I'm just going to plitely disagree with you and let you know I chuckled a bit reading your post. :cool:

Lol this thread is hilarious. I'm honestly not sure if some people are being serious or are seriously that crazy..

Very simple. Are you going straight to work when you land? If so, stay up front and arrive rested and buy your wife a nice spa day to relax from being left in the back. If you have the day off after arriving I would give my wife the seat up front and reap the rewards later that night; if your back allows it ;)

On a separate note, how do meals work if you switch seats? If you have a D1 meal and then switch, would they then offer the wife a meal as well?

Meal goes with seat - whoever is sitting there gets the meal. If they trade halfway, then one gets the D1 dinner and the other gets the D1 be
breakfast.

If the OP is flying NYC-LHR, his ability to get rest on that short of a flight has nothing to do with Y or J. If it were me, I'd have to have way too many Woodfords in either cabin to sleep and then I'd be a worthless pile of sh*t upon landing. I'd stick to water and coffee and watch movies for that short of a flight.

Glad to know I am not alone! :D

I have given my J seat to my mother on multiple international DL flights and have taken her Y seat instead. I let the crew know, and the purser said it was absolutely not a problem. And before anyone questions whether it was an improper use of a business expense, I paid for the seat.

I switched seats on an international trip with my mother a few weeks back. Gave her the upgrade, took her main cabin seat (well, C+, I couldn't bring myself to put her in coach). Not only were the FA's okay with it, they even brought me back food that my mom asked them to send my way from her meal. I believe they aren't technically allowed to do that, but it was nice.

Also, yes I was going straight to work, but never once did it cross my mind to NOT give her my seat. I'm not going to invite her as my guest on the trip and take an upgrade while she sits in coach. I fly all the time and get to experience the upgrades often - they're something fun and exciting for a lot of people, especially for people that don't travel that much. The very least I should do is share that experience with her when given the chance.

An upgrade is different unless your employer has paid for the upgrade or paid extra for an upgradeable fare.

I don't think anybody is questioning how you dispose of any seat your bought yourself, or got as an upgrade. I know I'm not, and I would feel fine doing that sort of thing. People are questioning other people's acceptance of handing over a premium seat bought for an employee by an employer. All the business expense issue and tax issue questions are important, but what I see is most important is that the employer bought the seat for the employee because they wanted the employee to sit in that seat. If the employee doesn't want to sit in that seat, the employer can buy an economy seat and save the money. Putting your wife in a biz class seat when she accompanies you on a business trip is what the salary is for.

Unless the company who bought the ticket is aware of the switch and approves (or at least doesn't object).

The business expense and tax problems that other people have pointed out are still relevant, just not what I was focusing on.

No, they are not. This is an asinine conversation.

There is only one question at hand which deals with the interaction and approval of the flight crew in making a switch like this. All discussion pertaining to defrauding someone's company or the hypothetical IRS implications are totally OT and the people making those posts know this.

IMO the OP's question was asked and has been answered. Therefore I am locking this thread to any further discussion.

RSSrsvp - Moderator

PS, if someone had sent the moderators an RBP on all of the OT posts we would have acted sooner. @:-)