rsqrott

Earlier this year I was flying the red eye from JFK to LHR in premium economy. Two women were traveling together, one next to me and the other directly behind her (middle seats). The FA asked the gent in the aisle if he would swap seats with the friend in the row behind so that the two women could sit together. He declined. The FA persisted and the gent replied that he had booked an aisle seat and did not want to move to the middle. The FA said that she could get him an aisle seat in economy and the gent replied that he'd booked premium E and would be happy to move to the front of the plane but not to the back. The FA went away, then came back and tried again to convince this man to swap. I was gobsmacked. He was perplexed but kept his cool (and I was mentally taking notes). The FA said something like "it would be better if you swapped because you'd have to sit next to someone that was upset for the whole flight" and the gent replied "As soon as we take off I'll be asleep so I won't notice".

Eventually both women got moved (forward) to seats next to each other which left the gent and I with an empty seat between us.

k374

I would expect way more than that... perhaps compensation in miles or some sort of voucher. You are also as much of a paying passenger that the airline needs to keep happy as anyone else.

I consider most of these people who ask for swaps to be delinquents. IMO, it is the parents responsibility to book a flight that ensures that they are not separated from their minor kids. If the type of seats they want at the cost they want are not available on a particular flight then book another flight.

vanillabean

I am willing to acknowledge that seat reassignment is at the discretion of the airline rather than spelled out in its policy. When that is said, I would hope the explanation for a given seat reassignment request by the staff comes with a certain level of justification. I would for instance be hesitant to allow two adults to be seated together, just so they can chatter endlessly and leave people around with little chance to sleep or relax.

chollie

I wouldn't have dared to say anything at the time, but I would definitely have followed up with a complaint. What does the FA mean by threatening a a pax that if he doesn't comply with another's pax's demand to move, he'll somehow 'pay for it' because the other pax will be mad the entire flight.

Excuse me? If that other pax is telling me that if I don't swap seats, she's going to make me know how mad she is for the rest of the flight, then she has just threatened me.

to a bullying FA.

MEABFlyer

One of my last straws with AA came in June when a PHL GA called me to the podium to ask if I would switch seats with someone so that a couple of adults to sit together for a 70 minute flight. Of all the people on the manifest to select to ask, she selected an EXP. That told me that AA really doesn't care about trying to keep their top tier customers happy.

I would have switched if it was a child under 12 and an adult, but I'm not switching so that two adults can sit together.

Jane42

^ Absolutely! This is getting ridiculous. Just sit in the seat you are assigned to! If a family has been bumped or run into some other problems with their travel, that is a different story - I would try to be as helpful as possible. But if you just aren't able to book seats where you want, well, deal with it. It was a 70 minute flight!

Big4Flyer

Before last summer that I had a strict policy that I would only change seats for a better seat, especially since I select my flight plans far in advance for just this reason. My policy changed after our family with 2 kids (both under 3 years old) had to travel last minute for an unexpected family funeral. We were lucky to be able to find a flight with 4 seats available the next day but obviously all flights only had middle seats left.

We were assigned middle seats at the airport and told to try to fix it at the gate, and then the GA told us to try to fix it on board. We went down the aisle with an FA who was asking people to move, but understandably, nobody wanted to move to a middle. Finally there were two gentlemen towards the back of the plane in an aisle and window who agreed to move. As a result we were able to get 3 seats together, and my wife opted for another middle seat farther back.

Ever since then I've tried to be much more understanding because you never know what somebody is going through. It would have been understandable for these two men to assume that we were trying to game the system, or simply weren't prepared, but it certainly meant a lot for us to be able to sit together at that time.

Proudelitist

Not exactly those situations... the guy was able bodied and by himself, and the FA took the side of the poacher..really for no other reason than to get out on time. She gave me a "Just take any seat we have to go.." line.

I asked for the purser, who was on his way anyhow after seeing the commotion. I told the purser the situation, said I would VDB myself, and they could sort out my checked luggage and take an even bigger late. Either that threat was a good one, or the use of lingo made him think I was someone who also knew how to work the customer complaint system.

Pursuer made the guy move, FA was curt with me the rest of the flight, and the guy grumbled most of the way.

