genotonda

So....Is it really against the rules to give up your FC seat? Has it always been? If not, when did this become the rule? This is a pretty crazy story that involves the CEO of Borden Dairy, Tony Sarsam, (which did 1.2 billion in revenue last year) giving his first class seat to one of his employees, which it sounds like he frequently does. An hour or so into the flight, the FA discovers that the (female) employee seated in the seat is not Mr. Sarsam, she apparently berates the woman and kick her back to coach. Sarsam even tries to intervene, but the FA (and apparently the captain) are adamant that she must return to coach because it is a security issue. Sounds like the FA was less than pleasant about the entire ordeal, and the CEO is back her 100%, even saying that the employee is understating how poorly she/they were treated. Here are some screenshots of the communication the woman sent to AA, along with the generic reply. That reply is hard to read, but AA says the FA was correct.

Then the CEO also sent a message to Doug Parker, and of course, also received the same rubber-stamped type of response, with just a bit more sugar on top since he is EP. Here is his email and response, as well. Since when it it not ok to give your FC seat to someone? Many of us have given to a spouse or significant other, and may others to a military person. In both scenarios, many of us have been applauded my FAs for doing so. I just did this is Dec and the FA gave me extra snack boxes in Y for being a goof husband.

You can also follow the story on the lady's twitter feed. The screenshots are from a FB group where she also posted the story.

Dave Noble

When you buy a ticket for a flight in a particular class, that is what you are buying ; there is no entitlement to swap around passengers between classes of service

If the person had asked in advance whether it would be ok to swap , the attendant would either have said yes or no - if asked in advance, the attendant's response might have been different or may have still have said no

Either way, it would have avoided the situation that the passenger created

mvoight

So, are you suggesting we no longer offer our first class seats to servicemen in uniform?

Dave Noble

I am not suggesting anything other than to check with the appropriate staff before making such offers ; it doesn't matter who it is that the offer is being made to

rumboj

I doubt AA has a written policy anywhere (and certainly not a customer-available one) that says people can just happily swap seats across cabins for the heck of it. Do people do it and get away with it? Yes. However, just because something is often done without intervention, does not make it Company policy...anywhere.

Having said all that, as a regular AA complainer, I was appalled that no miles were proactively awarded by anyone in Customer Relations for the �rude� behavior.

Prospero

Reading the letter written by Tony Sarsam above, he claims he checked with the FA beforehand.

Phasers

So where is the line drawn here? Can I offer my seat to my wife? Or will she be sent back to coach while I am forced into J or F?

I have swapped seats numerous times when I was in F. Sometimes to sit with a coworker in Y, sometimes because I am traveling with family and only one upgrade cleared so of course I didn't make my wife site in Y. It is my assigned seat, and from my perspective if I want to swap with someone that is my prerogative, as long as the swappee agrees to swap. AA dropped the ball here, period. There is no security concern if I switch from 1A to 4F, why is there a security concern if I swap from 4F to 8D?

D3Kingg

When did the seat swap occur ? Presumably on the ground . That should be perfectly fine.

Antarius

still. This is a dumb hill for a FA to want to die on.

Didn't you know that the see through curtain is electrified?

MSPeconomist

I hope the CEO of Borden Dairy escalates this all the way to the CEO of AA as he was instructed to do by that FA. After all, even after this flight is over, he should always follow the FA's orders as they are only here for our safety. <sarcasm>

BTW, he did say that permission was given for the seat swap, so why did the FA (and captain, if indeed the captain was really consulted) revoke the permission in the middle of the flight. It must have been horribly disruptive and upsetting to other FC passengers on the flight. Hopefully some of them will complain too about the FA's behavior.

JJeffrey

Just Friday night I cleared the last upgrade on MIA-RDU, flying with GF so there's no way in hell I'm sitting in F while she's in Y, told the FA we were swapping as we boarded and the FA even said something along the lines of "aww that's sweet, I love it when that happens."

This story has all the meat to get some legs, good natured CEO gives up F seat for employee in Y that just had surgery, FA flips out and AA's abysmal customer service response.

adenzin7

If I paid for the FC seat and decide to let someone else have it that it is my business only

Dave Noble

From reading 1st post, it sounds like the response from AA supported the FA's position

If the person had asked the FA responsible for the 1st class cabin if it was ok and that same attendant was the one that had the issue later, that sounds very bizarre

Where does it say that the travel is for you or anyone that you feel like letting use it instead? to best of my knowledge tickets are non transferable without a name change being made

Phasers

You're confusing tickets with seats. No one is swapping tickets, they are simply swapping seats on board via mutual agreement, prior to take off and for the duration of the entire flight.

I would bet that you have swapped seats at some point in your life, so I'm not quite sure why this is a hill you seem determined to die on.

Beachfun71

Well... this solves the issues brought up in the other threads surrounding seat swaps. �Sorry, no, I cannot change seats to allow this mother to sit next to her child. It�s a matter of safety.