More seat swapping/poaching fun!
Nov 13, 2017, 8:34 am
#1
Original Poster
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More seat swapping/poaching fun!
I understand there are people who think those of us that are irritated by this nonsense are unreasonable. I also get that some people think it is infrequent. Here was my Saturday:
First flight, CRJ, I am in seat 8B, which as everyone knows is one of only two decent (I use that term loosely) seats on the airplane, the other being of course course 8C. A couple is in 8C/D. A gentleman the size of a large sumo wrestler is coming up the aisle and as it turns out he has 8C and the couple has poached; wife says "would you mind sitting in 8A?" He says nothing and points to his body as an indication that of course he cannot sit in 8A. She holds firm and says "a lot of people prefer the window." He says he needs the aisle. She does not budge and looks at me and before she can spit out the words I get up and motion her to 8A. She huffs and puffs and begins telling me how important she is, she is a surgeon, etc. I ignore her and unleash a snore fest on her for the next hour as punishment
Next flight, FC on a 737-900. I have 3B, I picked it when every seat was available on the seat chart, it is the seat I want. Two guys in back of me in 4A and 4B have no idea what seats they are supposed to be in (at least that is there story) and as people start to arrive it creates a bottleneck in boarding and mass confusion as every gets out their boarding passes. Turns out they have 3A and 3D. "Hey buddy, would you mind," Me.....no thanks I like the aisle. Looks at 3C, he says no way. Guys are upset they cannot sit together, Can't believe DL separated us, yadda yadda. FYI supposedly they were kettles who paid $100 FCM.
Third flight, FC (2B) on 717. Nice suit jacket in my seat. I ask 2A if it is his. Nope. I hold it up and ask if it belongs to anyone (I thought it was left on the previous leg). 3A sneers that it is his and he left it there for the F/A to pick up. I hand it to him, at which time he places it on 3B. When 3B shows up, rinse and repeat.
So 3 for 3 in one day. Yes, I know the last one is a personal item poaching, but whatever. Just sit in your seat and keep your personal items on your seat. How hard is this?
Rant over, have a good day everyone!
First flight, CRJ, I am in seat 8B, which as everyone knows is one of only two decent (I use that term loosely) seats on the airplane, the other being of course course 8C. A couple is in 8C/D. A gentleman the size of a large sumo wrestler is coming up the aisle and as it turns out he has 8C and the couple has poached; wife says "would you mind sitting in 8A?" He says nothing and points to his body as an indication that of course he cannot sit in 8A. She holds firm and says "a lot of people prefer the window." He says he needs the aisle. She does not budge and looks at me and before she can spit out the words I get up and motion her to 8A. She huffs and puffs and begins telling me how important she is, she is a surgeon, etc. I ignore her and unleash a snore fest on her for the next hour as punishment
Next flight, FC on a 737-900. I have 3B, I picked it when every seat was available on the seat chart, it is the seat I want. Two guys in back of me in 4A and 4B have no idea what seats they are supposed to be in (at least that is there story) and as people start to arrive it creates a bottleneck in boarding and mass confusion as every gets out their boarding passes. Turns out they have 3A and 3D. "Hey buddy, would you mind," Me.....no thanks I like the aisle. Looks at 3C, he says no way. Guys are upset they cannot sit together, Can't believe DL separated us, yadda yadda. FYI supposedly they were kettles who paid $100 FCM.
Third flight, FC (2B) on 717. Nice suit jacket in my seat. I ask 2A if it is his. Nope. I hold it up and ask if it belongs to anyone (I thought it was left on the previous leg). 3A sneers that it is his and he left it there for the F/A to pick up. I hand it to him, at which time he places it on 3B. When 3B shows up, rinse and repeat.
So 3 for 3 in one day. Yes, I know the last one is a personal item poaching, but whatever. Just sit in your seat and keep your personal items on your seat. How hard is this?
Rant over, have a good day everyone!
Last edited by dilbertsdaddy; Nov 13, 2017 at 8:40 am
Nov 13, 2017, 10:18 am
#2
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Nov 13, 2017, 11:12 am
#3
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As a sidebar, I find 1B/1C on the CR2 to be reasonable too since you can stretch at least one leg out in front of you 
I don't doubt your experiences, although I am curious whether you think your frequent routes have a higher concentration of DYKWIAs in general, because for me it truly is rare that I get asked to swap (although that could also be a function of me usually being in a window seat)
I don't doubt your experiences, although I am curious whether you think your frequent routes have a higher concentration of DYKWIAs in general, because for me it truly is rare that I get asked to swap (although that could also be a function of me usually being in a window seat)
Nov 13, 2017, 11:39 am
#4
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No, everyone agrees it's perfectly reasonable to get irritated when your seat gets poached. The problem in the last thread were the trolls who not only got upset when *asked* about seat swaps, but decided to poop all over the thread on top of that.
