Originally Posted by
Mergetrip
my strategy at bag drop was to say the 4th adult passenger (the no-show) does not have bags and is travelling alone to the airport to try and therefore try to protect the seat for as long as possible.
As soon as the passenger does not meet conformance the seat will be freed up and could be re-allocated. If the flight is busy any staff travellers will only be allocated seats after this point and the 'empty' seat you were trying to hide will immediately become the obvious answer.
Originally Posted by
themax
I would advise AGAINST doing this as you might find that all of your checked bags do not get loaded because you are on the same booking reference (this would be the case if the ground handlers hold back your bags "waiting" for the 4th person to arrive, and then at the last minute do not load them for any number of reasons
This is unlikely, particularly if you ask for the individual bags to be tagged against the correct passenger. It's managed on a passenger/seq basis, not a booking one, unless the bags for everyone are 'pooled' under a single passenger.