How do you handle someone sitting in your seat when you board?
#61
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: US CP, HH Gold
Posts: 85
"maybe a little karma to help me out if I can ever talk my girl into another airplane ride."
The events are not linked, and karma is a superstitious concept that has no basis in fact. It is this kind of thinking that will allow you to be taken advantage of. Giving up a seat today has no influence on future seat issues on future flights.
Had I been in your situation, I would have made the GA ask anyone else in that back row to move up to your row so mom and kid could sit together in the back rather than be moved myself.
The events are not linked, and karma is a superstitious concept that has no basis in fact. It is this kind of thinking that will allow you to be taken advantage of. Giving up a seat today has no influence on future seat issues on future flights.
Had I been in your situation, I would have made the GA ask anyone else in that back row to move up to your row so mom and kid could sit together in the back rather than be moved myself.
#62
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: US CP, HH Gold
Posts: 85
I have a confession to make. I poached a seat yesterday. And I did it in exactly the manner being discussed here - I just sat in the seat I wanted, rather than my assigned seat. When the rightful owner showed up, I showed him my boarding pass and hoped he would just take my seat instead. He didn't speak much English (if any), and he did, in fact, just accept my seat, so it all worked out.
Now, for the rest of the story...
I got a last minute undesired op-up that separated me from my traveling companion. I figured I would just take my original seat and offer the first class seat to whoever got my old seat.
As it turns out, the new occupant was a member of the Italian Olympic volleyball team. As I was explaining how he could have either his assigned seat or my spot in the front of the bus, he didn't understand a word, but could plainly see that the seat I was gesturing to would fit his 6'10" frame quite a bit better than where I was.
His teammates congratulated him on his luck. His coach went up front to (unsuccessfully) try to sell him on the concept that the coach should be the one in first class. Finally, I saw him enjoying free beers on multiple occasions. So, it really DID all work out.
---
I gotta say, though, if "rightful owner" had opened up with
or
That free first class seat would be immediately off the table. I would have silently "slunk off" to my seat in the front of the bus, and let you have your precious coach seat. My interest in sitting with my companion would have been trumped by my need to make sure someone being a d!ck is not rewarded in any way. Belligerence is NOT always the best policy.
Now, for the rest of the story...
I got a last minute undesired op-up that separated me from my traveling companion. I figured I would just take my original seat and offer the first class seat to whoever got my old seat.
As it turns out, the new occupant was a member of the Italian Olympic volleyball team. As I was explaining how he could have either his assigned seat or my spot in the front of the bus, he didn't understand a word, but could plainly see that the seat I was gesturing to would fit his 6'10" frame quite a bit better than where I was.
His teammates congratulated him on his luck. His coach went up front to (unsuccessfully) try to sell him on the concept that the coach should be the one in first class. Finally, I saw him enjoying free beers on multiple occasions. So, it really DID all work out.
---
I gotta say, though, if "rightful owner" had opened up with
or
That free first class seat would be immediately off the table. I would have silently "slunk off" to my seat in the front of the bus, and let you have your precious coach seat. My interest in sitting with my companion would have been trumped by my need to make sure someone being a d!ck is not rewarded in any way. Belligerence is NOT always the best policy.
#63
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: MEL, PER, PBO, occasionally ships, oil rigs and other places that no sane human being should ever find themselves
Programs: IHG RA, PC Plat, QF Plat/LTS
Posts: 804
LOL! First of all, of course Karma isn't a spritual point system that litterally translates into good fortune. It's more of the realization that there are times in life in which a complete stranger could be asked to go out of their way to aid in the quality of your life experience. It could be small things like sitting in a different seat on an airplane or a big thing like helping a stranded motorist in a snow storm. One thing I'm sure of is that in a civilization like ours these events over time are inevitable and unavoidable. I simply choose to be the type of person that is willing to help out a stranger because if there are more people that are willing to help the more likely someone is likely to help me when I need it. So your right I don't expect my helping some lady out by sitting in the back will litterally mean that someone is going to be willing to do that for me in the future but at a very minimum I potentially made someone's day a little easier with little or no inconvience to me and that's plenty enough reason for me to do it.
If someone really needs my seat (and hasn't just sat in it by mistake) I'll move AFTER confirming that it's ok with the nearest FA. However, I once had a FA tell me that I could NOT move. When I asked her why she said it was something to do with emergencies. When I asked her to explain further she quietly said "Well, I don't mean to scare you but if something happens we can use the seat to identify you." I just sort of chuckled and said "Ok, fair enough." It's the only time I've ever heard of this, though.
