GatorBlues

Others don't know that you picked your preferred seat in advance. For all they know, you were upgraded or assigned a seat by the system that isn't your favorite.

Most couples would rather sit apart in first than together in coach, but sitting together in first is even better. A simple "no thanks, I prefer my aisle seat" should end the discussion. If they're polite about it, what's the big deal?

I agree with you about the tantrums. A guy got heated with me when he asked to trade his regular coach seat for my exit aisle seat. After I politely declined, he got angry, arguing that because he's so tall (I'm not), he "needs" the exit seat. I had to keep refusing at least 3 more times before he moved on. Next time, I plan to ignore the tantrum thrower and press the call button as soon as the tantrum starts. That kind of person is going to ask/demand no matter what. I don't view it as a reason not to be courteous to the people who aren't obnoxious in making their request.

pgh234

See, that type of ignorant attitude is exactly what many people on this thread try to make a point about. I happen to HATE the aisle and love the window. Say you get upgraded to the window after I get upgraded to the aisle. I make a casual remark upon boarding asking if you want to switch. Then you get what you want and I get what I want.

The point is...to each-his-own. If you want to keep your seat...then simply say so and move on. That 2 second interaction from your super busy life caused you no harm...and you could have ended up with something you more preferred.

MSPeconomist

IME it's better to just say no thanks and skip the "I prefer my aisle seat" tends to lead to an argument about how they *need* the aisle seat or why the window seat really would be better for you or even that all of the seats are equivalent because they all arrive at the same time. If you give any sort of a reason, even something so factual and so vague as the statement that you prefer the seat you have, many seat swappers will argue with you. I've come to believe that it's better not to engage at all (and if a poacher doesn't move instantly, get the FA or GA).

Jimgotkp

If only it was like that... I had a situation where I confirmed an upgrade to F in advance and chose bulkhead seats since there's a lot of leg room with these seats versus the other rows. The passenger next to me and his wife asked if I would switch seats with the wife who had a seat two rows behind and I responded no. They then got all fussy and complained to the FA who was working the F cabin. The wife then started to complain about these people getting free upgrades and blah blah blah while the FA was nodding her head in agreement. Since this put me in an uncomfortable situation, I caved in and gave her the seat she wanted.

Don't get me wrong, I've sat away from my travel companions a few times and asked my seatmates if they would switch seats. I've been 100% so far with these requests. However, if someone said no I wouldn't be throwing a tantrum about it.

flyerCO

FA most likely didn't care. FA was probably simply nodding to keep passengers from going off on them.

pvn

This is not always possible. I buy most of my tickets extremely close in, I prefer the window, and sometimes the window seats are all taken. It's happened to me at least three times in the last two months. I've asked people if they like to switch, I've gotten polite "no" responses, and we all moved on with life, though I guess it's possible my seatmate was secretly steaming the entire flight.

DeltaDunce

or posting to FT about the unmitigated gall of the person who wanted to switch seats

jamesteroh

And I prefer aisle and if I had a window and the aisle person asked me to switch I'd be happy to. Never had that anyone ask me for that switch but I can't remember the last time I got stuck with a window seat in Y or C+ but have had people in F ask me to switch my aisle for their window and I just politely decline and hasn't been an issue so far

dilbertsdaddy

The ignorant attitude of wanting to sit in the seat you picked? Guilty as charged.

And it is usually not as innocent as you state; it is people who do not plan ahead who arrive onboard and think they will trick you into moving in. After all, it's just a seat and we all get there the same time. Not a chance bud.

miraclebear2003

Well, we all react somewhat differently. Most of the time I'm flying with my wife and she doesn't like to sit apart, so we have asked people to switch. It's been a while, but I don't think we have expected people to take a "worse" seat.

We also like the bulkhead so I understand your situation. Since people have switched for us, I would be willing to switch if asked politely. But, if they just expect the right to the seat or act like a a $$, I am not moving.

Proudelitist

Ignorant attitude? Please.

An ignorant attitude is thinking that not taking what you are given and instead putting a burden and undue social pressure..even if only for a few seconds..on another passenger who has to face an awkward situation if they say no. Sure, they may want the swap then no harm done. But the truth is, you don't know. What is a casual remark to you may not be seen that way by another. You got an upgrade..isn't that enough?

pvn

So it's OK to ask if I didn't get an upgrade and bought the ticket outright? I mean, the guy I'm asking probably got an upgrade, so I'm not sure why I should care about his feelings (to use your thinking).

Interacting with other humans is table stakes when you're on a plane. If you really think someone asking you about changing seats is a violation of your human rights, you should probably stay home because you're going to experience much worse than that out in the big mean real world.

ATOBTTR

How do you know they're upgrades? How do you know it's not people who did book together and got split up in IROPS?

People like you fail to understand that while you care significantly about your seat, you are very much a minority and many people out there see airplane seats as simply seats or have other priorities than seats. It doesn't make them or you wrong; it just means you have different opinions. I am part of the minority as well but at least I know it, and given the attitudes of people like you, I'm often thankful many of the views of this site represent a minority.

Sure I can have very particularly preferences if the options are available and sometimes those make a difference if someone asks me to switch and sometimes I put them aside and switch. For example, I prefer the aisle seat on the right side because I'm right handed and it means my drink is positioned for me to grab with my right hand. When I am selecting seats, I'll select an aisle seat on the right side. But it's not something I consider critical enough to turn down a seat swap request for an otherwise equivalent aisle seat. You as the seat holder do have the ultimate "authority" and if you don't want to swap for whatever reason, you don't, but what I find both sad and amusing is the attitude of how any other passenger should never dare ask for a seat swap to sit by a companion.

zitsky

Did you do a survey? Is that how you know what the minority wants?

GatorBlues

Finally, someone admits the truth about what the anti-seat swap crowd really thinks. It's not about someone else getting to decide what is an equal swap; indeed, the rest of us have acknowledged (many, many, many times) that no one but the seat holder is entitled to evaluate the comparative worth of the seats. It's not about the rare situations where someone is rude; indeed, everyone knows that rude people are going to try to impose on you no matter what. Instead, finally, we received an admission that it's actually about not wanting to deal with a "few seconds" of "burden and undue social pressure" from being asked politely.

I applaud you for your honesty. Of course, most of us already knew this was the real reason. When others kept raising the same straw man over, and over, and over again, it became apparent they were merely trying to deflect the debate away from the real issue. However, even though I respect your honesty, I think you're opinion is unreasonable. In my experience, very few think a polite request is out of bounds, and many of us grant those requests if they aren't much of an imposition. As a result, you're going to keep getting requests whether you like them or not.