The recent eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull left a huge scar on many airlines and passengers.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol experienced an unprecedented halt in operations, and my newlywed friend Lin and her husband were stuck there for five days from April 15th. In the end they could only enjoy two days(!) of their honeymoon in Barcelona, a very stressful experience.

Working in an office near Schiphol, it was strange for me not to hear any jet engine nor see any jet vapor for days. But while I felt sorry for Lin and other stranded passengers, the clean air was a welcome change.

Me and my family visited Japan in May. We luckily missed the renewed air-traffic closure on May 17th, but had another experience that left a big impression on me.

With our earlier airline jobs, and with my husband's last posting as a Dutch diplomat in Tokyo, we flew business class for 15 years until recently. But this flight, with our 2 and 5-year-old boys in tow, was economy and completely booked.

Knowing the hassle of a long-haul flight with kids, the check-in agent kindly soft blocked a seat in the middle of a three seater for us, so that in the 3-3-3 configuration of our B777, we had seats A and C from the window, D and E from the aisle, and a soft blocked seat B.

Before boarding though, the husband of a Japanese couple in their late 60s had reserved seat B.

With my airline experience, I knew we didn't have a right to the seat and that the soft block was a courtesy to keep it vacant as long as possible for us.

But on the other hand, we could not imagine that anyone would want to sit between two toddlers, or next to a toddler who would be whining over separation from his family.

Thus we asked the man if he would kindly take our seat E instead, which would be a quieter spot next to an adult (my husband).

But to our surprise the man's answer was a firm "no," flicking his boarding pass at us.

Sensing trouble, his tour conductor came running and demanded the man get his rightful seat.

Then came the flight attendants. While they are aware from experience how uncomfortable he would be in that seat, upon seeing his reaction they also took his side.

We later learned he was upset before the flight because he could not sit next to his wife, and as a last resort the tour agent gave him seat B saying it was "diagonally behind her and close by."

Finally, after much explanation about why children need to sit near their parents, the couple agreed that the wife would get seat A and the husband the seat A in front of her, which put them closer (though I only saw them talk twice during the 12-hour flight).

In any case, for my Dutch husband it was incomprehensible how a man of that age could not be a little more accommodating to a young family.

This lack of compassion, according to him, was typical for an immature Japanese man lacking in consideration of others, something rarely seen in most of his Western counterparts.

As for the Japanese airline we flew — it's in a very bad financial state so I understand its need to please tour agents.

But I think that it should also consider the comfort of families travelling with children and passengers around them. But I can't be bothered to write a complaint letter.