Dodge DeBoulet

The "newly made Y pax" purchased exactly 1 F seat, and swapped it for exactly 1 Y seat. The fact that the original Y pax had no neigbors in her row was irrelevant; there was no way she could guarantee it would stay that way throughout the flight.

Had the "bum" who subsequently took the seat refused to leave, I doubt much could have been done about it. And if I was that bum, having swapped a seat in a fully occupied row for one with a bit more space, it most likely would have been much harder to convince me to leave.

cbn42

Some media outlet or consumer group would probably notice and call them out on it, and it would result in bad publicity. Other than that, airlines can put whatever they want in the CoC. SCOTUS has ruled that they are not bound by requirements such as good faith and fair dealing, due to the Deregulation Act.

They could easily do it, but it would cost them money that they don't want to lose. Right now, they can get parents to pay extra to guarantee they will be able to sit next to their kids, and that is a lot of incremental revenue.

When kids are separated from their parents on a plane, it's almost always very easy to rearrange the cabin to let them sit together without moving anyone to an inferior seat. Unfortunately, too many passengers refuse to cooperate, and families start complaining, and eventually the government has to get involved. When the U.S. Congress starts to micromanage things like seating on airplanes, it's not going to end well for anyone.

This discussion reminds me of signs on buses stating "federal law requires these seats to be made available for disabled passengers". I used to wonder why that law was necessary. Who wouldn't give up a seat for a disabled passenger? But after reading this thread, I guess it makes sense.

jrl767

if a disabled passenger requests or requires use of those marked seats, the non-disabled passenger who plonked their tush in said seat is required to let the disabled passenger sit there ... the issue, however, is that too many folks promptly forget (or simply don't care) about common courtesy, never mind compliance with the law

stut

Worse still are wheelchair spaces on buses - often taken up by pushchairs (fair enough if they're otherwise empty) but there's an awful lot of cases of parents refusing to fold pushchairs and vacate the space to make way for a wheelchair user. Sad.

rjque

Should this pass, I think we'll see the warning before booking every flight, regardless of whether there are seats together. It will be about as informative to consumers as website terms of service or the seat belt sign.

A better solution would be for the airlines to block a section in the back that can only be assigned by an airport agent. But that would inconvenience the airlines, and the major players consider themselves to be in a commodity business rather than a service business.

GRALISTAIR

absolutely +1

HMO

Not really, IMHO.

If this family was assigned only middle seats, they will necessarily need to request someone at an aisle or window seat (considered by the majority pax better seats than middle ones) to be able to seat side-by-side with their child.

nmh1204

guys, can we please get back on topic, this thread was about seat swap horror stories, not legislation

sethb

The FA would have told you to move back to the seat on your boarding pass, and you could have either done that or been arrested upon arrival for failing to obey a crew member's instructions (or theft of services).

sethb

I've never seen that happen. Of course, most of the buses I ride are in NYC and the drivers are New Yorkers.

PTravel

I'm not sure about your point. My post said, "I've never been offered a better seat." What has your practice to do with that?

Good.

That's the wrong standard. It doesn't matter whether YOU think the swap is at least neutral. It's what the person you're asking to swap thinks. Everybody has their own reasons for choosing the seat that they do and deciding whether to switch or not. The standard is subjective and most certainly NOT determined by someone else who is asking a favor.

MSPeconomist

Some airlines already do that. For example, DL blocks the last row or so for gate assignment for exactly this purpose. Perhaps more seats need to be blocked off this way.

IME the problem is that many families don't want to sit together *in the back* (horrors!) of the plane. Sometimes one parent has FF status to get a special (preferred/Y+/C+/bulkhead or exit row) seat and then wants the rest of the nonelite family to sit next to him/here for free.

Folks don't just want seats together--or better yet, the seating that's really required, namely one adult near a small child versus the whole clan together in exactly the seats they want--they want GOOD SEATS TOGETHER FOR FREE.

PTravel

That is certainly not what I've seen. IRROPS aside, this happens most often when parents book seats that were separated to begin and, usually, a bunch of middles.

Yes, and I'm one of those passengers. As we used to say in aerospace, "The lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."

Maybe, maybe not. A law requiring airlines to seat families together on a space-available basis would solve a lot of problems. If there are seats together, the family can book the block and the airline has to maintain the booking. If there are not seats together, the family has to find another flight. Problem solved.

This discussion reminds me of signs on buses stating "federal law requires these seats to be made available for disabled passengers". I used to wonder why that law was necessary. Who wouldn't give up a seat for a disabled passenger? But after reading this thread, I guess it makes sense.[/QUOTE]

Dodge DeBoulet

Unless the seat was in a different/higher class of service (i.e. E+) I seriously doubt it.

WorldLux

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Moderator deleted quote. The person quoted denies having made the statement.
Is childhood a disability?

Seriously, all major airlines offer seat selection these days. If you're to cheap to pay for it, you've got to live with that and take the seats, that are offered at the check-in.

I'm ready to give up my seat if the offered seat is equivalent or better. If that's not the case, I don't see why I should.

But these days, some parents expect special treatment because to they managed to make a child.

The other day, a lady skipped the queue at immigration in VIE altogether and asked me (as I was the next one in line) to pass because she had kids (roughly 5 and 7 years old). I failed to see the correlation between having kids and the right to skip queues. Baffled (and a bit furious), that I would dare say no to her, she queued behind me. The passengers behind her were visibly angry at her for skipping the queue, but nobody dared to say something to her.

(Fortunately, such behavior is currently the exception)