Seat reservation tactics - Leaving middle seat empty
Sep 10, 2015, 1:19 am
#151
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I’d just like to say that people who do the middle seat trick leaving only middles or the undesirable seats left should be shot, They are the worst travellers. They ruin everyone else’s experiences by making them forced to sit in middle seats and split people up across a plane so they may hopefully have a nice flight themselves. Just selfish. If I am assigned between you idiots and you ask to swap, NO. Just sit the hell down and stfu. I will not swap. I will make your flight a miserable one just because you tried to pull this trick. I will make you never want to do it again and go out my way to ruin your flight experience. Maybe you should learn not to be selfish and ‘suffer’ like the other 99% of economy, ok? It's really not that bad, you complain about space, BUY AN UPGRADE OR CHANGE YOUR AIRLINE.
Sep 10, 2015, 1:25 am
#153
Join Date: May 2010
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This is the only way I ever reserve couple seats. The only exception is if there are two together in a BA exit row, I'd take that over the AC/DF pair in a non-exit row. But I can asure you that if you insist on taking the middle (which is fine IMHO), the couple can do far more to make your life worse than the other way around.
Sep 10, 2015, 1:27 am
#154
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I tend to do that too, if travelling ET. I find it does often work, more usually if the aisle seat is already taken and the window seat is free. It certainly works on the leisure routes with a high proportion of couples travelling, which is ironic. Increasingly passengers seem switched on to the exit row position on A320 series aircraft, but not normally to the extent of selecting middle unless there is nothing else going. However with flight loads running very high at the moment, in the 80 to 90% area, then there is very little slack in this area now.
Sep 10, 2015, 2:21 am
#155
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Order a couple of drinks and stick on a pair of noise cancelling Bose headphones and I think you are pretty much immune from that. Of course, if people insist on being unreasonable, a complaint to the purser/CSM/CSD etc can quickly resolve the situation
Oh, and I have seen it the other way, where the middle seat passenger is insistent on a swap. I tend to find a comment like: "we selected these seats months ago for a reason ..." puts paid to that.
Sep 10, 2015, 3:11 am
#156
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Why? The pair that booked A/C or D/F obviously had the right to do so via a combination of (1) booking earlier, (2) status, or (3) paying for seating. Sure, the person with B or E can refuse a swap or refuse a swap unless getting the window or an aisle. But as a strategy, politely telling/heavily suggesting which seat they take has always worked and I would think is a sound strategy that would work 99% of the time given that almost everyone would rather have a window OR aisle rather than a middle.
Sep 10, 2015, 3:49 am
#157
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 935
I’d just like to say that people who do the middle seat trick leaving only middles or the undesirable seats left should be shot, They are the worst travellers. They ruin everyone else’s experiences by making them forced to sit in middle seats and split people up across a plane so they may hopefully have a nice flight themselves. Just selfish. If I am assigned between you idiots and you ask to swap, NO. Just sit the hell down and stfu. I will not swap. I will make your flight a miserable one just because you tried to pull this trick. I will make you never want to do it again and go out my way to ruin your flight experience. Maybe you should learn not to be selfish and ‘suffer’ like the other 99% of economy, ok? It's really not that bad, you complain about space, BUY AN UPGRADE OR CHANGE YOUR AIRLINE.
Sep 10, 2015, 4:02 am
#158
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I’d just like to say that people who do the middle seat trick leaving only middles or the undesirable seats left should be shot, They are the worst travellers. They ruin everyone else’s experiences by making them forced to sit in middle seats and split people up across a plane so they may hopefully have a nice flight themselves. Just selfish. If I am assigned between you idiots and you ask to swap, NO. Just sit the hell down and stfu. I will not swap. I will make your flight a miserable one just because you tried to pull this trick. I will make you never want to do it again and go out my way to ruin your flight experience. Maybe you should learn not to be selfish and ‘suffer’ like the other 99% of economy, ok? It's really not that bad, you complain about space, BUY AN UPGRADE OR CHANGE YOUR AIRLINE.
