I always ask to see their boarding passes before my rear leaves the seat! Beyond all of the stories noted above, I was on a flight from LAX-IAH where I saw a very confused elderly gentleman having a tough time picking a seat. Well, it seems that he had a seat in row 13 - on the United flight to HKG!! Now that would have been an interesting seat switch...

lmao
 

now thats a funny story

like you though, I always have my boarding pass on my person mostly b/c if two of us are double booked in a seat, its usually the one in the seat that gets to keep it..

That reminds me of another time, I snagged an exit row seat (14D aisle) and got on during elite boarding, well close to the end of boarding someone shows up and sayes that's his seat I look at his boarding pass and yup it sayes 14D too. I'm not getting up so I hit the call button, the FA comes down and before I can tell him what happened he sayes here's you new boarding pass, oh OK I'll move to 2A :) Got to love a last minute upgrade!

About a year ago I was happily (?!) ensconced in my ERJ seat EWR-SYR when a woman boarded and claimed that I was in her seat. She showed me her BP...EWR-ROC.

A coworker of mine was pulled from an IAH-SAN flight because he was REALLY going IAH-DEN. I wonder how common this type of misboarding is.

I think it is fairly common on crowded flights where this is not a scanner present (or working), as it was on this LAX flight. I could understand if the elderly guy got on the wrong CO flight, but he got on our flight with a UA ticket on UA paper!

I almost always switch. Last weekend on a packed DL 767 SFO-ATL, I did not. The guy asking was huge and assigned to a middle seat. Clearly he was going to be uncomfortable as was I if I switched. His wife was in the middle seat next to my aisle. I just did not want a middle for 4.5 hours. I told him I was sorry but 12F was my lucky seat and I was superstitious and did not want to be responsible for the dire consequences to all 250 pax if I had to sit elsewhere. During the course of the flight, I explained to his wife how to snag preferred seats for next time by going to the website x hours before the flight when elites get their automatic upgrades and vacate coach.

Nope. but i'd volunteer for my neighbor to move if it was a single young actress... :D

I almost asked about that, but I assumed that you were on a UA flight!!! That's AMAZING.

The flight attendant who helped him was amazed! I couldnt help but chuckle when I thought of his surprise if he actually stayed onboard and landed in IAH instead of HKG.

Not on your life
 

My other half and I are gold elite. We use the time from pre-boarding to unpack and stow our blinders, game-boy, various newspapers, magazines, books, snacks, sandwiches (on long flights), water bottles, and even take off our shoes, and put our carry-on and jackets in the overhead. If someone wants us to move, that means that we have to repack everything, go somewhere else, and redo the same thing. Unless for very particular circumstances, the answer to will you move is NO.

While I try to be pleasant is saying no, I am always amazed at how many people think that you are obligated once they ask.

While on the subject, I am also amazed by how many people claim they have my seat. Insist in fact. Then when it turns out that they are in the wrong spot, you never get an apology.

For me, whether I switch seats depends on a coupla things:

1. If the flight is long (> 4 hours, I would prefer to be next to my family).

2. How polite is the person who is asking? If they are rude or cop an attitude, I will say "No". However, if they seem nice and appreciative, I generally say "OK".

However, I am the rare breed of FTer that is not all that concerned about where I sit. This is how I handle it, others can handle it any way they like.

Really...? Last row window on a CRJ?

There have been a few times where the GA has called my name prior to boarding and asked me to switch my seat so that a couple could sit together, a handicap person can get my bulkhead, etc. As long as my new seat doesn't send me to the last few rows of the plane or put me next to a very large person (I have no problem with oversized people, but their size shouldn't infringe on my seat...it happened too many times prior to my becoming elite), I am fine with the switch.

Also, my wife and I frequently travel together and while I"m plat, she's silver (gold after this year). I have actually given up my fc seat to a stranger sitting next to her in coach so we could sit together...obviously that person was happy...I probably could have charged them.

Finally, I am also guilty of asking someone in fc to swap seats with me or my wife so we could sit together, but luckily they have generally been identical seats on opposite sides of the aisle (e.g. 1a for 1d).

FA Perspective
 

I know that it seems we sometimes come to you and purposely make your very tough day worse (and some sadistic f/a's probably do and they are the exception not the rule), but really we are just trying to our job: Assist customers that can't or won't help themselves.

I believe the F/A mentioned in the original post came to you because you were closer to where the couple was standing and thought the situation could be solved by approaching you first (thus keeping the flight from a possible delay).

As was pointed out, we don't have prior knowledge of who is sitting in their favorite seat. We do realize which seats are more desirable; after all, we often get seated in the middle seat and drool over those in window and aisle seats...yes, this is true about the middle seat (which is contrary to what I often read here). Part of our making the request is to appease the other customer's sense of our trying to help them. If you could just say, "no thank you"; we won't bother you again. I know being polite to you is key here, but, please keep in mind; it is a two way street.

While the likelihood of a accident/crash occuring is relatively low, many people who don't fly often (although this isn't always the case) worry that something might happen and they don't want to be seperated from their loved one. This may seem hokie, but it is truly how they think and feel (maybe some of you feel the same way).

Hope this helps....not mean't to inflame or get flamed.

From the customer's point of view, a person with weak eyesight at LAX could be forgiven for confusing "Gate 67" on his boarding pass with "Gate 61," especially if it was printed faintly. Likewise, he may not have seen the CO logo in the distance behind the podium, or heard it when announced.

But what about the gate agent who collected the ticket?! :eek:

The Presidents Club at LAX is very convenient for certain UA flights. :)