#64
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: jfk area
Programs: AA platinum; 2MM AA, Delta Diamond, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 10,291
I was flying on AA in BC, from ZRH to JFK, when I got to my seat it was occupied(), but since he was having a "great" conversation with his seat mate, I agreed to take his actual seat (on the left side of the plane). A few minute a pax arrives with a bp for that seat. It turned out that the person occupying my seat was in the seat next to me, and his seat mate was not where she was supposed to be either.
I was now annoyed, and demanded that I get my (real) seat.
I tried to be helpful in moving--but NO MORE...
I was now annoyed, and demanded that I get my (real) seat.
I tried to be helpful in moving--but NO MORE...
#65
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Durham, NC (RDU/GSO/CLT)
Programs: AA EXP/MM, DL GM, UA Platinum, HH DIA, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 33,857
#66
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 13,565
"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others and if you can't help them at least don't hurt them" - HH The Dalai Lama
If someone really needs my seat (and hasn't just sat in it by mistake) I'll move AFTER confirming that it's ok with the nearest FA. However, I once had a FA tell me that I could NOT move. When I asked her why she said it was something to do with emergencies. When I asked her to explain further she quietly said "Well, I don't mean to scare you but if something happens we can use the seat to identify you." I just sort of chuckled and said "Ok, fair enough." It's the only time I've ever heard of this, though.
If someone really needs my seat (and hasn't just sat in it by mistake) I'll move AFTER confirming that it's ok with the nearest FA. However, I once had a FA tell me that I could NOT move. When I asked her why she said it was something to do with emergencies. When I asked her to explain further she quietly said "Well, I don't mean to scare you but if something happens we can use the seat to identify you." I just sort of chuckled and said "Ok, fair enough." It's the only time I've ever heard of this, though.
#67
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: MEL, PER, PBO, occasionally ships, oil rigs and other places that no sane human being should ever find themselves
Programs: IHG RA, PC Plat, QF Plat/LTS
Posts: 804
I've been told this, but the FA in question was likely just peed off with everyone moving! A friend, also an FA with the same airline, called BS on it, and told me they use that excuse when they are sick of people playing swopsies! If the plane breaks up, even if the remains remain strapped to the seat (unlikely, given temperatures involved, it's your skin and blubber, both of which will, erm, burn / melt easily, that keeps you in your seat, plus the nylon belts are not flameproof either), the seat doesn't have the number on it, and given the plane ould have crashed while people were moving about, going to the loo etc. and it became 'strap yourself intothe nearest seat' there is just no way they would rely on something as arbitrary as seat numbers anyway.
#68
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 775
The one time this happened to me, it was on a Malev flight from Prague to Budapest. When I tried to explain that somebody took my seat, everybody pretended to not understand English -- including the flight attendants. Fortunately, it was a short flight.
#71
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 3,098
Karma is *NOT* a myth!
Even the .......ized western version that people here employ is religious in nature, although no longer strictly hindu.
It's an ignorant belief in universal providence. That said, back to the seat poaching: It is the meekest most pathetic form of surrender to let a poacher win and hope that some kind of invisible justice will befall them later, and to do so in the name of "helping somene out" who has, without asking, taken what is rightfully yours is how that meekness is rationalized.
Karma, shmarma. Why not throw rocks at the moon?
#73
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 3,098
We do indeed. But a seat poacher destroys that co-operation before the other person has a chance. Steal a seat for your own comfort, or even make unreasonable demands that someone vacate their seat because you like it better than yours...no respect is warranted, no civility owed.
#74
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: MEL, PER, PBO, occasionally ships, oil rigs and other places that no sane human being should ever find themselves
Programs: IHG RA, PC Plat, QF Plat/LTS
Posts: 804
A basic level of respect for humanity and civility is ALWAYS owed... Unless you're just an a-hole, in which case you're no better than the "poacher" who may have made a simple and honest mistake
BTW this is a generalised statement and not directed toward you personally
BTW this is a generalised statement and not directed toward you personally
#75
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 68
Not that I have ever had a problem on an Australian airline with someone taking my seat and refusing to move, but I like the concept of giving them a chance to move by asking them politely and then if they don't move just sliding in there and sitting on their lap. Hey, you've got a BP that says that's your seat. Not your problem if someone else is sitting there at the same time.