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NYCtraveler Oct 31, 2012 10:58 pm

Two differing class can we switch
 
Hello:

I will be on a business trip in F and my wife is coming with me however I cannot get her any upgraded ticket etc....So we are taking a coach seat.....

Can we switch mid flight so each of us had 1/2 the flight in F....We don't care about food and drink...just sleeping and space.

Thanks, NYC

midlevels Oct 31, 2012 11:47 pm

No .

marcuslai Nov 1, 2012 12:05 am

I'm sure you can. Just whoever is flying in F talk to the ISM. If the cabin is not too full, the ISM may also be able to arrange it so that both can sit in the F cabin when the plane begins to descend.

midlevels Nov 1, 2012 12:48 am


Originally Posted by marcuslai (Post 19602736)
I'm sure you can. Just whoever is flying in F talk to the ISM. If the cabin is not too full, the ISM may also be able to arrange it so that both can sit in the F cabin when the plane begins to descend.

General consensus is that class changes are possible if done before takeoff with consent of ISM, but those are then permanent for the flight. i.e. you can't swap halfway.

It makes perfect sense. Otherwise many people would do this and swap halfway so they can each get a few hours of "flat bed" sleep.

What the OP is asking for is not reasonable and according to most people's experience (I have never tried it myself) is not allowed.

Seated together during descent......maybe. But absent a compelling reason I don't see why they would let a Y pax sit in F even for descent.

fakecd Nov 1, 2012 7:57 am


Originally Posted by NYCtraveler (Post 19602589)
I will be on a business trip in F

are you hiring? :p

I think answer would be no based on anacdotal evidences. The "seat together" during descent tend to happen more frequently provided there are empty seats.

QRC3288 Nov 1, 2012 8:09 am


Originally Posted by NYCtraveler (Post 19602589)
Hello:

I will be on a business trip in F and my wife is coming with me however I cannot get her any upgraded ticket etc....So we are taking a coach seat.....

Can we switch mid flight so each of us had 1/2 the flight in F....We don't care about food and drink...just sleeping and space.

Thanks, NYC

The answer is technically no. If the ISM follows the rules to a T, flights going to/from North American airspace are not supposed to have seats swapped once the doors are closed.

In more common sense terms, assuming that rule above is willing to be broken, what midlevels says above seems to make a lot of sense to me, unfortunately for your situation. I can't see how CX would want to allow this practice at all - it could be a great way to save some serious $ and get a great sleep. Buy one ticket JFK-HKG in F and another in discount Y. I know that's not what you're doing, but it's hard to see why they would allow it. Personally I have never seen this be successful either, unfortunately - I'd be curious if any of the other folks on here who regularly fly F have. Anecdotally I tried to once swap a my J seat for a friend's Y seat in-flight midflight (long-haul, LAX-HKG), which was denied. I was a regular paid J customer (not an op-up).

Lastly, I have both seen with my own eyes and had another friend recount to me what fakecd and marcuslai say about the end of the flight. I have seen parents in F and the kids came up on descent (empty seats) for landing and deplaning on a HKG-SFO flight a few years back. One of my friends also recently recounted to me that he did something identical to that, the family was split between F/J and upon descent the ISM let them all sit together in F.


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