Originally Posted by
PTravel
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).
I think you just made my point for me. I'm not arguing that "most" people who request to swap don't do it for selfish reasons or go about it in an antagonizing manner. I'm only pointing out that OP's hard-line stance that ANY request is impolite and a burden so it will always be met with a "no" response is ridiculous.
Just because OP hasn't encountered a polite request to swap doesn't mean that -- in OP's own words -- "such a thing as a polite request" doesn't exist because it, by its very nature, "involves disturbing a stranger" is an absurd way to justify the position of not ever entertaining the thought of swapping a seat.
Your points, FWIW, regarding the overall reality of the situation and what most people would do are valid, IMO. Again, I'm just pointing out the hard line stance of OP that any and all requests are impolite because they involve disturbing someone. OP seems to have a problem with simply being asked, and I think that's preposterous.
You can't justify or judge the "politeness" of the situation by what is being offered. You asked would people consider it impolite to swap if the person asking offered you $10,000 to do so? You said "of course not." Of course it could be, though. If you walked up your seat in 2B and someone was sitting in it and told you he decided he'd rather sit there instead and asked you to "f-off" to his seat in 34E and said here's $10k for your trouble -- handing you cash. Would you take it? I would. Was that an impolite request? Yes.
So the end doesn't always justify the means and vice versa.
My point being that OP saying there is no such thing as a polite request BECAUSE it is a burden is ludicrous. OP has painstakingly made it clear that seat swap requests are not to be entertained because of that mindset, and I think that's silly. Just MHO.