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Wednesday, November 1, 2023

WASHINGTON -- Today the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced the rollout of the "Seat Swap Pass" in partnership with the so called "US3" (United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines). The Seat Swap Pass is part two of the DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg's efforts to facilitate families to sit together on commercial flights following the publishing of the Airline Family Seating Dashboard in 2022.

Speaking at a press conference in D.C. on Wednesday, Secretary Buttigieg lauded the new collaborative effort: "Oftentimes families face schedule changes, irregular operations, or aircraft substitutions, resulting in families being placed far apart on the aircraft. When asking fellow passengers to switch seats, many passengers are unsure as to whether or not the request is due to poor planning, entitlement, or things outside of their control. Now with the Seat Swap Pass, passengers will know that the request is for good reason and can make a more informed decision."

As explained in the press conference, gate agents will be given physical Seat Swap Passes for every specific flight. Gate agents will be able to give them these small cards that indicate that it was not the passenger's fault that they could not get seats together and they humbly request to switch seats to fix the problem. Cards will have flight numbers, city pairs, and dates printed in large font to dissuade cheeky passengers from taking the passes and using them on future flights without need.

"Countless families have written in to our department expressing frustration that passengers won't switch seats because they are perceived as seat poachers or poorly prepared travelers and we wanted to provide a solution," added the Secretary.

Research from the Aerolovation Institute has shown that "seat poaching" and other anti-social behavior on airplanes has been on the rise after the Covid-19 pandemic. Countless threads on social media sites Reddit and Flyertalk tell stories of passengers taking better seats and angrily confronting the passengers who arrive to claim their rightfully assigned seat. Some say that they feel pressured to switch seats because flight attendants ask, only to learn later that the request was to sit a couple together that book a fare that does not include advance seat selection.

Reception so far has been mixed in social media. Some laud the improvement saying that they are more than happy to switch seats knowing that it is for a valid reason, while others point the blame at the airlines for not better proactively moving seats together. One X (formerly Twitter) user @MetalTubeInSkyGuy wrote, "Airlines have billions in profit yet cannot seem to solve this problem without placing the burden on passengers and flight attendants. Passengers on split reservations, traveling together, for example, are promised that their reservations are 'linked' but then are split by gate agents."

Defending the practice, United Airlines spokesperson Josh Disearnest said, "We have to respond to a multitude of stakeholders and balance those needs. The DOT regularly publishes on-time performance for airlines and as a result gate agents do not regularly have time to sort seat switching issues on their own. United also has one of the best technology departments in the industry and I have been told that linking reservations for seating purposes is something that cannot be done without significant investment of development, something our shareholders would not want us to do for obvious reasons."

In another layer of controversy, the DOT and Airlines have partnered with the Susan G. Komen foundation to make the Seat Swap Passes the color pink in efforts to raise breast cancer awareness. Critics have pointed out that the foundation has a poor record of funneling money toward breast cancer research and patient support. Others commented that the use of the color pink further pushes the traditional association of parenting and mothers, leaving fathers out of the equation. British Airlines found itself under heavy scrutiny in 2001 when it was discovered the airline had a policy of not permitting unaccompanied minors to sit next to male passengers, a policy it later ended in 2010 in response to a lawsuit.

It is unknown at this time whether or not Low Cost Carriers Spirit Airlines or Frontier Airlines will follow in the implementation of the Seat Swap Pass. When asked for comment, Spirit representative Hope Santos said the company was studying the concept to see if it was legally permissible to charge passengers for the "perk." Frontier was unable to be contacted for the article as the company famously eliminated all phone agents in a cost-cutting measure last year. Other low cost carrier Southwest Airlines currently does not have assigned seats, perhaps offering the best solution to this specific problem.

For now, the US3 and DOT are forging ahead with the pink Seat Swap Passes with unbridled optimism, trying to make sure passengers only give up their seats for unlucky families and not for unseemly seat poachers or ne'er-do-wells in basic economy.

DenverBrian

Six months early or late.

SPN Lifer

This would indeed make me more inclined to ask the swapper to request new boarding passes from the gate agent (GA).

I would never move without a new boarding pass, citing the possibility of credit card charges, contact tracing, and disaster recovery / identification.