YUL2YEG

Sitting in the back of a pretty empty flight about to depart. Lots of free seats in J, but I can't upgrade. That's fine, I know the rules so I'm not complaining about that.

Meanwhile, the "premium seat" next to me is snagged after the door closes by someone looking for a better seat.

I'd say my experience has just been cheapened.

UA would at least kick the guy out of the seat or charge him for it.

Oh, BTW AF won't let you sit in an exit row if you don't speak English or French. Why does AC? Seems like a safety issue no?

canolakid

If you have concerns re safety you should always, always raise it with SD- no room for PCness in this case. Then it is their call (and you accept their call) re suitability of someone for exit row.

interesting question as to whether SD would start policing the premium seats- I hope so. but until we start raising it, nothing is going to happen.

YUL2YEG

Just to clarify. I don't hold it against the guy who moved or the FAs who probably don't want the hassle.

My problem is corporate AC's hypocrisy, if you sell one premium thing you don't want to cheapen by giving it away then it should apply to the other premium things that you sell as well.

ChrisA330

This doesn't make sense. You should absolutely hold it against the guy that moved or the FA that doesn't care/enforce the rules. Half the time a lot of the issues brought up here are because front line employees don't consistently enforce the rules (Boarding or Carry on baggage anyone?).

I'm not sure what you think AC HQ could do in your circumstance. AC didn't knowingly give the seat away, the guy stole it. Stole might be too dramatic a word, but he took a seat he didn't pay for or was entitled to (that we know of).

BTW - AC does require you to understand English or French to sit in an exit row.

exc

Repost from another thread:

Seems interesting because I was on LHR-YYZ on Saturday when I was in the bulkhead seat 18E. 18D ended up being empty and I moved into it prior to takeoff. Both me and the 18F gentlemen was quite pleasantly surprised by the empty seat and thought we would have some extra space. However, shortly before takeoff the FA asked us to move things off the middle seat (we had put some blankets and pillows we weren't using on the middle seat) as a gentlemen in the back would be moving up after takeoff. I wasn't exactly thrilled considering I had paid for the benefit (having not flown enough last year for any status) of the extra leg room, but at the same time I am aware I'm not entitled to the privilege of having an empty middle seat. The person moving up was coming from a regular, non preferred row.

Interesting how the policies differ between different FAs...

ridefar

I think it is equally absurd than an FA would "give away" this seat as a full J seat. I would complain to the SD. On the flight. And after in writing. As with all complaints I am sure it would be ignored, but it is pretty offensive.

And yes, emergency exit rows *must* have English or French speakers in them. That is a major lapse if a plane went out otherwise, not just of airline regulations, but TC safety regulations.

The Lev

I'm not sure if UA still does it, but I liked it when the FA announced that if anybody wanted to move to the Premium Economy section, please speak to a FA and for a reasonable fee they would facilitate the move.

Of course there was no movement.

MaydayMayday

Couple weeks back LAX-YYZ red eye, fairly empty Y and someone tried to pull this stunt

Concierge was on the flight (cause Jalen Rose was on it too) and immediately said loudly, "hey hey hey no, sorry but please move back to your seat"

I chuckled to myself and gave the concierge a fist bump when she came back up.

FA didn't even notice this whole thing as he was busy up front in the galley

CloudsBelow

When these last minute shifts happen, you need to take the 5 mins and report it. This is complete bush league.

In a non-threatening, polite manner I'd advise the FA making the shift that I was going to report the issue to ensure this is being handled fairly to all involved

UA doesn't play this game. I've seen countless E+ squatters be told they have 2 options - get to their assigned seat or pull out their credit card. I've NEVER seen anyone reach for the plastic.

FlyerTalker683455

TG upgrades on-board (for the standard fee of course). It's quite a nice feature. One time I moved my wife from Y to J.

24left

In at least 2 other threads, there were a couple of other examples of self-upgrading Y pax. One incident on Rouge, IIRC, where the crew just let them sit there.

If pax are not paying and just moving themselves, to quote other esteemed members here, does that not cheapen the product? Or, is self-upgrading to J the only product worthy of that distinction?

On my last YUL-YYZ (yes, short hop), there were just 5 of us sitting in the front Preferred seats. The row behind me was completely empty.
After take-off, a guy from the back just walked up and sat down.

So, the question is, if they can sit there for free, can I get a refund?

FlyerTalker683455

Unless AC labels those seats "preferred" with a seat napkin or whatever, who can blame people reseating themselves. Wouldn't you? They all look the same to most people.

YYCYYZ

I was flying Y from YYZ-LAX about 2 months ago. The preferred rows were pretty empty. I had an empty middle in my row but the A-C side was completely empty. A guy tried to move up after boarding and the FA shut him down and said "people pay extra for these seats, you can move but you have to be behind row 16" (or whatever the row was). So that was nice to see.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I was flying Y FRA-YYC (ugh) and I was in row 18 bulkhead in the middle with one empty seat beside me and then a couple. The FA came up to me about 2 hours in and said "there is a crying baby in the back of the plane, would you switch seats with this couple so they can sit here?"

I looked at her like she was from Mars and said "you want me to move to the back beside a crying baby?"

She just stared at me and then walked away. Parachuted the guy into the seat beside me and then him and his wife took turns swapping into that seat for the rest of the flight. Which was fun as they clambered over me as I tried to sleep. Actually, thinking about it that was my last TATL in Y...

I wrote AC a complaint note about it and they got back to me with a 5% discount code

Consistently inconsistent.

24left

The seats were clearly labeled

I am not blaming the guy for doing it, I am asking why he should get it for free while we paid for those seats?

FlyerTalker683455

They label them now? Sorry for my ignorance, I haven't seen the back of an AC plane in a while (although will tomorrow on a family holiday)