antinseattle

Once again, "common courtesy". OP asked "is this seat taken?" Saver did not list your mentions, because they weren't true.......

There's always exceptions. But you're trying to tell me common courtesy, logic and reasonability aren't what it should be?

Lets be honest. The world has many different types of people and personalities.l. Even when rules are set in stone, they are rarely followed. OP in this scenario was right, IMO.

SANdyFlyer

Avoiding confrontations with fellow passengers and FAs hardly implies that someone is a 'sheep'. I imagine this mentality is a major contributing factor to people getting kicked off flights on a daily basis.

What I find interesting to note is that the FA didn't side with the OP here. She allowed the kid to save the seats, and instead, was probably thinking "Oh great...I'm going to have another one of these huge PITA pax on my flight!" While many here may not approve of 'seat saving', I have overheard this as a recommended course of action by both FAs and GAs.

But that doesn't clarify the situation at all. You seem to be interpreting the facts to fit your perspective. "I'm saving these seats for some people...in the bathroom" is just as plausible as "I'm saving these seats for some people...with a lower boarding number than you." As far as I'm aware, the kid never elaborated the circumstances of the 'saved' seats.

antinseattle

Clearly a defense lawyer? .

PROVE without a reasonable doubt my clients not acting like a total a$$ h. Any things possible!!! But didn't hear dad say "I was using bathroom or got off on a transfer". We know what the situation was. But keep on bring up one off scenarios. Lol

LegalTender

And coolly looting the underseat bag of the mid-flight urinator. Happens a lot, does it?

rsteinmetz70112

I would suggest that a seat is taken when a boarded passenger "claims" that seat for themselves. If the passenger later or immediately leaves the seat to put a bag in the overhead or go to the bathroom then it's still their seat. In that situation I usually leave my personal items and Boarding Pass in the seat as a signal.

I realize there is some possibility for mischief but far less than saving rows of seats for people.

Apologies to Walking Dead and Joe.

Orwaid

I find it so amusing when apologists try to take extreme examples, to wit:

Obviously, in a totally sold out flight, once the door is closed and you are in your seat, you are not going to switch your seat for someone who gets up for a minute to use the bathroom, get a drink, etc.

Through passengers that get off the plane are usually boarded before the other passengers, hence they usually get a good seat.

What I am referring to is the practice of someone boarding a plane and trying to hold a seat or seats for people boarding later and trying to prevent someone with an earlier boarding number from sitting in that particular seat.

pinniped

The root cause is that Southwest hasn't clarified, specifically, the rules about seat-saving. They need to do this - badly - for the benefit of everyone involved, including their own employees.

The practice of selling early boarding implies to me that seat-saving is disallowed. However, if it is permitted, then Southwest should very clearly state what precisely is permitted.

In practice, I don't have a problem with one person saving a back-middle seat. One person trying to save a whole row is a D-bag move. Especially doing it at Row 8...that's pretty bad.

SANdyFlyer

The whole point of me offering scenarios was to suggest that you can really NEVER know what the situation is. That is why it is NEVER a good idea to board a plane as self-appointed 'seating police' and get into arguments with passengers and an FA.

I don't take issues with OP's point-of-view on the seating policy, as it is ambiguous and vague. I do however think that his course of action was inappropriate.

rsteinmetz70112

Southwest has a myriad of rules for FAs to follow on all sorts of minutia like how to serve drinks, how to tidy up the planes and go only knows what else, yet they apparently give little or no guidance on resolving these seat hassles, which go to the core of their public persona and are part of their strategy for increasing ancillary fees.

Orwaid

And again with an attempt to trivialize using hyperbole:

I am not, nor will I be "seat police". What I am, and will be, is someone that upon boarding will take any open seat.

And that includes a seat that someone is trying to save for someone else that has yet to board.

Why should someone be allowed to save a seat for someone that has yet to board, especially when they can guarantee a good seat or a row with A1-A15?

If this is the true norm now at Southwest,I sense a business opportunity:

Get someone with A1-A15 to bring your backpack on for you and place it in your preferred seat -- for a fee. I sense an arbitrage opportunity. Take away revenue from Southwest since they don't seem to care.

Now THAT is an example of extreme hyperbole.

nsx

I regard saving a non-aisle middle seat as perfectly acceptable. I regard saving an exit row middle seat as marginally unacceptable. Saving two exit row seats is totally unacceptable.

Those are my own personal rules, derived from the Golden Rule. I am willing to give people a little leeway in seat saving in case I need to save one on some future occasion due to IROPS or other check-in problem.

I agree that both Southwest and its customers would benefit from clarity on this issue. Only the blatant cheaters would suffer, and that would please a lot of customers greatly.

medichill

I'm siding with the OP on this one. To me it seems clear that "I'm saving these seats" means the teen boarded first and held seats for others. A seat is not claimed until someone is there to sit on it.

The OP, by virtue of buying his ticket first or checking in .02 seconds before someone else, or by whatever method it happened, obtained an earlier boarding spot and is entitled to choose whatever seat is available.

If someone wants to board with their family, they should wait with them.

jb3t

1. Not sure I would cause a stir with a kid over seat saving for their parents.

2. To me, saving a single middle is acceptable. Saving an exit row is marginally acceptable. However, it depends on where your partner is boarding. If they were lazy and got C20, you're in your own. If you got EBCI or checked in at T-24 on the dot it makes it more acceptable.

3. I got screamed at a few weeks ago for "saving" an exit row window when in fact, The pax there was in the bathroom and I had no clue who he was. He was a thru like me. After the guy teed off on me, I calmly said "I don't know the guy sitting in that seat but if you want to talk to him, head to the back of the plane and knock on the bathroom door. Good luck with that." He moved on.

4. Flew from TPA last week with family. My son and I are 6'3", my daughter is 5'10", wife = normal. I was A16, I got my wife EBCI, I checked in the kids at T-24, and when I got to the airport, I did the $40 upgrade. Son got super legroom seat, I got exit row aisle, and we saved middles. No issue as my wife was A and daughter early B. If someone challenged me, I'd give it up if both people were there to sit.

Bottom line for me... Saving middle seats is OKAY as long as your buddies are not boarding last. After B30, it's Mano-a-Mano.

saneman

How come the boarding positions of the daughter and her parents are so different? The higher number should board with the lower number if they want to sit together. Otherwise, why should a family of 3 get to hoard 3 seats and pay the early boarding fee just once while a single guy pays the same early boarding fee and gets a seat worse than the other three despite this guy having a right to a better seat than 2 out of 3. So early boarding fees may not be a factor in this example, but you get the point.

And no, saving even a single exit row seat is unacceptable because those seats are at a premium for tall able people. I mean, if some short person gets it ahead of me fairly, that's fine. But why should the very few seats be taken away by seat hoarders?

Again, once again, someone tell me why such a system is superior to seat assignments? I am going to enjoy AirTran while it lasts these next few months.

Peoriaman1

That's exactly what they did, I suspect. They paid $40 for one upgrade, and let the daughter board first to save seats. After all, they figured, who would hold it against a child who was waiting for her doting parents? Its a perfect scam. I don't think they'd be as successful having mom or dad first and save the seats.

I'm surprised they didn't get pre-boarding blue sleeves. I've seen some pretty robust and healthy families all pre-board together, with grown kids. Maybe the gate attendants are clamping down on abuse of the pre-board policy?