Changing seats in First class without asking
 

I recently flew a short-haul domestic route (approx. 3 hours) in AA First class. Fully paid, not a mileage ticket.
Upon boarding I noticed that someone was in my seat 3A (one of the single seats in a 1-2 configuration) and I politely said "excuse me you are in my seat". Before the person sitting in my seat could answer, the person sitting in seat 3D (aisle seat next to 3A) said "do you mind switching seats?" I noticed that the person sitting in my seats had crutches so I easily said "happy to switch but I would like an aisle seat", to which the person rolled their eyes and said "you have to ask the flight attendant for that". It might be important to note that this person in seat 3D is a AA staff in what looks like a pilot uniform. I approached the flight attendant and she asked the person in 3D (the one who decided to change my seat and rolled their eyes) to move to 3F (the window seat) and offered the aisle seat to me.

My question to the FT community: Does it give crew who are not working on the flight a right to change seats without asking the passenger?

The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth because of the way in which the pilot acted. They could have offered their seat to the person with crutches but instead choose to sit in their seat and offer someone else's seat. I am happy if flight crew ask me to switch seats for a person in need, but the pilot who made the decision was not part of the crew flying that particular flight.

I was with you until the presumptive offender pulled the rolled eyes bit and said ask for the flight attendant. All bets are off then and I would have said "this is my seat please" and any other mumbling from the fool I would direct him to enquire with the flight attendant. Game over, full stop, crutches or otherwise. Hell he could be in a full body cast and I still wouldn't care given his rude behavior.

It’s too hard to follow your story. You were assigned a window but wanted an aisle?

Sounds like he was on an RJ where xA is an aisle and window seat, all in one.
I'd certainly push to stay on the A side as well in this case.

Sounds like the pilot in 3D just told the person in crutches in 3F to take your seat 3A so they wouldn't have to climb in. Mildly annoying, yes, but I really wouldn't overthink this or let it leave a bad taste in your mouth. Move on.

It didn't even happen to me and I can't even move on.

:D

My personal policy is:
1) If someone politely asks me to switch seats after I am seated, then my default answer is "yes"; it would have to be a substantial downgrade for me to say no. For example, one time a person asked me to swap exit row seats with them, (13A-14A, IIRC) but the seat they offered me had no recline since it was the front exit row... so I said no to that. I think that's the only time I have refused a swap.
2) If I find that someone has planted themselves in my seat without asking, then the default answer is "no". They'd better be offering me a substantial upgrade if they want to stay in my seat.

In the OP's story, 3F is not a substantial upgrade over 3A, so I would I would ask the FA to clear out my seat. If they would have asked first, I would have gladly moved to 3D or 3F to accommodate their crutches or whatever.

it's not an upgrade, it's a downgrade. The seats are A // D-F. A is a single side. DF are two seats together.

OP got jacked out of his seat. There are plenty of times that I have paid the $53.75 upgrade fee rather than rolling the dice on a comp upgrade just because an A seat has been available.

The issue here is that the decision to switch my seat was made my a crew member flying in first class, not the flight attendant. I did ask the flight attendant and she resolved the situation but I think he crew member should not have taken the liberties in the first place because he didn't consult the flight attendant either.

Was this an AA/ WO pilot, or one of the countless fractional, charter, or freight dogs that fly paid/ space positive?

At the end of the day this is an age-old story... passenger presumptively decides to change seats and that whoever's seat they took will be fine with it. The kind of clothes that person is wearing doesn't really change anything. As always, your options are to continue to insist on your assigned seat, or decide to accept something else. If the "something else" isn't to your liking, or you don't want to play musical chairs with the entire cabin, then insist on your seat and don't feel bad about it.

It is a travel policy violation for an employee to request switching seats with a revenue passenger. While no one is going to get fired over that particular violation, it is against policy.

And yes I would absolutely refuse to switch out of an A seat on a 1-2 configured aircraft.

But it does. If an AA employee does it on an AA flight, they're violating company policy.

if the person in 3D wanted the person in 3F not to need climbing, they were welcome to switch with 3F themselves rather than forcibly « switch someone else ».

