Originally Posted by
MEMLawGuy
That is an absolute absurdity. Of course someone can "politely" ask if you might be willing to switch seats with them. Is it technically an imposition on you -- sure. You have to stand up and then move and then sit back down. As some here say: "HEAVENS TO BETSY!" You might even have to take your iPad out of the seat back pocket and move it too.
Of course you have every right to say no. And say no in whatever manner you choose. But painting the picture of you politely saying no as being proper and within your "rights" is a fallacy for supporting your assertion that there is no such thing as a polite request.
But if you can't be bothered to move from 3C to 2C because you consider the thought of even being asked impolite, then you must live a tough existence. Are you the same person who stakes out the spot right by the luggage belt at baggage claim and would refuse to move over to allow someone to claim their bag because their polite "excuse me, please" is an imposition on you to move over 2-3 steps? After all, you'll probably never see that person again, right?
It is this attitude that I don't understand.
An intrusion is an imposition. Asking someone a favor is an intrusion. On the scale of nuisances, it is small, but what you don't seem to recognize is that it is not neutral. You also ignored both the poster's next sentence, as well a post in which I said the same thing: "In 30 years of frequent flying, I have never, not once, been asked politely by a parent to switch to a comparable or better seat." Are their parents out there who say, "I'm truly sorry to bother you, but the airline gave me and little girl separate seats. My seat is [an exit row/an aisle or window further up/in first class]. Would you consider switching me?" I certainly wouldn't be bothered by such a request. However, I've also never encountered one. And neither has the other poster.
Have you?
This hypothetical ever-so-polite parent with the much better seat for trade has nothing to do with reality or this thread. You might as well posit a pax looking to switch who offers $10,000 if you agree. Would almost all of us agree? Of course. Would we consider it impolite to have been asked? Of course not. Except that this never happens, either.
So enough with the, "what kind of person thinks it's impolite to ask?" Our point is that, almost always, the person doing the asking is rude, entitlement-demanding and argumentative. Knowing this, I certainly cringe when someone asks me to swap (and I can think of only one occasion when, in fact, I was asked politely, offered a bulkhead F in exchange for my row 2 F, and, when I explained, politely, that I would decline because I didn't like bulkhead, said, "No problem. Thanks, anyway." This, by the way, was a man flying with his wife, and not a parent).