Actually I think a couple of FAs are in need of valium and/or new careers. Such a display of "put the customer last" is pathetic.
Amen.

David

It sounds strange but it is allowed. The alternate seats are to be closest to the door/s of responsibility.

Ahh ok - well nice to have met you at SeaTac as you walked by me while I waited to board

There was definitely a lot of talk in the front cabin before the plane took off and I think there was some discussion between the pilots, lead FA and gate agent about what to do. Ultimately they decided to let two people have their seats in FC after takeoff. I was curious what would have happened if we hit bad turbulence and the captain asked the FA's to be seated.

One other note...the gate agent did 'downgrade' the last two people upgraded and then moved other passengers in the FC cabin around. 1B went to 3B and 1E went to 4A. They didn't just pick the two people in 1B/1E.

I'd have to guess this is the same 738 (with 20 FC seats) causing the problem. I suppose at some point along the way one of the Captains will insist it be fixed before the plane flies.

-RM

The 738 from 1748 had the older style seats and overhead AV - if this is the same aircraft, I just can't understand why the seat can't be fixed?? Surely this aircraft has enough downtime somewhere with a maintenance facility where the new seat can be installed.

It already cost CO $500 in hard dollars just from 1748, let alone the complaints from other customers they've likely had to field as this aircraft flies around.

Fix it, already!!

As you all probably know, deferral of certain maintenance items is allowed for a predetermined amount of time. There are strict rules governing this and the airlines take advantage of it in cases where the AC is going in for routine maintenance very soon or to avoid paying contract maintenance at an outstation or to fly the AC to a station that has the part or to avoid delaying/canceling a flight. There are other reasons and I don't know the exact time allowed for a write-up to be deferred but I believe it's a certain number of legs. And I'm pretty sure the ability to do this saves them a lot more than $500.

If this wasn't allowed, nobody would have to worry about whether they got their seat back in flight because they would probably just cancel the whole flight. Seat problem solved.

Deferring a non-critical maintenance item is one thing - and perfectly fine - but deferring a maintenance item which causes a significant customer impact is quite another - and simply not good business sense.

Almost every single flight that aircraft takes is going to either block (no upgrades) seats, cause a musical chairs routine, or result in a downgrade (and voucher) - we're not talking just $500 here.

If the ship had to fly around for a day or two while either the part was ordered, machined or the ship made it to an airport for the install, that would be one thing - but if this ship is going to tool around the country for multiple days, or even a couple weeks, knocking F people out of the cabin on every leg, that is just a dumb thing to allow.

Let's also not forget the issue of moving the customers around. We have one flight where the move was temporary, another where it wasn't, and my example where the crew fought among themselves over this point, and two customers ended up the losers.

I believe that deferral for something like a jumpseat would be like 3 or 4 legs, not days or weeks. So they don't get that much of a pass. Not positive but that sticks in my mind for some reason. Maybe an expert can chime in.

After taking a quick look (about 30 seconds to look it up in the FA "bible" (inflight manual)), the seats are supposed to be placarded "For flight attendant use only". So swapping is not approved. I'm inclined to believe that the company would take the revenue loss into account when deciding whether to defer a repair. This is all coordinated through SOCC and maintenance control, not by a pilot or a random, local mechanic. Delaying a flight for hours or canceling a flight for lack of a swap AC would be pretty costly, especially if you have to reaccomodate or buy rooms for an entire AC full of PAX.

100 rooms at $100 each = $10,000