FC flyer

I don't need to sit next to my husband, but certainly enjoy it more than sitting next to a stranger. We ask politely, and never make a person who says no feel guilty. When traveling alone, I volunteer to change seats if it helps a couple sit together. People are more important than a seat IMHO.

dm6214

My wife and I have been booked on a flight from ATL to MKE since June. The aircraft has been changed at least 3 times. The last time was in Dec. The aircraft is a 737. Seats have been moved by Delta several times but we were always seated together. The last time even though we are still on a 737-900 the put us in seats A and C with someone in B. Will we be out of line asking the person in B if he would rather have A or C so that we may be seated together?
Oh and by the way the original aircraft was a 737-900 and we prebooked A and B. I can understand if a plane is changed your seats can be changed but if it stays the same why does Delta in their infinite wisdom randomly move people around?

appleguru

Flight just last week.. I had booked the an F aisle seat in the second row. Was running a bit late, so I was the last in F to board. When I boarded, I found a lady in my seat, with lots of bags/etc on the floor. Only open seat was a window in row 1 (I hate windows, and also hate bulkheads). When I informed her she was in my seat/showed her my BL, she refused to move and indicated that I should sit in the window seat.

I grabbed the FA, who went to speak with the lady and asked me to hang out in the valley while she tried to sort it out. She came back and asked if I wanted to sit in the window bulkhead. I said "no, not really... any aisle is fine though".

FA went back and got the lady to move. Lady made a big stink and gave me a death stare.

I just don't get it sometimes! And no, she wasn't even traveling with anyone. I guess she just wanted my aisle?

had another flight recently to find nobody in their assigned seats in F. Traded my aisle with a gentleman ina mother aisle so I could sit with my SO and the couple that was in our original seats could still sit together. That one worked out, and everyone was happy. (Delta had a few equipment swaps that forcibly changed our seats 3 times within 48 hrs... from seats that were together to seats that weren't. So I'm sure nobody really ended up where they wanted!)

LoganFlyer

Absolutely not! Most people would rather have an aisle or window than a middle, so this is a fair trade to offer. But if the person says they want the middle seat, then they get to keep it.

PTravel

That's a problem between the parent and the airline, not the parent and other passengers. Unless the parent is traveling for what I consider a true emergency (funeral, relocation, medical treatment), I don't care if the parent has to ask someone else, take a later flight, or not fly at all. And that includes circumstances beyond the parent's control, e.g. equipment swap, missed connection, etc. I've never understand why a parent engaging in discretionary travel thinks that invests them with superior rights to those traveling without children.

Tizzette

One hopes that one of these nicey nice folks who has benefited before from asking others to switch in honor of their coupledom will volunteer but I doubt it. It is just about the only situation I would volunteer to switch for myself. The FAs will make somebody if they have to.

Ledfish

I wonder how much of this poached seat entitlement relates to WN allowing passengers to pick their own seats. I only say this because a number of times, I have overhead people walking past me mention that they had to seat in the seats they were assigned and couldn't just take any pen seat like on WN.

spamkiller

It is common that when my wife travels with my daughter w/o me, in a 3 - 3- 3- or 3 -3, I put my wife and daughter in isle and window or aisle - aisle. If the middle seat is empty, they have the space, if someone gets the middle seat, it is a pretty good bet that the person in the middle would be happy to swap.

MSPeconomist

Good point.

GagaPilot

A few evenings ago I was on a 757 from MSP-ANC in window 42F. A guy in his late teens/early 20s Had the aisle seat, 42D. Towards the end of boarding 2 guys who spoke very little English and lots of French approached the guy in 42D. Apparently one had the middle 42E and the other 43E. He asked (or really told based on his attitude) the guy to give up his aisle seat and take the middle seat in the row behind so he and his partner could sit together. He obliged, but I could tell he was a very infrequent flyer so I don't think he knew he had a choice. I wouldn't have been so accommodating for the long 6 hour flight.

And off topic, but this is one route DL needs to include in the upcoming main cabin meal additions!

KDCAflyer

I would have spoken up in his defense. So many in my generation just take things as given and do as they are told without pushing back. I don't.

rickg523

I think this is an unreasonable position. In case of an emergency requiring evacuation, a parent whose child is 7 rows behind him, is not going to leave the airplane in an orderly fashion. He's going to get his kid and you don't want to be in his way when he's heading upstream. It's a serious safety issue and it should be a regulatory requirement that children under 12 be seated adjacent to a parent.

rucksack

And the seasonal ATL-ANC! It's longer than most TATLs.

KDCAflyer

I didn't think that flight existed at all anymore.

Edit: Looks like I'm wrong. That's hellishly long in domestic Y. FC too, since that route is apparently operated using a domestic 767.

rucksack

Yep, almost 10 hours in coach (westbound) without a meal is pretty savage.

I'd also like to see the business case for a layflat configuration in F. My guess is that a decent number of tickets (both F and Y) are consolidator tickets sold through cruise operators and it would be difficult to increase prices on those tickets.

On the other hand, I think the load factors for those flights are very high, which signals an opportunity to shift up fares.