Nov 13, 2017, 11:43 am
#5
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Nov 13, 2017, 1:38 pm
#6
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I understand there are people who think those of us that are irritated by this nonsense are unreasonable. I also get that some people think it is infrequent. Here was my Saturday:
First flight, CRJ, I am in seat 8B, which as everyone knows is one of only two decent (I use that term loosely) seats on the airplane, the other being of course course 8C. A couple is in 8C/D. A gentleman the size of a large sumo wrestler is coming up the aisle and as it turns out he has 8C and the couple has poached; wife says "would you mind sitting in 8A?" He says nothing and points to his body as an indication that of course he cannot sit in 8A. She holds firm and says "a lot of people prefer the window." He says he needs the aisle. She does not budge and looks at me and before she can spit out the words I get up and motion her to 8A. She huffs and puffs and begins telling me how important she is, she is a surgeon, etc. I ignore her and unleash a snore fest on her for the next hour as punishment
Next flight, FC on a 737-900. I have 3B, I picked it when every seat was available on the seat chart, it is the seat I want. Two guys in back of me in 4A and 4B have no idea what seats they are supposed to be in (at least that is there story) and as people start to arrive it creates a bottleneck in boarding and mass confusion as every gets out their boarding passes. Turns out they have 3A and 3D. "Hey buddy, would you mind," Me.....no thanks I like the aisle. Looks at 3C, he says no way. Guys are upset they cannot sit together, Can't believe DL separated us, yadda yadda. FYI supposedly they were kettles who paid $100 FCM.
Third flight, FC (2B) on 717. Nice suit jacket in my seat. I ask 2A if it is his. Nope. I hold it up and ask if it belongs to anyone (I thought it was left on the previous leg). 3A sneers that it is his and he left it there for the F/A to pick up. I hand it to him, at which time he places it on 3B. When 3B shows up, rinse and repeat.
So 3 for 3 in one day. Yes, I know the last one is a personal item poaching, but whatever. Just sit in your seat and keep your personal items on your seat. How hard is this?
Rant over, have a good day everyone!
First flight, CRJ, I am in seat 8B, which as everyone knows is one of only two decent (I use that term loosely) seats on the airplane, the other being of course course 8C. A couple is in 8C/D. A gentleman the size of a large sumo wrestler is coming up the aisle and as it turns out he has 8C and the couple has poached; wife says "would you mind sitting in 8A?" He says nothing and points to his body as an indication that of course he cannot sit in 8A. She holds firm and says "a lot of people prefer the window." He says he needs the aisle. She does not budge and looks at me and before she can spit out the words I get up and motion her to 8A. She huffs and puffs and begins telling me how important she is, she is a surgeon, etc. I ignore her and unleash a snore fest on her for the next hour as punishment
Next flight, FC on a 737-900. I have 3B, I picked it when every seat was available on the seat chart, it is the seat I want. Two guys in back of me in 4A and 4B have no idea what seats they are supposed to be in (at least that is there story) and as people start to arrive it creates a bottleneck in boarding and mass confusion as every gets out their boarding passes. Turns out they have 3A and 3D. "Hey buddy, would you mind," Me.....no thanks I like the aisle. Looks at 3C, he says no way. Guys are upset they cannot sit together, Can't believe DL separated us, yadda yadda. FYI supposedly they were kettles who paid $100 FCM.
Third flight, FC (2B) on 717. Nice suit jacket in my seat. I ask 2A if it is his. Nope. I hold it up and ask if it belongs to anyone (I thought it was left on the previous leg). 3A sneers that it is his and he left it there for the F/A to pick up. I hand it to him, at which time he places it on 3B. When 3B shows up, rinse and repeat.
So 3 for 3 in one day. Yes, I know the last one is a personal item poaching, but whatever. Just sit in your seat and keep your personal items on your seat. How hard is this?
Rant over, have a good day everyone!
Nov 13, 2017, 1:52 pm
#7
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Good job not giving in to the poachers!
Nov 13, 2017, 2:45 pm
#8
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No way, it was the fact that some posters still thought it was okay to disturb others and impose their selfish wants on the rightful owners of the seats.
Nov 13, 2017, 3:08 pm
#9
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 385
Nice Post
Thanks for the nice post. After 3.5 MMs on DL these things have happened to me and I have decided not to get involved. I just hand my pass to the FA and have him/her take care of it.
I paid for the seat and it is mine. Best,
When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.” ~ Don Miguel Ruiz
I paid for the seat and it is mine. Best,
When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.” ~ Don Miguel Ruiz
Nov 13, 2017, 3:09 pm
#10
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good job, OP, holding firm! I too hold firm about 75% of the time b/c I pick the seat I want. If it's a parent wanting to sit w/ a child, I'll gen switch tho (I know those were none of your scenarios, just saying.) But good job holding firm - it AMAZES me that : 1) people don't ask, first and 2) that they are not prepared for a "no" answer! if they do ask.
