Last edit by: BadgerBoi
The Definitive Guide to Seat Poaching
1. Don't do it.
2. Alternatively to #1: Asking politely (and not demanding) to swap for an equal or better seat is acceptable by most (but the final decision always lays with the original seat holder)...but, be warned, some FT'ers may breathe fire at you.
3. Keep in mind that Point 2 is not seat poaching.
1. Don't do it.
2. Alternatively to #1: Asking politely (and not demanding) to swap for an equal or better seat is acceptable by most (but the final decision always lays with the original seat holder)...but, be warned, some FT'ers may breathe fire at you.
3. Keep in mind that Point 2 is not seat poaching.
Seat Swapping, Seat Poaching and Seating Etiquette: The Definitive Thread
#1606
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 461
In Ear Monitors. Stick them in your ears.
If anyone but an employee attempts to engage, one simply dismisses with a shoo-fly gesture of the hand and a grunt. The grunt should say,"move on." There need not be annoyance in your grunt. Grunt with no malice. An insulting grunt is not your goal. Practice in the mirror. Strive for a grunt that kills hope but no more.
If anyone but an employee attempts to engage, one simply dismisses with a shoo-fly gesture of the hand and a grunt. The grunt should say,"move on." There need not be annoyance in your grunt. Grunt with no malice. An insulting grunt is not your goal. Practice in the mirror. Strive for a grunt that kills hope but no more.
YA ne govoryu po-angliyski
#1607
Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
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I find this point of view to be wack-a-doo, but I suppose it has an internal consistency.
If multiple pages and a moderator timeout haven't caused anyone to reconsider their views, maybe we should just move on and wait for the next story:
Overheard on DTW-BWI today: I'm in 3D, someone else in 2D. Another pax arrives and says "we seem to have been assigned the same seat! 2D?" 2D* says no, I'm in 2C, I just made a mistake." He said this in a way that I didn't find particularly convincing, but it didn't involve me, and the real 2D didn't seem to care at all, as it was a short flight and as he pointed out it was going to be overcast pretty much the whole way.
#1608
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: TPA/DFW/K15
Programs: AA EXP, Mar AMB, HH LT DIA
Posts: 1,647
I purchase my seat usually 6-8 weeks in advance (weekly travel). If you want my seat, purchase it before I do. I have absolutely no interest in swapping seats for any reason. Lastly, as a certifiable germaphobe, I have already spent 2 wipes cleaning the arm rests, trays and belts by the time I'm asked for a swap. I'm already vested in my seat!
#1609
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 948
The same, rather childish, argument can be said about those who argue it is never impolite to ask a favour of anyone either.
#1610
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: NYC
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Posts: 6,736
#1611
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
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There can be a difference between the extra amount one is willing to pay for FC (versus coach) at the time of ticket purchase and what one is willing to accept to move after boarding from the selected FC seat to some random seat (assume middle seat at the rear of the aircraft) in coach, especially if it's a case where a meal will be served in FC but it's too late to purchase food to consume on board, to bring one's own pillow and blanket, etc.
#1612
Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist
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EDIT: I don't mean that all requests are automatically polite. Some can certainly be made impolitely. But then we're no longer really talking about asking a favor but making a demand.
Last edited by Zorak; Oct 13, 2017 at 8:17 am
#1613
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Newport Beach, California, USA
Posts: 36,062
That's not the value I place on being in being in F vs. Y. That's the price for me to give up an F seat and move to Y seat. These are two different things, entirely. Also, I picked a number that I thought most everyone on FT would agree made it worth changing seats. The point was that, to me, it didn't matter at all if the person asking was rude. My actual number is, of course, lower, though, honestly, I couldn't see going much below $1,000. It would, of course, depend on the flight, but I would never, for example, accept a couple of hundred dollars, even a short flight.
#1614
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,808
But your justification of saying no because all requests are impolite because they somehow "impose" on you is totally bogus.
In fact, if the imposition is that you want to "stay where you are and remain settled" because it's "easier", then you should welcome the exact situation I posed, with one minor modification, --- you approach 3C only to see someone already there and they politely ask you before you get to the seat if you wouldn't mind taking 2C so they can sit with their travel companion. Look at that! You don't have to move any further. You save steps. You don't even have to get up and then sit back down. Now that's "easier." But you're saying you're going to say no because THAT request is an imposition on you?
Unless you are diagnosed OCD or have some superstition about sitting in 3C that you must appease (and maybe you do, and that's certainly a legit reason -- but not what you've said), then refusing the request simply because it was made is, IMHO, rather petty and baseless. But if that's how you want to treat people, have at it. You know what they say...
