k374

You have a window or aisle assigned seat and consider the following situations:

- an adult is sitting in your seat next to his/her small child (under 10) and refuses to move or the adult asks to switch with your seat with theirs which is a middle.

- an old woman is sitting in your seat, refuses to get up and just says to take her seat which is a middle.

You call the FA and you stick that you need your assigned seat, the FA takes the side of the adult or the old lady and asks you to take the middle seat and if you protest you will be removed from the plane so you have to comply.

Has this ever happened to anyone? What recourse do you have? It just seems really unfair/unjust to people to have done their due diligence by booking early/checking in early/paying for premium seating etc.

This has never happened to me in all my flying but was curious to know if one should summon the pilot/gate agent or tell the FA that they will be summoning them if they don't get their seat. How far can you push it without getting into trouble?

5khours

Happened to me two hours ago. But it was actually a gate agent who reassigned without asking me. I smiled and said that would be fine. Short flight. Family with small children. No other good seating options for them. Agent was polite and apologetic.

Yoshi212

Has happened a few times. Majority of the time it was resolved by me either getting my assigned seat or getting a seat I was ok with. Once or twice I even got upgraded.

Once I had to involved the captain as the FA took the side of the family. I told the captain he could offload me if he felt it was needed but that I had booked that seat and paid for my ticket. He took me aside and while he wasn't happy to have been called into such a situation he sided with the family but then showed me to my new seat in domestic first class.
I don't accept middle seats when I book a window or aisle. I have been asked to move dozens of times but decline if the resulting situation would not be of service to me.

ESPECIALROB

The Best way to avoid being in such a situation is simply to reserve your favorite seat in an exit row. Children under 15 years old are not allowed to sit in an exit seat, and adults must be able bodied, and willing to assist in an emergency.

Most of my flights in y usually are in the exit row, and from time to time I've had passengers ask if I'd like to "slide into the middle seat" so they could have the aisle, and in all cases in a pleasant voice I simply said "no", got up to let the middle seat pax in, and went about my business for the rest of the flight.

daKav

I usually do not mind that as long as its not a long flight my new seat isn't a middle seat.

That said, I would be a jerk if someone tries 'family card' to poach my MCE seat that I paid extra for.

Tchiowa

Ask to talk to the purser. If the purser says no, inform them you will be voluntarily leaving the plane. Since you are doing it of your accord they have to offload your checked luggage (they won't allow a passenger to voluntarily separate himself from this luggage for security reasons).

Gringa

Old age doesn't entitle anyone to take a seat booked by someone else. Stand up to the old bird.

tmorse6570

I learned a lesson the hard way. I had a window from SLC to JFK on a Jet Blue red eye and not in the front. The whole thing didn't make sense and I ended up in the middle of the row behind me because I was trying to be nice.

A couple wanted to sit with their young daughter. Fine.

Next row. A huge guy said he had to pee every 30 minutes and therefore had to have the exit row. O.K. . The the other dude claimed he had to sleep and he'd lean on someone if he didn't have the window seat. Well, maybe.

So I ended up in the middle with the huge guy pouring into my space the whole flight. He wasn't someone I wanted touching me. The attendant could tell I was more than pissed and kept handing me free beers (my bladder can take it), but it was still one of the worst five hour flights I've been on. Never again.

I say if people aren't smart enough to plan ahead, then screw them.

Sorry (not really) if that sounds rude.

cbn42

It happens once in a way, and you don't have much recourse. Your seat assignment is not part of the contract of carriage, and may be changed by the airline at any time without any notice or explanation to you. If you choose to deplane, I don't believe you would be entitled to rebooking. It would be a no-show and you may receive the residual value of the ticket, depending on the fare class.

With airlines getting bad media attention for splitting families and Congress instructing the FAA to come up with a solution, expect more of this to happen. In the eyes of the public, a mother with a small child is going to get more sympathy than the big bad businessman, every single time.

televisor

That's not the case for domestic flights in the USA. True for most other flights in the world though.

krazykanuck

I once had a woman ask me to trade my aisle seat with her mother in law who had a middle seat so they can sit together. This was on an EY flight from AUH-JFK. There was no way I was agreeing to that trade

I have agreed in the past, I'm far more amenable if it's an aisle for an aisle. I've also heard FAs come over the PA and ask for volunteers so a family can sit together and be bribed with drink tix for people who move.

Annalisa12

Travelling for work on a 1 hour economy for flight. There was a cancellation earlier in the day so a lot of the flights were busy from Melbourne to Sydney. They told me that I had a middle seat and I hate sitting in the middle potentially touching someone (I'm a bit weird). She said there was no other seats so I said that was ok if there were aisle or window seats on the next flight an hour later i would wait. She said "so you'd wait for the next flight because you don't like the middle". I told her briefly why I didn't want to sit in the middle and I said I was happy to wait until the next flight and not to worry (which was true). 10 mins later I was called over and they had an aisle seat!

I'd never change for a middle seat.

eigenvector

I'm generally not receptive to passenger or FA suggested swap offers, but keep in mind that the gate agent can actually reassign your seat and you will have to comply or get off the plane. If a GA decides to move you out of your pre booked seat to accommodate someone else there's really nothing you can do except write in to the airline afterward and complain.

I'm firm about not accepting someone's middle just because they ask, but I'm not about to be delayed in reaching my destination over a seating assignment if a GA insists.

Badenoch

If it's a straight up swap (e.g. aisle for aisle) and within a couple of rows I'll swap. I've never had an FA force a change on me but should it happen I'd at the very least expect a full refund of the amount I spent on seat selection.

lostinlondon

If I'm asked to switch, potentially (so long as it's a comparable seat). If i'm expected to switch, that's a very different story. Also depends on cabin, flight length, etc, but attitude is a huge one for me.