Nov 13, 2017, 4:30 pm
#11
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I let the seat poachers win last November on a CVG-SEA segment; I had done the FCM and paid $288.00 above my cheap coach seat to sit in 4B, as F class was almost full 4 weeks in advance, and I most probably would not have gotten upgraded. I normally pick the window seat, but as this was a relatively long trip (4.5 hours in the air), I figured I would be getting up a couple of times.
It turned out that I was one of the last people to board the flight (short connection, quality visit to the SkyClub, that sort of thing), and when I get on, the FA directs me to 2B, as the former 2B is now sitting in my 4B, and his travel companion is in 4A. I was OK with it, particularly since the FA arranged for a quick PDB for me before the door closed.
When my daughter was a little girl she used to travel with me frequently, and we used to get upgraded together under the old system where you could use miles to upgrade. Often we would get separated, but then some kind person would swap with us and we could sit together. Therefore, my personal policy is to reciprocate and to swap so that a couple can sit together. However, I like to be the person initiating this, or being asked in advance, rather than to be forced to accept the swap, making me look like a jerk if I refuse, and also putting a hostile individual as my seatmate in my originally assigned row.
This is not to say that the OP was a jerk. He was certainly within his rights to refuse to swap, where swapping would have cost him his comfort (and safety, for that matter).
It turned out that I was one of the last people to board the flight (short connection, quality visit to the SkyClub, that sort of thing), and when I get on, the FA directs me to 2B, as the former 2B is now sitting in my 4B, and his travel companion is in 4A. I was OK with it, particularly since the FA arranged for a quick PDB for me before the door closed.
When my daughter was a little girl she used to travel with me frequently, and we used to get upgraded together under the old system where you could use miles to upgrade. Often we would get separated, but then some kind person would swap with us and we could sit together. Therefore, my personal policy is to reciprocate and to swap so that a couple can sit together. However, I like to be the person initiating this, or being asked in advance, rather than to be forced to accept the swap, making me look like a jerk if I refuse, and also putting a hostile individual as my seatmate in my originally assigned row.
This is not to say that the OP was a jerk. He was certainly within his rights to refuse to swap, where swapping would have cost him his comfort (and safety, for that matter).
Nov 13, 2017, 4:37 pm
#12
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The placing of the suit jacket is a strange phenomenon too. I have encountered similar types of things. For example, when someone isn't going to poach your seat, but poach your under seat space instead.
A few years ago I boarded a short flight and the middle seat guy had placed his back pack under the seat infront of MY seat. When I asked him to move it he rolled his eyes and whined that he had no place to put it because the bins were full. I told him to place it under the seat infront of HIM.
The more forgiving part of me thought it was simply amateur hour and that this guy had never flown before and didn't know how it works. But the cynical part of me..the dominant part..assumed it was just that entitlement millennials have.
The other incident involved a woman's coat on my seat. She was in the window, I was in the aisle. I got to the seat and asked if it was hers and she said "Actually the flight attendant wants to talk to you about that seat..". I removed it, laid it down on the middle seat, and told her I would wait for the FA. Her eyes got big and she huffed a bit but didn't say anything else.
The FA never showed up and spoke to me of course. The only person that showed up was the lady's husband, clearly disappointed at being in the middle. He then forced his wife to take the middle.
A few years ago I boarded a short flight and the middle seat guy had placed his back pack under the seat infront of MY seat. When I asked him to move it he rolled his eyes and whined that he had no place to put it because the bins were full. I told him to place it under the seat infront of HIM.
The more forgiving part of me thought it was simply amateur hour and that this guy had never flown before and didn't know how it works. But the cynical part of me..the dominant part..assumed it was just that entitlement millennials have.
The other incident involved a woman's coat on my seat. She was in the window, I was in the aisle. I got to the seat and asked if it was hers and she said "Actually the flight attendant wants to talk to you about that seat..". I removed it, laid it down on the middle seat, and told her I would wait for the FA. Her eyes got big and she huffed a bit but didn't say anything else.
The FA never showed up and spoke to me of course. The only person that showed up was the lady's husband, clearly disappointed at being in the middle. He then forced his wife to take the middle.
Nov 13, 2017, 5:28 pm
#13
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By the way, original poster, every one of the issues you encountered involved a rude passenger who deserved to be sent back to his/her own seat. Nonetheless, statistically, your experience strikes me as an outlier. I think I've encountered seat swap requests (both rude and friendly) maybe 3 to 4 times all year. Three in a day is stunning.
Nov 13, 2017, 5:39 pm
#14
Join Date: Sep 2008
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Did you know a question is the stronger form of an attack?
Nov 13, 2017, 5:45 pm
#15
Join Date: Feb 2012
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I have preferable rows in FC and I make sure I get them by planning ahead.