standingoten

Did a MR in first class from BOS-SJU (layover in MIA).

During the BOS-MIA segment, I left lounge and boarded to find a woman in my seat next to what I believed to be her husband. I asked her to move but she said no (she actually said "get out of here its my seat") and that she needed to sit next to her fiancé.

I got a FA and the FA asked to see her boarding pass. She was booked for economy way in the back! FA made her move and as she was getting up and grabbing her stuff, she asks me to switch with her.

TOO LATE lady. You stole my seat and you were super rude. I flat out told her hell no. During this whole time, her husband looked petrified and embarrassed.

1. Lady needs a reality check.
2. The dude should have let his fiancé take his seat...But I am thankful I didn't have to sit next to that mess all flight.

Boraxo

Two years later, the thread that just keeps on giving ...

WiscAZ

I've had on interesting experience in F. We were on a plane with 3 rows and each row had 2 seats on one side and only 1 on the other. I was in Row 2 with the single seat which I specifically chose so I could recline but also put my laptop bag underneath the seat in front of me.

A lady - who in her defense looked like she didn't travel much - took the bulkhead aisle seat in row 1 (with a window next to her). She had a huge bag that wouldn't fit in the overhead but would fit under a seat. Since she was in the bulkhead she obviously couldn't keep it in front of her.

She immediately looked at me and asked me to switch. I politely declined. She then asks why and I say because I like this seat and I want my bag in front of me. She makes a comment that my bag can fit up top. I then go into detail about why a single seat, non bulkhead (I'm 6'3"), reclinable seat is important to me. She didn't seem to get it and a guy in row 3 had no problem switching.

I have no problem switching equivalent seats but this was by no means equivalent.

zerolife

FA should have asked her to check-in the bag. If it doesn't fit in the overhead bin then it's clearly too large to bring on board. It's a lesson she needs to learn

ceejay_za

My first international flight, about 11 hours (and only my second flight overall) - I had selected the aisle seat, thinking I might well want to get up every now and then. Elderly lady had the window seat, and asked politely if I wanted to swap, since she needed to get up frequently due to health problems. Great!, I thought, best of both worlds - I can look out the window, and still have the chance to get up when I like! Except that the elderly woman promptly fell asleep, and woke up just in time for landing

WiscAZ

It fit under the seat but was on one of the planes where it didn't fit in the overhead because the overhead was too small.

theddo

Which is irrelevant. The relevant part is that it didn't fit onboard and as such she shouldn't be charged if it's within regulation, but she can't bring it just for the heck of it.

I feel very bad for her, but I think it's very impolite to start to argue about a seat. If the person say no you do not say "why not?" you simply move on and ask someone else. It is not my problem, I'm not paid to help you and honestly most of the time I don't care about your problems. I'd probably help you if I think it's a fair trade - I couldn't care less what anyone else thinks.

ecosse3

I usually say no to such requests. However, as fate would have it, the one time I did agree turned out to be pretty exciting. I was upgraded on a Delta ticket (no idea why-no status there) and placed in the 3rd (last row) right aisle. Next to me was an elderly woman who didn't ask, but rather stated that I would be trading seats with her daughter who was also upgraded. I said no thanks, but she persisted. Seeing that it was probably going to be more annoying to NOT switch, I reluctantly agreed and took the right window of row 2.

Just before the doors closed, the curtains were drawn to shut out the view of the economy cabin and the last 4 remaining biz passengers boarded, one of whom was Lady Gaga, who ended up sitting right in front of me. We ended up exchanging quite a few words throughout the flight-she seemed very sweet. All in all, good trade!

GRALISTAIR

Agreed, there is almost a justification for making it a sticky- seriously!

GoldieGhe

Sounds to me that you are asking us to validate your actions that you already have strong doubts about. Personally, I always try to accommodate others when I fly. If the seat was similar, meaning I was being asked to give up a window seat for a window seat, I would have gladly obliged; but that is me, I find great pleasure in showing kindness to perfect strangers, especially when I am not inconvenienced in any way. I am not being critical of your decision, I am just stating what I would have done.

dinoscool3

If I am asked politely, or if I see a family that is separated but they don't ask, I will give up my seat. If someone is in my seat, or rudely demands/asks to switch seats, I will refuse.

skylady

The FA should have kept her opinions to herself.

theddo

And I find great pleasure in sleeping naked, doesn't mean it's gonna happen on a plane. Grown people should be able to understand such a simple fact.

That two people want to sit together is reasonable and they may ask me once about it and I will be courteous, and to tell you the truth I have complied every times this past year save for one when I was to tired to move and it was a full 8hrs red eye flight so I wanted to be able to sleep. The boarded last, or next to last, with bags being gate checked. My stow away was already in the overhead. So there are always small nuances that makes you unwilling to change seats without giving anyone the right to call you names. It's not my job to accommodate you.

If I would have been called names I would expect the FAs to intervene and stop that .... immediately. The FA in this case was unprofessional and should find a new job, whatever she may think her job is in the service industry and she should be courteous to customers or at the very least apologise when she realised what she had said.

GoldieGhe

I did not cast judgement an anyone; I was in similar situations many times and gladly gave up my seat. But I understand that we are individuals with different levels of education, values, social backgrounds, or parenting experiences. I was raised to be considerate and kind to others; although I have plenty of gray hair, I still have my mother's voice in my head telling me to play nice.

theddo

Which is why I, albeit I fly less than most on flyertalk, I do give up my seat for an equal, or pretty equal, seat.

However there are situations, some apparent to outsiders and some not, that makes me unwilling to move. The one time I did refuse [this year] I was asleep before the plane had taken off and didn't wake up again until meal service a hour later. I stayed awake a full 20 min before I slept another 8 hours. Could anyone had seen that? Maybe, but unlikely. I wasn't in the mood to explain it and had I been asked to I would have been less than polite, due to the mood I was in (1h30min late and counting with a 2h05min connection to be on a plane I really needed to be on, not sleeping for 30h and so on. Not their fault, of course, but I was still drained).

Most people understand this and move on. If you want adjacent seats most of the time that is four different people to ask. In business class due to how the seats are turned sometimes there are only two. Unfortunate as this may be unless you are going to get brain surgery or deploying I would expect you to deal with it.

Whatever the case may be calling someone a [long list of expletives] is not okay. One may certainly think that I should be more courteous, but most of the time I'm not trying to be annoying - I have a specific reason for not wanting to move. Courtesy goes both ways, and I expect someone asking me for a favour to be polite about it.