Originally Posted by
threeoh
Serious question: for those of you who don't mind swapping like-for-like if asked nicely, but object to someone "poaching" your seat, what is the best way for the person who wants to swap to ask? You want them to wait until you are fully settled in and have unpacked your bag, etc.? And if not, where are they supposed to wait to pop the question just as you arrive at your seat?
Obviously a poacher who has fully settled in, unpacked their bag, used the pillow, etc. is very rude / trying to make it hard for you to say no. But on the flip side letting the original person in the seat fully settle in before asking (e.g. waiting until boarding is complete) seems like a mistake too.
The one time in the past decade I've asked someone to swap (me + partner separated due to irrops), I just "perched" in his seat (bag on lap, didn't take my coat off) and when he arrived I just said "hey would you be willing to switch for another aisle further forward so I can sit next to my partner?" and he said "yeah no problem", took a look at my boarding pass, and then went and sat in my assigned seat. (I did make sure we were offering a seat further forward in the plane since most people prefer that, and obviously I would have moved without fuss if he had declined.)
Was I DYKWIA? What is best practice here?
I always sit in my assigned seat and wait for the other person to show up, then ask.
Originally Posted by
manstein58
All interesting. If I'm on a 737 or equivalent., I always try to book 1A or 1F. Little more space, easier to get to the head without bothering your seatmate. Usually say no to requests to swap unless a kid's involved. And call me old-fashioned but, when traveling with spouse or kids, I always try to buy seats side-by-side. If I cannot do that, I would never ask someone to swap seats.
I've booked flights that were only 50% full, but literally had a staggered layout of open seats, like 1B, 1F, 2A, 2E, 3B, 3F etc.
In that case, I take something like 2A 2E, knowing that either 2B or 2F should have no issue swapping since they're getting an equivalent seat in the same row.