Daedalus214

The problem I have with this seat switching is that you (who has properly planned and executed these flight arrangements) are being inconvenienced for someone else (who probably did not plan properly and may be paying less than you for this flight) at the whim of the airline. No compensation is offered and if you say no, the FAs try to pressure (guilt) you into moving(Growing up with my friends' Jewish mothers and Catholic grammar school school nuns, I am impervious to guilt-trips(no pun intended) from FAs and just about anyone else).

Ten or 15 years ago it wasn't such a problem, as the plane load factors were lower and choice seats were more easily available. For me, it is rare to be flying on a plane with more than two or three empty seats, and those are usually in the middle.

If it is so important for an individual to sit next to a friend, is it worth $100/flight-hour or more, which would be compensated to the inconvenienced party, to do so? If the airlines started to charge for this service, I bet the requests would drop precipitously.

Granted, there may be special circumstances with families flying to funerals, etc... I still believe that the party being inconvenienced should be compensated, and not with just a few lousy bags of peanuts or drink coupons.

KevinDTW

Hard to accept this at a time when there are so many different categories, restrictions, and prices for seats even within the same cabin.

Jigen666

I think it would be great. But you know the airline would pocket that fee for themselves. Maybe give the inconvenienced party 25% of it at best.

Jigen666

My changing seats story goes back more than a decade. Was flying alone in business on SQ from LAX-NRT. I had my favorite Aisle seat. Married couple were split Husband was in my row in the window, wife was in the window seat in front.

I like my aisle seat, it's the one I always pick, especially for long flights. The FA came over and asked the woman in front of me (in the aisle seat) if she would switch so that the couple could be together. The woman refused. The FA came over to me and asked the same thing. I politely declined, explaining that this is my seat of preference. The FA then told me I had to move. I asked why I had to move, if the woman in front of me also declined to move? The FA said so the couple could be together. She didn't get the point that I asked why am I being singled out, as opposed to the other woman. Rather than make an issue of it, I moved.

The couple must have felt very guilty, but appreciative that I did it. Upon exiting the aircraft they handed me a Mont Blanc pen they bought in the Duty free catalog as a thank you gift. I doubt that would happen in this day & age.

Mr. Vker

The way airlines charge for nearly every seat on the plane-except the back row-there is a much greater chance than ever someone paid for that seat selection or status earned it for them. I wouldn't mind being asked, but would have a major problem downgrading if I paid for where I was.

rickg523

If it's a lousy poacher (post #23), I'm going to the mat for my seat and like the poster would force a voluntary offload if necessary. Someone just plopping their entitled butt down wherever they damn well please doesn't cut it.
If it's a passenger to passenger request, very much depends on the tenor of the conversation and frankly how my day has gone.
FA requests means I'm probably going to move, but I'm seriously looking for some kind of consideration if its a downgrade (aisle to middle) and I want to know WHY it's important that someone other than me sit in this very seat, a seat that I chose.
As post #13, correctly states if it's the GA, it's pretty much all over but the crying about it.

milypan

I recently had 21D (aisle exit row) booked on an ATL-SFO UA flight. At the last minute two passengers rushed on, one occupying the middle seat next to me (21E) and the other 5-10 rows back in E–. A minute later the one seated towards the rear came up and started freaking out about how she was afraid to fly and was going to get off the aircraft right now if she couldn't sit next to her companion. The companion was clearly annoyed (it definitely didn't seem to be an act) and told her to shut up and sit down, but to no avail.

Soon he started offering me $20 if I'd give her my $100 seat. I didn't care about his money and really didn't want to switch because it was a 4+ hour flight and I don't have enough room to work in E– on my laptop, so I'd literally be losing half a work day. I felt bad for him, but I was also annoyed that he was making zero effort to resolve the situation by simply trading his desirable exit-row E+ seat for a crappy E– seat next to his companion (despite my suggesting it several times).

Finally the FA resolved the situation by commenting that there was no way she could seat his hysterical companion in an exit row seat. He then asked the person seated next to his companion to trade seats, and the E– seated passenger was quite willing to do so, despite being part of a couple.