Originally Posted by
cbn42
I doubt anyone can dig up a single incident of anyone being charged with a crime for this. If the airline caught him and asked him to move and he refused, then yes, he could be charged with a crime. But assuming that he complied and went back to his seat upon request, it would be difficult to prove all the elements of theft of service. This is, of course, that he had paid for a different seat on the flight. If he had sneaked onto the plane, it's a completely different situation (analogous to sneaking into a movie theater).
Those of you who consider switching to E+ to be theft, please answer this question. If I am in a middle seat and the aisle seat next to me is open, can I switch into it? Or is that theft of service as well? (Assume that the airline charges more for aisle seats, which many do these days.)
First of all: whether prosecuted as a crime or not (which I agree would be extreme), it still does not make it ok to just claim something that you did not pay for.
If you fail to follow the instructions of the FA (you need to sit in that seat, not this one), I think you will be thrown off the plane or arrested on different grounds though.
For the second part: if you would ask the FA if its ok to move from the middle to the aisle, I'm pretty sure everyone would think you would get a positive response. Now the same question but moving to an E+ seat? Very big chance you will get a "no".
I guess self-upgraders like to go by "better pray for forgiveness rather than ask for permission."