puddinhead

If I wanted a life of serving others and giving them what I have worked for/earned/etc. I would have joined the clergy.

I can only assume you never sit in FC as there is always someone more deserving who should sit in your seat.

puddinhead

Maybe he was situated in his seat or has a fear of the letter C.

You both got upgraded, that's a bonus that may become a memory soon. Which would have been a more pleasant flight?

a) sitting next to each other on coach
b) sitting 5' apart in FC

GatorBlues

I remind you of the word "if" in my post. "If" the swap does not diminish your seat, in your own subjective opinion, then yes, you're a selfish jerk to refuse to switch for no other reason than just because you're on a crusade against switching, ever, based on some imagined principle.

I also remind you of the separate sentence in my post pointing out that no one should feel bad about refusing a request if there really is a subjective reason they prefer the seat they have to the seat they're being offered. This includes a range of reasons -- I'd rather not take a window seat, I'd rather not move back farther on the plane, I prefer the two seat side to the three seat side, I don't like bulkheads (or I do like them), etc., etc. If you actually do like your seat better, based on any of a number of seat distinctions, then I'm not one to second guess your decision to keep it. However, the notion that your one specific seat assignment on every flight is always the one and only seat that satisfies your subjective criteria is absurd. How about a row 2 aisle seat in FC for the other row 2 aisle seat in FC when you're traveling alone. Would that be too much trouble for you because you picked "the one you want"? Would you be willing to switch from row 3 to row 2, and if not, would you switch from row 2 to row 3 on the same aircraft on a different flight?

And there's nothing dramatic about it. People can choose to be courteous. You might even find that you get a sense of satisfaction out of doing a favor for someone else, even if it is only a small matter for them to get to sit with a friend or spouse for a short flight. Unfortunately, too often, people choose not to be courteous, even when the small favor would cause them no discernible inconvenience. Worse still, our society's discourteous attitudes are not limited to airplane seats; far from it.

And with that, I withdraw from the discussion. There's nothing left to be said from either side. The deeply self-centered are what they are and nothing's going to change their minds.

MSPeconomist

It could depend on the aircraft type and seating configuration. On a CRJ-900, this would be a move from an aisle to a window and there would still be an aisle (not isle) between guy and wife.

ATOBTTR

I shared this story in another thread but will share it here too:
The other week I was flying HNL-MSP with my wife. I had 1A and she had 2A. Shortly after board and get settled into our seats, a family of five boards. Husband, wife, and three kids. They have 2B/C/D, and 3A and 3D. The husband approaches my wife and asks her to take 3D so four of the five can sit in the same row. She declines. He then tried to guilt us (her) into swapping by saying "oh we originally had these seats booked", as the daughter in 3D (about 13-15 years old) shoots a nasty "I'm a spoiled rotten little princess - how dare you defy me wishes!" look to my wife. I didn't say anything because I wasn't 100% sure as I do switch seats occasionally after booking but I looked when I got home and I did in fact select 1A and 2A way back in April. So either the guy was lying and hoping to somehow really guilt her/us into accepting or he did book early and there may have been an equipment or schedule change but the cabin was still wide open in April so had he periodically checked his reservations he would have easily been able to get a row of 4 for four of them to sit all across from one another.

I am glad we boarded when we did because the family struck me as the kind that would have poached the seat and really tried to raise a fuss when we would have kicked them out.

Henla

I'll switch for someone who wants to sit next to a spouse as long I get an equivalent or better seat, am not already sitting next to my own spouse, and am asked nicely without even a hint of expectation or entitlement.

And, don't even think about poaching my seat, though I personally generally tolerate someone assigned to that row's aisle seat poaching my middle, as that way I don't have to stand in the aisle while they move all their junk over (and it's pretty obvious most "middles" will make that switch). This is not true for the window, as my convenience went down, not up. I'll probably still make that switch (from middle to window), but please ask first...every time.

All that being said, i don't recommend hoping the next person will be as tolerant, so don't poach!

lamont2718

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BadgerBoi

If it's all that important for you to sit next to your spouse then perhaps you should decline the upgrade. If I'm already settled into 2B, which I selected months ago and far prefer over 2C, I'm not going to move. And it's nobody's business why 2C is unacceptable to me.

You politely ask me, and I politely refuse.

sg1phileshipper

2011 not on DL but on AA, flying from JFK to BRU, a flight more than 7 hours. Seating was 3x3, flying in coach. I had picked an aisle seat for a reason, like 9 months ahead of flying. I came to my seat and it was taken. They guy sitting in it said that the guy sitting next to the window had taken his. Did he really think I was gonna be sitting in the middle seat? Nope, never in my life. I claimed my seat, because I need to get up often, I walk to the bathroom fairly often (Big water drinker and what goes in must come out). Anyway, he wasn't too happy about it. He should have claimed his own seat back. If you are only left with a middle seat on a fairly long flight, you should suck it up and sit in it and not expect someone else to swap.
I shouldn't have explained why I needed my seat, because I picked that seat for a reason. Can't help wondering why I felt a little guilty afterwards.

Cindy

MSPeconomist

Maybe his own seat was the middle seat and the excuse that some other guy had taken his window was all a lie?

sg1phileshipper

I didn't ask to see his boarding pass, I just claimed my aisle. Maybe your are right, the guy next to the window didn't budge though. But I wonder what would have happened if he hadn't moved.....

Cindy

MSPeconomist

Then you call a FA over to take care of the problem. Perhaps in the extreme some airline employee calls the police to remove the seat poacher.

sg1phileshipper

If the police needs to be called, pax could be very well on the way of a huge fight then. Hope it never happens to me or see it happen. Saw NYPD once on the plane after landing to remove pax, but that was for a totally different reason.

Cindy

jamesteroh

I have been on aircrafts before where 2C and 2D were bulkheads, there was a 1a and B though. In that case I would refuse to swap 2B for 2C. I would also refuse if a parent with a lapheld infant was in 2D or in seats C and D in rows 1 or 3.

In most cases though I would be willing to switch 2B for 2C if I was asked politely and the seat wasn't poached. If someone is seating in my seat when I board, like in the incident I mentioned Sunday, then all bets are off.

Like another poster said though if it's that important for two people to sit together then they should decline the upgrade.

gooselee

Why not just decline the UG if you don't plan to use it?

Oh right...that's an entirely different thread.