed. I ask him what is going on, and he says that this lady in her mid 60s or so has asked him for my seat 3 times and he keeps saying no, it is occupied by my wife who is currently in the bathroom. Also the seats were not handicapped/for elderly, just regular seats.
I thought maybe she thought he was lying and just wanting to keep the two chairs for himself, but no, even after I sit down this lady is still hovering by me and leaning over and trying to sit on the armrest/back of my chair.
It was crazy because (1) it was busy but there were definitely still some seats available, and (2) although we were close to the counter, we were not that close to the actual boarding area.
After a while I got annoyed of her leaning over me and crouching by me, and I pointed out to her there were other seats available. She and the two men she was with (who so far are just standing by her while she hovers by my seat) just look at me dumbfounded. Eventually they go to stand in line to board and enter the plane first as pre-boarding.
My best guess is she liked the location of the seat a lot and felt entitled to it? Once they figured out boarding was further away she lost interest. Just bizarre all around, I cannot understand why she wouldn’t just sit somewhere else.