Something a little strange happened last week and I thought I would ask if similar had ever happend to you more regular of fliers
Flying MEL - PER on Friday afternoon at the lounge I asked about loads and was advised that moving seats from 24D to 33D would give me a spare seat next, and again for the next 10 rows so take my pick. Seemed a good deal so I accepted.
The last pair to board came toward me I was disappointed when I found I had a seat companion, as I was suffering a little from a head cold and hoping for some space to sleep. I was very surprised when he started talking / sharing work folders etc with the guy in 33G with the seat inbetween free.
When we took off I had to ask why they would move to create a seat between them when it meant he had to sit next to a stranger (as in me). He said they had both worked hard that day and the space would be nice. My sentiments exactly.....
My concerns in brief:
1) His boarding pass which I saw as he used it for a book mark as the meal was served was for 33F not E. I asked if he would move to his seat and he said no
2) He still felt obliged to use as much of my seat space as possible through the flight despite his newly acquired space
3) when wanting to use the toilet he still felt obligated to wake me up and ask me to move, rather than moving his collegue.
All I wanted the space for was to sleep, which I achieved in limited doses and left my flight both tired and irritated. I can only hope that I managed to pass what has developed from a head cold to a flu on to him for his efforts (or hope I didnt catch this from him)
Is there any way at all to make a pax move to his own seat if this happens or is it stricly a grin and bear it situation? If I hadnt felt so crappy I would have taken a glass of red wine and "knocked" it accidently over him to thank him for his efforts....
Programs: DJ Plat, QF WP, Avis Pres Club, HH Diam, PC Plat, Hyatt Plat, Security Theatre Critic
Posts: 1,950
some people... I had a 'discussion' with a seat mate on Friday, I was in 1D, she got on and glared at me and proceeded to sit in 1F, after a couple of minutes she said 'you are in my seat, I wanted an aisle', I said 'sorry, I am in 1D which is this aisle seat, which seat are you in?', '1C' was the reply. 'Ah' says I 'that is across the aisle over there' thinking great - I get the spare next to me back. 'No it isn't' says she ' the seats go A, B, C, D','no' I reply 'on these old 400s they go A, C, D, F as the middle seats can be used for economy'.
I soon realised there is no point arguing with the stupid, even when you can point to the little stickers on the overhead locker and spent the next hour ignoring her.
__________________ Virgin Australia 1st FT AGM, BNE 28 July 2012
Programs: | QF WP/LTG | UA 1P | AA | AS | PC P | bike | CityRail |
Posts: 8,455
Quote:
Originally Posted by VH-RMD
...I soon realised there is no point arguing with the stupid, even when you can point to the little stickers on the overhead locker and spent the next hour ignoring her.
You could say "this first flight must be really exciting for you ...".
No One is entitled to extra seats. You wanted extra space and so did he. Life is like that. You had the seat to which you were allocated
People are allowed to move as a rule on QF
Dave
Dave, you are absolutely correct, I was not entitled to the space, I was hopeful of it. I find it strage however that a man would prefer to rub up against a stranger rather than sit next to the collegue in their allocated seat. I am also aware that you are entitled to move on Qantas, however was always of the understanding that you had to sit in your allocated seat for takeoff and landing (I have always assumed that is so they can identify remains in a tragedy) before moving and most often you would move for more space, not just in invade another persons by rubbing left shoulders instead of right. I have never seen someone move from one middle seat to another until that flight. Had he been in his allocated seat for takeoff and tried to move, I would have politely asked him not to.
As I said above, waking me to move so he could exit for the toilet, rather than interupt his mates movie experience was probably the end of my rope. I could have been excused for thinking Qantas were testing me, or I was being set up for a TV show as it was quite comical the antics of this goose.
KNRG - Any reseating would have still had the same problem - the Airbus middle was full in all aisles only the middle free. If I had more energy and the inclination I could have irritated him enough to force the move but instead decided to try and sleep.
That's an old trick boarding last and sitting in whats available rather than allocated to you.
I have learned the hard way! What I would have done in the first place, was to actually sit in the 33E seat on boarding, thereby physically staking your claim to it.
That way you protect the seat - in a psychological sense. It is unlikely the guy would have asked for it.
It's the same when you are in a 744 and the check-in agent gives you a window seat and blocks the two seats beside it - on boarding you sit in the Aisle seat.
That's an old trick boarding last and sitting in whats available rather than allocated to you.
I have learned the hard way! What I would have done in the first place, was to actually sit in the 33E seat on boarding, thereby physically staking your claim to it.
That way you protect the seat - in a psychological sense. It is unlikely the guy would have asked for it.
