Seat Assignment Software Idea
 

It would be cool if we could design a system for all airlines so we know if a baby is within x rows of our rows to send an alert to our cellphone or online and change the seat to our preferred seat and row.

Lets say we love seat 10 A or 5 A on the 767-300 the software will do a continuous search until the departure time of the flight. If it finds that your top 10 seat choices are available it will automatically assign you them and alert you to see the agent to print your new boarding pass.

Furthermore if you don't want a passenger in the middle seat it will find you a row close enough to your row where there is no middle seat assigned.

If kids are on the flight it will warn you that you are sitting next to families so you can move. It will monitor the status of your seat and move you away from families.

Lets say you are a family and want to sit next to each other the software could link all PNRs so that way you can be seated next to each other if the aircraft changes etc.

If there is an aircraft change it will send you a warning and a message with a link to the flight map and you can enter your seat preferences.

If you like the premium seats the software stores your credit card and will automatically purchase a premium coach seat.

If you have an upgrade pending it will track the status and then send you as many updates as you want to see where you are on the upgrade list and will move you up and assign you the seat automatically.

Lets say your boss is on the flight and you would rather not sit next to him it will move you without telling you any personal details all it knows is that if Passenger XXX is on the flight do not assign a seat next to the person.

If someone here could help me to write the software we could start a business doing this. Passengers would pay to monitor the flights and give us authority to do so.

If a seat is broken and the passenger reports it it will automatically be sent to the maintenance department of the airline and will block that seat until its fixed.

It will be linked to SeatGuru and warn you about limited space etc.

When you select your seat it will tell you what boarding group you will be in and the estimated time it will take to disembark the plane and go through customs if you have a connecting flight the software will automatically sit you close to the door to exit the plane.

Is this a good idea? Your tips would be most appreciative? We could take on a Social Media format to link travel profiles so if you are both on the same flight it will match your profiles and ask if you want to invite Joe Smith from your company to sit next to you. Or if you need a ride home it will find people who have signed in and say they can take you home. You would then be linked to their PayPal account to pay the Gas and get confirmation and meeting info.

It would only work if all other passengers signed up to share their information, or if the airline provided it.

Also, how much do you think people would be willing to pay for this? I doubt very many people will pay more than, say, a dollar or two for this kind of service.

How would a computer know who's a baby unless the airline told them? (which is not going to happen)

There is just no way airlines would share personal data of the passengers (names, ages, etc) with a third party provider like that - they would be at best, sharing information against customers wishes, and at worst, breaking privacy / data protection laws. Even if it were an opt in system, it becomes useless the moment you have a family with a bay not opt in, as the software may actually place you beside them, not knowing that Passenger X is a baby (because they didn't opt in).

I think I know how I'll get the seat next to me blocked on all my future flights.

Lets say you are a pedophile and use the software to make sure you get to sit next to that baby and mom falls asleep and you get a bit handy with the baby and say you sat next to it because the software helped you pick the perfect seat.

Whoops, no more software.

While it certainly does not do all the OP is suggesting, the Seat Alerts offering from ExpertFlyer is a starting point. Also, there is a free limited Seat Alert version that does not require a paid subscription.

This is a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist

Are you suggesting something here or is everything about child abuse for you?

Well We need some quiet
 

I think it would be nice to be able to fly in a section of the plane that is quiet. If the airlines are subjecting us to pay extra fees then we should be able to at least score a section of the plane that is quiet with no middle seats.

I was once on a flight from HNL-SFO with an obese passenger next to me hogging my seat. The flight attendant did nothing about it after mentioning that I can't use the seat I paid for. While I understand the passenger is obese he should have bought the extra seat . I could not even put down my arm rest and the passenger's body was infringing on my space.

This also happened on a recent flight on Southwest the flight attendant allowed an obese passenger to sit next to me and he could barely put down his armrest.

My point is if the airline takes our seat assignment away and we are put in a bad seat we would complain. So by having this system there would be some complaints but not as many.

Lets see the airline shares my data with the TSA so the airline with the passenger signing up to my service should allow the service to gather info to get better seats. Its like on Facebook you "Allow" Facebook to get your profile info same here the airline is sharing your info with a 3rd party(my software) to get them a better seat. I know for a fact people would gladly pay a fee to get a better seat or be matched up with someone who can drive them home.

Here is an answer
 

Part of the software does a background check to see if you are not a pedophile just like when applying for a job. This is where the Trusted Traveler comes into play I guess.

That was not my point. (Nor does a background check come up with anything for a non-convicted child abuser, btw.)

The use of paedophilia (and terrorism) to instill fear in a populace to get things done that are on the whole actually much worse (when regarding scale) is getting extremely tiring. Like subjecting the millions of people who fly into and out of your country every day to extremely privacy-invading grope-fests or harmful radiation (and making them pick between those), just because of a few bad apples and an insanely minute chance of someone being one of those. Just to pick an example relevant to this board.

Kinda like scaring people by throwing around terms like "harmful radiation," eh?

Are you saying that X-Rays have, in fact, not been scientifically proven harmful to human beings?

You know the answer to that, it doesn't change the fact you are scaremongering to enhance your point of view.