1. If I have an ASA right thru status or fare then I'm damn within my rights to window+aisle my seats.
2. I assume other pax, check-in agents or even computer assignment will fill the other seats window-aisle.
3. Middle seats will be filled last - the cheapest travellers or the most disorganised. I don't think it's feasible to have the system revert me back to the middle seat in case the middle seat has to be taken and put the late passenger into the window seat automatically.
4. In that case I will invite the middle passenger to swap for the window or the aisle. I expect (though by no means insist) he take it - it's win win.
--- I don't think there's any "trick". It's the logical thing to do. He's late so I get to window-aisle first. Only in the eventuality the plane is filled do I have to take the middle seat back.
5. On the principle that passengers should sit on their assigned seats, it is the middle passenger's prerogative to insist on his middle seat. Not that I will expect this passenger to be a good neighbour for the rest of the flight, but c'est la vie. I will take the window and might just go to visit the toilet a few more times than I am usually inclined to!
What I actually do:
Plane (if 3-3, usually an A320) - wife insists on aisle, and me next to her, so we're always a aisle-middle seating. Last Sunday the GA asked if we wanted two aisles and I said no (if I wanted two aisles I would've ASAed way in advance for it...).
In any case I don't think we've been on a flight where window-aisle is possible...we're always aggressively using public holidays and long weekends, and flights are always packed.
Bus (2-2). I frequently occupy the aisle and ask the late passenger to take the window.
Last edited by percysmith; Sep 10, 2015 at 4:16 am
Sep 10, 2015, 9:05 am
#161
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^
Sep 10, 2015, 9:12 am
#162
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Sep 10, 2015, 9:15 am
#163
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Sep 10, 2015, 9:17 am
#164
Join Date: Nov 2014
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Exactly how I feel. I am not 'late' usually it's often the bugger up of the airline, for example on Air NZ they had an 'IT Glitch' and they removed my seat selection which I booked about 10 months in advance of the flight and tried to put me in a middle despite me paying for my extra legroom and non middle seat. But think about the people that booked through a travel agent and it's often overlooked about seat selection so they turn up three hours before and everything is gone except middles. For example this once in a lifetime holiday for this honeymoon couple are seated row 30 and row 54. I think a system should be in place for seat selection online whereby you can't choose seats leaving a gap. I believe ticketmaster uses the system in some sports games which means that you can't leave a middle seat between groups, they must be sat together. Where you said you will try and go to the loo several times in the flight if you're on the window, just pretend to be out cold and not respond to the taps and requests for me to move ^
^If you as a party of two, three or more need seats and other couples have booked them on a 3x3 arrangement sitting together then there is every chance that you will not be sitting together anyway. Here are all the examples below where couple 1 and 2 have already booked and the U seats are for you and your partner.
A B C D E F
1 1 U U 2 2
1 1 U 2 2 U
U 1 1 U 2 2
U 1 1 2 2 U
So out of the four possible combinations, only 1 allows you to be seated together (ignoring the aisle) Of course if the party is more than 2 then you are going to be split up regardless.
Sep 10, 2015, 9:19 am
#165
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,499
I’d just like to say that people who do the middle seat trick leaving only middles or the undesirable seats left should be shot, They are the worst travellers. They ruin everyone else’s experiences by making them forced to sit in middle seats and split people up across a plane so they may hopefully have a nice flight themselves. Just selfish. If I am assigned between you idiots and you ask to swap, NO. Just sit the hell down and stfu. I will not swap. I will make your flight a miserable one just because you tried to pull this trick. I will make you never want to do it again and go out my way to ruin your flight experience. Maybe you should learn not to be selfish and ‘suffer’ like the other 99% of economy, ok? It's really not that bad, you complain about space, BUY AN UPGRADE OR CHANGE YOUR AIRLINE.