Empty Row Question
 

Yesterday on CO 29 in coach I had checked in the lounge and saw that my 24C seat was showing no one in A or B (Yipee!!). I was one of the last to board and found the plane not very full, and my row was still empty. I happily sat down and placed my belongings in seat A & B. After the doors closed I got a 'tap' on my shoulder and a passenger behind me asked if anyone was in 'A', not thinking I said 'No one was there'. He then asked the FA if he could move to the window seat in my row. The FA said fine. I was a bit miffed, but what else could I do. The passenger then explained he wanted a window, but was assigned an asile in row 25, so he moved in. After take off I did notice quite a few other empty window seats, but at that point, I really couldn't ask him to move (could I??:confused:). Also there didn't appear to be any other fully empty rows, aside from those waaaaay in the back.
Any way, my question here is what would you have done. I only paid for my one seat, so I didn't feel I could ask him not to sit there, but it would have been nice to have the 3 seats to stretch out on;)

"Hey, is there anyway I can get you to take one of the other open window seats? I really need to get some sleep and... Be happy to buy you a drink for your trouble."

Of course, I'd try to point out one with an empty middle...

What would I have done?
Well, if this were me and I didn't own the plane or purchase the seat in question, I would have not been miffed.
What kind of answer are you looking for?

Ditto - unless it was someone jumping into an undeserved (by payment or status) ELR seat, there's no claim to the extra room unless you pay for it.

I try to watch row 20 on not-at-all-full flights and attempt to snag this row at the last minute if nobody is in the middle, since the F/As will keep poachers out of my row.

(Works esp. well if Mrs Joshua goes in A/F, I go in C/D, one of us gets upgraded at the last minute, other gets the row.)

I would be thrilled that I had an aisle exit row seat!
Especially, if the back reclined.
Of course, I didn't know we were entitled to 3 seats!

:cool:

I usually sit in the middle seat. Hopefully it's enough to get them to look elsewhere for easier pickin's. If they're desperate enough though, and nothing else is available, I'm sure they'll still ask.

CO 29 is a long flight, therefore if I were you I'd politely ask the same FA if I could move to a fully empty row in the way back and would s/he be kind not to let others move there.

Also, I wonder if you would have more grounds if you had asked GA or agent in the lounge to block off A/B in the same row for you.

By the way, was the row behind you fully occupied before the other pax moved into your row?

+1

Interesting...boarding was a mess on my EWR-ORD flight on Sunday. One of the issues....guy with a boarding pass for row 36 on a 738 just decided to sit in 7F (I was in 7C). Woman who I think had that seat just sat in 7E, where no one was assigned. FA comes over to the guy in 7F, asks for the BP, and sent him back to his assigned seat. I was just thinking to myself, do people think they can just take the first available seat they see?

Back to the OP though, if the FA ok'd them to move there especially, there's not much you can do. Always a bonus to get a row to yourself, but you did pay for one seat (I assume), and that's what you got. Assuming the other guy wasn't being moved to an ELR for free, I don't think there's anything wrong with what happened, though if there were other rows that were empty, not sure why they wouldn't want to move there.

On Continental, anyone who thinks that won't think it for long--the F/As are proactive in booting out seat poachers, especially in ELR.

:td: for the poor woman who had 7F and was willing to just sit in a middle seat instead.

Back to the original topic, who else tries to squat in a middle seat in an empty row? I've not been brave enough to do it, even if I can find empty rows on the PDA seatmap and I fly the same old route over and over with the same crews and would rather not be "that guy".

+1 - as none of you entitle the seat anyway, I think that person will understand.

Last time I was on CO 4, my friend (UA Premier/CO Silver Elite) and I got ELR and the last seat was empty.

Basically, on the whole flight, we were playing music chair...:D (Of course, FA allowed us to move around those 3 seats).

I'll be that guy all day long. Absolutely no shame.

^

on a flight from ewr to hkg once, i was in a full row in y. i spotted a row with a girl sitting on the aisle with 2 empty seats beside her. she saw me eyeing the other aisle seat and told me she had paid for her seat, and the one i was eyeing with the open middle seat. i really didn't believe her but declined to challenge her on it. she had the 3 seats for the whole flight. question is, do people really pay for seats like that?

"OK...I'll sit in the unsold middle seat next to you for the next 16 hours, unless you want to offer to give me your paid window seat? By the way, I have to warn you that I am an armrest hog."

No - unless she is a supersize.

It's pretty rare but sometimes people do buy the seat next to them. I've only seen it a few times ever---less than five. If it's a full flight, they usually spend the whole boarding process defending their extra seat.