Neither active crew let alone off duty crew should unilaterally move passengers without asking them and before they had even boarded. What if you were travelling with a disability yourself?

id ask for my seat back and/or complain about the behaviour and manners of the off duty pilot.

I would have been happy to swap 3F for 3A if someone had crutches. Yes A is better than F, but I'd be OK with the worse seat had they asked and not assumed.

Wait, who was squatting in OP's assigned seat 3A? Was the squatter in 3A Crutches or Pilot Guy? Or are Crutches and Pilot Guy the same dude?

If I had to guess, the pilot was already seated in 3D and saw 3F come onboard in crutches and stumbling about and noticed they're in the inside seat. Pilot suggests for that pax to just take 3A as most people really don't care whether they're in 3A or 3F.

That pax just sits in 3A and thinks they're following instructions from AA staff. So in this situation not sure it's fair blame that pax for just assuming they could take 3A.

This all based on the fact it was the pilot that spoke up and asked about switching seats, not the pax already seated in 3A. If the pax in crutches had just plopped down in 3A, then the pilot would have never known.

We don't know that. The swap here was between 3A and 3F. The pilot in 3D may not have any actual skin in this game, and was simply trying to help a passenger on crutches. It's not like the pilot took OP's seat. If all the pilot did was ask if OP would switch seats on behalf of another customer, not unlike an FA might have done, that's not an AA employee changing their seats for a revenue customer's.

It sounds like it was still framed as question: "Do you mind switching seats?" is the direct quote from OP, and that's not a decision or an order. OP was perfectly free to decline. OP even seemingly perceived this, as they chose to negotiate to remain in an aisle seat. The pilot didn't want to elevate a 1:1 seat swap into musical chairs and at that point directed OP to the FA, who is probably the right person to have been involved in this in the first place.

None of that sounds like a violation of company policy, and it could all be as simple as the pilot trying to help a passenger with limited mobility. If OP has an issue with the attitude of the pilot (the perceived eye rolls, etc.) or felt the pilot was ordering OP to change seats instead of simply asking, then sure, by all means write to AA.

Regardless of what you think about behavior of individuals here, I don't think there would be much factual controversy if I said the A seats are likely better for the passenger on crutches than the D seats. In addition to not forcing someone on crutches to get all the way over to the F seat, the passenger in the A seat doesn't have to get up for anyone else, whereas if they sat in the D seat, they'd need get up whenever the window seat passenger wanted out. So no, the pilot didn't offer their own seat, but there's still a valid argument to be made that the pilot tried to get the passenger the best seat for their situation.

And again, no one got forcibly switched. "Do you mind switching seats?" is a question, not an order.

Yes, I agree that if the pilot (assigned 3D and staying there) tries to arrange a seat swap between two revenue passengers (3A <> 3F), then it's not a company policy violation. Not in the job description :D but certainly not a policy violation!

My first read of the original post had me thinking that the allegation was an AA employee requested a seat swap with a revenue pax for the employee's benefit. That would have been clearly against policy.

I would also add that, to those of us who notice such things, the [person in uniform] who took my seat, if I were the paid passenger in F, is affecting my view of their employer. Against policy or not, that's something AA could care about.

Like others have said, I will almost always do a kind thing to help someone who asks first, even if it inconveniences me a little. (I have mobility issues myself, but not bad enough to require an assistive device at all times, just sometimes. Maybe 10% of my life? But I always travel with my cane because flying is so fraught.)

I also react much more negatively after something I expect (an assigned seat) has been taken away from me unexpectedly.

Policy aside, the person in uniform did not take anyone's seat.

Can only speak for myself, but IMHO if it's not done prior to boarding then one should always be asked if they would be ok with changing seats.

I'm just curious how your seatmate (3F) was during the 3hour flight with you right beside him !

