Originally Posted by
fbrdky
I flew YYC-LHR on March 24. I saw that 19A was occupied but 19B and C were empty. On EF's seatmap, 19B was blocked but 19C was vacant. Another pax (SE judging from bag tags) scooped into 19C after takeoff. But 19A told the scooper that she had paid extra for all 3 seats. Scooper talked to the FA and FA sent the scooper back to get original seat. (During the night, 19A slept across 19A,B,C)
What happened? Can't imagine buying a J seat would be more expensive than what 19A did.
You're also assuming it's true.
I had a YUL-YYZ once, on a narrow-body aircraft, booked in full Y, on the upgrade list, and the upgrade went to a 35K. I called the concierge, who looked into it, said the system had screwed up, but worked with the GA to get me something like 19ABC all to myself.
I boarded, sat in 19A (in hindsight, should have sat in B), and an FA ended up moving someone to C. I didn't really care, but I did find it amusing that they'd made such an effort to say they were doing something for me, and then before boarding even ended, it was gone.
So did I "pay" for three seats? No. Was I entitled to them? About as entitled as one can get without paying, I suppose.
And if it had been any longer than an hour, I might have actually raised the issue with the FA.
I just don't think anyone actually paid for those 3 seats. I don't think crew are supposed to move people into preferred seats unless there's an operational reason (go pay the GA the $40 or whatever). I've certainly made comments to crew before along the lines of "these two/three/four seats cost extra". Not that I paid for all of them, just that there is a surcharge to sit in them. And they usually back down from whatever they're trying to do when I say that.
Row 19 on a wide-body I believe is a priority seat, so it doesn't actually cost more, it's just only available to status pax (until check-in?).
If you really want to get a "better seat" when you board, board last. As long as you're not jumping cabins, I doubt anyone is going to say anything unless they've
actually paid for an extra seat, since seat changes can happen all the time. But if you're moving after take-off, it's very obvious it's not your assigned seat.
(When I board a flight, I usually just sit in the first empty J seat I see, and it's only caused me a problem once.)