while waiting for ua231 (iad-oak) this past sunday (22, aug), i had the pleasure of watching folks come up to the counter and try and request seating changes. the gate agent actually held firm on the y, b, m & *s, & *g policy but the flight was also full so i'm sure that had some impact as well.

but to shift gears for a moment cuz i don't want to paint this woman as an ogre as she was pretty outstanding...in additon to those wanting to change seats, she had to solve a few booking snafu's including one with 2 pax sharing the same exact names but when "john smith # 1" cancelled, reservations cancelled the wrong john smith (odd though as #1 was travelling alone and #2 was with his wife and 3 year old child). pretty cool to watch her in action as she was on the phone with the main check-in counter and handling other pax as well ^ ^