But if you receive a request from a person in uniform, especially a pilot, you feel compelled to do what they say. I know that I would react far differently to a pilot asking me if I would mind sitting elsewhere compared to a regular passenger. Assuming the person in uniform was in their assigned seat, this whole situation was absolutely none of their business and they never should have intervened. Especially if they told the person in crutches to take the other seat.
In this scenario, I would rather force crutches pax to move so I could sit on my own rather than have to endure the flight sitting next to the angry employee who is presumably irritated by me for forcing him to move. But ymmv...

The key question is was the pilot in uniform a AA pilot or a paid customer. My money is on paid customer.

Why?

In general I agree. But of all the exceptions where I wouldn’t be irritated, this is up towards the top of the list. A mobility issue is different than pure presumptuousness, and I could understand why someone on crutches didn’t go all the way into the window seat until it was confirmed other arrangements couldn’t be made.

Why couldn't the pilot have just moved over to the window seat 3F and let the handicapped individual sit in 3D? Seems like the pilot's preferences are those the pilot prioritized: they didn't appear to want to sit in a window seat.

For me it all boils down to the common courtesy of asking. I’ve had people take my seat and just assume I’d be happy to move to accommodate their wants / needs and I’ve told them in no uncertain terms that I’m not swapping seats.

I have swapped where it’s the decent thing to do (for example, a father flying with their young daughter where she was clearly apprehensive about being separated) but I have a zero tolerance policy where people just assume I’ll swap because I’m a solo traveller.

A nonrev should never be asking someone to switch seats, let alone poach a seat and ask the revenue customer to accommodate them. The offending employee should have their privileges suspended for this. I would be writing this in with as much detail as possible to identify the employee involved. It doesn't matter if they are a pilot in uniform - they have no authority to demand anything, they are not crew on your flight, and I would not defer to any request from a nonrev - or a revenue customer for that matter - that leaves me in a worse seat than I had reserved.

I totally agree with you and I also would request my 3A or another A seat in the 1-2 configuration when I’m on a paid F ticket.

Bingo! That's the first thing I thought of as well when reading the story. IMO, the pilot's actions had nothing to do with "kindness". The pilot didn't want the window seat next to the customer in crutches, so he told the customer to take 3A hoping the customer in 3A would just take 3F.

I am still betting the pilot was a paid customer not a non rev.

Appreciate everyone's opinions. Like I said before, I am totally OK switching seats with someone in need. But the way it was handled was a bit strange, if not off-putting. If the pilot decided to switch my seat without asking the flight attendant, the right thing to do - when I requested an aisle seat - is to offer his own aisle seat (3D) and go to the disabled passenger's seat (3F) that he decided to swap with my seat (3A). All of a sudden he wants me to talk to the flight attendant because he doesn't want to give up his seat. Thankfully, the flight attendant did the right thing and asked the pilot to move to 3F and gave me 3D.

After boarding was complete, I swapped my seat (3D) with my spouse who was in 2A. I did not want to sit next to the pilot who rolled his eyes at me for asking an aisle seat.

Ofcourse I’ll likely switch seats on a domestic flight so people can sit together but ask first. I hate when they just poach the seat and then ask. Deplorable.

If I’m on crutches, 3A >>> 3D >>>>> 3F on a 1-2 plane.

Sure. But 3D and 3A are pretty close. And 3A doesn't deserve to be seat poached without asking.

I use a cane periodically. But i will not take someone else's seat without asking.

If someone takes my seat without asking then I automatically say No, unless the alternate seat is a clear improvement. Makes no difference who it is. If I am asked politely before seating, and there is a legitimate reason (crutches, little kid with parent, older couple) then I'll usually be OK.

The A seats are the prime seats on the RJs. Don't mess with them. As noted above, in this case 3D should have offered to move to 3F if he wanted to be helpful. The OP's seat was not his to give away.

I agree! The only other possibility would be if the pilot was deadheading. Otherwise, Non Rev would have been one of the last to board. If he was Non Rev, be it an AA or other pilot, and this a full flight or fairly full flight then that Non Rev would have been one of the very last to board.
Deadheading or paid ticket, then he could have been one of the very first to board.