It's the same when you are in a 744 and the check-in agent gives you a window seat and blocks the two seats beside it - on boarding you sit in the Aisle seat.
you are the yoda of flying serfty, such is your wisdom! I had never thought of marking my territory but probably not the worst idea
I am a very placid flyer usually. My 50 odd segments a year keep me gold, always down the back and mainly no fuss. I found this odd, obviously some of you do, and some dont which is the norm. As I said, first time I experienced it, if there is a next my response will be different.
I would have been upset - I think the guy was well out of line simply from a respect and manners point of view.
I have learnt to never ever expect a blocked seat - even when they say they have blocked it, quite often it becomes unblocked.
pre the new booking system I was 100% for booked seats being carried through, mainly ADL - PER but since my faith is like yours I only bothered to ask because on check in the plane appeared remarkably free, and with around 60 middle seats free behind me, had i chosen any other seat I would have been ok.
That's an old trick boarding last and sitting in whats available rather than allocated to you.
I have learned the hard way! What I would have done in the first place, was to actually sit in the 33E seat on boarding, thereby physically staking your claim to it.
That way you protect the seat - in a psychological sense. It is unlikely the guy would have asked for it.
It's the same when you are in a 744 and the check-in agent gives you a window seat and blocks the two seats beside it - on boarding you sit in the Aisle seat.
I don't go quite that far. My standard, if I know or suspect the seat is empty, is to put my stuff all over it and keep it there throughouth the flight. I mean book, blankets, pillows, IPOD, and just about anything else. And if someone asks to sit there I say my "wife" is sitting there. The chances of someone actually coming up to you and asking to sit there after doing that is unlikely - although still possible.
Another option. I was on a JAL flight a few months ago. The seat next to me was perhaps broken and had a plaque on it that said "This Seat is Unavailable" If it weren't for the pesky Japanese translation below it, it'd be a perfect little travelling companion. Perhaps I need a new plaque:
Programs: CO Plat/1K, DL Silver, HH Gold, bmi dirt, PWP General Secretary
Posts: 21,238
I have used this trick with great success on UA. UA's 763s are in a 2-3-2 config. If the middle row is open I occupy the middle seat and expand as much as possible to fill the other two seats. The trick is to fill the space as much as possible. Stick your elbows way out into the other seat, have a cough during boarding while you are sitting there, deploy all the tricks you can get your hands on.
It sounds like you were in 4 abreast seating (Y on a 744 maybe, KF do you ride in Y?????) and the original seating was -+--. Well this is what I would do. 1) first I would sit in the blocked seat so it would be +---. 2) I would put as much crud as I could into the aisle seat. 3) If someone goes to sit down in your original seat I would get up, take the aisle seat, and offer the new person the middle with the warning that you have a cold. (punctuate that with a nice wet sneeze).
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)
Sadly QF domestic check in or lounge staff can no longer seatblock. I just tell the person that the seat has been blocked and they cannot sit there. I just had a similiar experience in the Dom J lounge in Mel when someone tried to sit in the chair opposite and facing me. Very annoying. I am yet to loose the seat blocking argument. I just had 3 seats out of the row of 4 in PE from Sin blocked. I slept in the middle seat having a spare seat next to me. No need for a story just, I am sorry that seat was blocked and you cannot sit there. If this is answered with a the FA said I could then invite them to call the FA over.
I've had the same thing happen. I think rationale is that the colleague knows he has to rub elbows with someone and would rather inconvenience a stranger than his colleague (who might be a superior). The trick I learned in the UA forum is to spill water on the seat. When someone goes to sit there, apologize for your clumsiness while warning him. If you don't want to do quasi-vandalism say something like: "I spilled my drink a moment ago, I might have accidentally spilled some on that seat."
I've had other other middle seat weirdness:
- while traveling with my wife, she in the window, me the aisle, a guy takes the middle seat, and after take off, with an empty middle and aisle seat across the aisle-way, refuses to move.
- I am in the window, and the middle and aisle are occupied. After take off, the window occupant sits somewhere else (an aisle next to an open window) and the guy in the middle doesn't move
- I am in the aisle, and the middle and window are empty for now. Then the last one to board is a customer of size (COS) who takes his assigned middle seat next to me.. He is so heavy that the seat cushion becomes dislodged. he starts to fumble to re-fasten it, and I suggest that he just take the window. He protests that someone might be sitting in it. I tell him the door is closed, and he moves. That was lucky; the cushion snafu gave me a pretext to make that suggestion.
__________________
Robert Crandall on American Airlines: it's a great company that does important work. But airlines are not an investment.