In fact, if the imposition is that you want to "stay where you are and remain settled" because it's "easier", then you should welcome the exact situation I posed, with one minor modification, --- you approach 3C only to see someone already there and they politely ask you before you get to the seat if you wouldn't mind taking 2C so they can sit with their travel companion. Look at that! You don't have to move any further. You save steps. You don't even have to get up and then sit back down. Now that's "easier." But you're saying you're going to say no because THAT request is an imposition on you?
Unless you are diagnosed OCD or have some superstition about sitting in 3C that you must appease (and maybe you do, and that's certainly a legit reason -- but not what you've said), then refusing the request simply because it was made is, IMHO, rather petty and baseless. But if that's how you want to treat people, have at it. You know what they say...
As to your hypothetical, if I booked 3C, I am sitting in it. Especially if someone has the impudence to poach the seat so they can sit next to their adult companion. Grownups can be apart and it won't kill them. In that case, it is worth spending the extra energy to upset the poacher and enjoy their steaming glares at me for having the gall to keep MY seat.
#1615
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As to your hypothetical, if I booked 3C, I am sitting in it. Especially if someone has the impudence to poach the seat so they can sit next to their adult companion. Grownups can be apart and it won't kill them. In that case, it is worth spending the extra energy to upset the poacher and enjoy their steaming glares at me for having the gall to keep MY seat.
Of course I realize part of your mantra is probablt being an internet tough guy. Who knows if you're really his combative on the actual plane. While I've had people refuse swap requests and while I've both accepted and denied swap requests, I've rarely had it be as nasty as so many on here try to present how they seem to find it every time. In my 15 years of active flying, I can only recall about 2 incidents where someone poached my/our seats and were nasty about it and only 1 time where I denied a swap requests and the person was less than happy that I did so, so I really think the poster who pointed out that those who "have only been asked rudely" view merely being asked to swap as a rude imposition hit the nail on the head.
#1616
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Atlanta
Programs: Delta Diamond; HHonors Diamond
Posts: 654
Perhaps it's time to stop feeding the elitist trolls. Once they stopped arguing against straw men and finally owned up to the truth -- that they simply don't like to be asked and will never agree to swap -- the thread has gone nowhere. They aren't going to change their minds. Neither are the rest of us. At least the horse meat is good and tender from the prolonged beating.
#1617
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#1618
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Atlanta
Programs: Delta Diamond; HHonors Diamond
Posts: 654
1. I've read the same tired arguments -- e.g., adults don't need to sit together, and it's MY seat and you should have booked it first if you wanted it -- from the same posters more times than I can count in the last couple weeks of this thread (that is, in the pages created after the anti-swappers finally stopped arguing against imaginary points no one was making and admitted that they think it's offensive to be asked and will never say yes). Thus, the "troll" portion of my comment.
2. I think the attitude that it's a rude imposition for someone to merely politely ask for a favor is elitist and obnoxious. Similarly, I think it's peevish and unbecoming to take the position that you'll never swap. You don't have to do a small favor for a stranger (it wouldn't be a favor if it was mandatory), but I don't have to think your approach is commendable. Plus, the leading proponent of these views is "Proudelitist." Thus, the "elitist" portion of my comment.
By the way, given that you can't stop people from having the gall to ask politely for a swap, and if you'll never agree to trade seats anyway, please enlighten us on how an increase in your resistance would matter?
With this post, I too have taken a few whacks at the horse's carcass. I shall henceforth practice what I preach and no longer feed the elitist trolls.
#1620
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Newport Beach, California, USA
Posts: 36,062
1. I've read the same tired arguments -- e.g., adults don't need to sit together, and it's MY seat and you should have booked it first if you wanted it -- from the same posters more times than I can count in the last couple weeks of this thread (that is, in the pages created after the anti-swappers finally stopped arguing against imaginary points no one was making and admitted that they think it's offensive to be asked and will never say yes). Thus, the "troll" portion of my comment.
2. I think the attitude that it's a rude imposition for someone to merely politely ask for a favor is elitist and obnoxious. Similarly, I think it's peevish and unbecoming to take the position that you'll never swap. You don't have to do a small favor for a stranger (it wouldn't be a favor if it was mandatory), but I don't have to think your approach is commendable. Plus, the leading proponent of these views is "Proudelitist." Thus, the "elitist" portion of my comment.
By the way, given that you can't stop people from having the gall to ask politely for a swap, and if you'll never agree to trade seats anyway, please enlighten us on how an increase in your resistance would matter?
I feel the same about door-to-door solicitors and salesman. I suppose it is not impossible that, some day, someone might come to my door and offer me something in which I'm interested. However, in 6+ decades I've lived on this planet, no one ever has. I am, therefore, no more receptive to door-to-door solicitors than I am to seat swap requesters.