launcher

+1. Of course, "save me a seat" doesn't seem to carry the connotation that the companion necessarily wants to sit next to you, nearly as much as they just want to be in a first class seat, and the first ones off the plane.

Biggest problem is, s-it like this delays the boarding process, particularly on a sold out flight. Why do the FA insist to take first available seat, when they could move the crowd quicker by insisting everyone walk to the back (just like a bus driver or train conductor would attempt to do when boarding too many passengers at once)

toomanybooks

Because the people who have earned or paid for a better seat don't generally like to sit in the back.

El Cochinito

Let me remove any ambiguity: If you happen to be "saving" an aisle seat during boarding and I happen to want it, I'm going to sit in it. That's WN's business model and if customers don't like it then vote with your wallet and try a different carrier.

DillMan

Yes, we should all just let other steamroll us and make sure we smile about it after the fact.

pinworm

LOL! Exactly. Can't we understand that "Common Courtesy" means letting other people's lack of foresight become your problem too? Why can't we allow ourselves to be subject to the unreasonable desires of total strangers? Yes, make your problem mine! Please sir, may I have another??

I don't care about the guy who wants to sit with his wife. He and his wife are of no concern to me. If It comes at a cost of my own personal comfort OR devalues the product I have purchased (EBCI, BS, A-list), I am taking the seat he is saving and that's it.

If there was a burden of courtesy, it belongs on the seat saver only.

nsx

In my book, courtesy means giving someone a favor in a situation where a typical person, perhaps even yourself, might be the one needing this favor. In other words, it's simply the Golden Rule.

jamesteroh

+1. The seat saver is not the victim here. If it was the important for him to sit beside his wife (and IIRC it was a short flight referenced anyway) the seatsaver should have sat in the back of the plane instead of taking a coveted seat and more importantly paid for EBCI for his wife as well. Why should a person paying for EBCI be declined a seat so someone that was too cheap to pay the $10 can have that seat?

pinniped

Good job, OP, for not backing down. ^

I have sympathy for, and am usually willing to work with, people who use common sense when they want to arrange a simple seat swap.

On a legacy carrier, that means offering up a better seat to the swappee, taking the worse one in exchange for getting the swap. On Southwest, that means at most saving 1 middle seat in the back of the plane.

I have zero sympathy for, and might come off a bit d!ckish towards, people who fail to use common sense and are attempting to milk both an "upgrade" and two seats together.

On Southwest, there's really no excuse to ever need to violate this basic principle: their system is set up such that anyone can simply check in at the correct time and obtain decent BP's. Even when I'm traveling with 4 people, no A-list, no EBCI, on a sold-out flight out of MCI with a bunch of thru pax, a high-A or low-B boarding pass gets some decent seats in the back.

If you're out of the country, airborne, at sea, or somewhere in the deep wilderness 24 hours prior to your flight, then just invest the $20 to get two EBCI check-ins. Piece of cake.

If you get irropped or buy your tickets inside 24 hours, then everybody in your traveling party will need to familiarize themselves with emergency in-flight survival technologies such as newspapers and magazines. But that would also be true on a legacy, even with elite status.

Amicus

It's just the fact that he was saving the whole row, not just the seat next to him . . . on a sold out flight. Where did he think that last person to board the plane was going to sit, if he needed three seats for himself and his wife?

pinniped

*And* he was doing it in the front of the plane! If the GA is saying "sold out", that means the plane is full enough that the front middles will fill, even factoring in a few no-shows.

My wife and I have flown together on Southwest quite a few times. Even during situations where the flight is "sold out", we'll go to Row 16 or so, occupy window/aisle, and completely ignore each other during the rest of the boarding process. Statistically, that makes it relatively likely that if the flight was only loaded to 100%, and 2 or 3 people don't show up, we've got an empty seat.

But even then we don't "save" the seat or argue if someone wants it. If someone wants the seat, they are a lucky Unite the Couple winner...

mreed911

My brain always reads this as "untie the couple..." for what that's worth.

jkburns1

That was my point... if row 4 vs row 2 is the issue here.. well I guess in my book, "Life's too short.." Yeah the guys a jerk, I'll maybe give a dirty look and a smirk and get "steamrolled" into row 4. If it's a matter of being split apart in middle seats in row 14 and 16 over this well that's another story.

Unfortunately, most conflicts I've seen like this on flights are a row 4 vs. row 2 type thing. The 3 minutes of my life I'll never get back getting worked up to "make a point" that some jerk is wrong and will never realize he's wrong and probably just take it out on some other poor unsuspecting soul later (like his poor wife who won't travel with him lol)... well hey... poor bastid must live one miserable existence so as my daughter says, "whateva!"

The rest of you who disagree may jump back on your high horses and steamroll my opinion now. You're "entitled" to your opinion and your darn seat.

SDF_Traveler

I would have just taken the exit row seat. No butt in seat means it is an empty seats. I don't care if anyone is "saving" it.

If the other passenger objects, just smile and/or ignore them. If they get mad and pitch a fit, ignore it and enjoy the legroom.

Easier said than done, as I know many people want to be polite and avoid confrontation, but the only way this problem will be fixed is if people just take the empty seat of their choice, even if it is being "saved."

My .02 cents

GVretiredguy

I just was lucky enough to have an A Preferred as she called herself save an extra 5 seats in row 5 and 6 for her and her CP plus the 3 14-17? year old daughters. I called her on it and she proceeded to A- Preferred Customer me to death and the FA just stood by and watched.
Guess you can just do what you want these days.

jamesteroh

I would have told her if it was so important for her to sit with her family then she should have sat in the back of the plane and/or paid for EBCI for her kids.