susanc

Requesting the GA to call up the person assigned to the seat you wish to swap with prior to boarding would help eliminate annoyances and delays during boarding. I have never seen this done and not sure a GA would have the time or the inclination to do this but it would be an easier method.

televisor

I think there's an opening for a new app here: sell your seat assignments for a given fight. Like ebay, but for seat assignments (and with the ability to restrict what seat the seller would accept, and/or different prices depending on the buyers seat).

eigenvector

What makes you think seat-swappers want to PAY for that seat? If they were willing to pay they'd already have a good seat.

avatexrs

My wife and I were recently upgraded to F on a DFW-LGA flight, assigned window seats in the same row (A and F). As we started to move into the row, one of the aisle passengers asked if we'd like to sit together, and my wife said "that's ok, he (me) just puts on his headphones and doesn't talk to me anyway." Everybody got a good laugh, and it turned out that the two aisle passengers were also related and didn't care about sitting together either. But we all switched and had a good flight (and I was shamed into talking to my wife).

o mikros

Shamed into talking to your wife?

Now that is a true seat swap horror story!

televisor

Some people (i.e. frequent flyers) might get those seats for free, so they might be willing to sell them for less than the airline would. Other people can only book close to flights, at which point the good seats are all selected (why else would you see so many top-tier frequent flyers in middle seats all the time?). Then there's the issue of cabin "fragmentation" (early single bookers select a single row each, meaning later couple/family bookers can't get seats together even if one of each kind of seat is available, just split over multiple rows). Plenty of cases where advance seat selection is the cause of separation, and NOT the lack of payment.

Proudelitist

The circumstances in which people would switch are nuanced and complex..everything from "never" people to "always" people. One thing that seems common inbetween is the "Chutzpah Scale"

Think of it like a scale of 1-10, with 10 having the most Chutzpah:

10: Poacher, single, likes your seat better, refuses to move, flight over 5 hours, assigned to a lower cabin class than seat they poached. Beligerent. Maybe a non-rev. Brings up status, argues with crew. Assigned to a middle in the back of the plane.

9: Poacher, lies about where they are really seated. Usually in a worse seat or lower class, often single. May beg when caught in the lie. May feign language barrier. Flight over 2 hours.

8: Poacher or requestor, poor reasons (separated from ADULT companion, trumped up stories about medical issues) offers a worse seat but tries to make it seem nicer with far fetched reasons, ignores another option that puts them together but further back or with one in middle, moves on but implies you are a jerk and lack common coutesy for refusing, flight over 2 hours.

7: Self-entitled, usually with kids, assumes that their having kids trumps ANY circumstance of yours and bestows upon them special rights. Starts with not a polite request, but with "You are going to HAVE TO" or "YOU NEED TO" before saying "move". Publicaly rants about how terrible you are. Flight of any length. May poach, may request. Rants about the airline splitting them up.

6: Asks politely..at first, but then won't take no for an answer. Poor reasons, such as wanting to be with adult companion. Short flight, but apparently cannot be away from them for an hour. 8.5 on the scale if the companion is a colleague instead of a spouse or adult child. Offers an equal seat at best, but probably something worse.

5: Requests, long flight, but thinks solo travelers have no rights and offers their speciallness as a trump card: newlyweds, loving couple, first flight. Gets irked but won't push it.

4: Requests politely, but has bizzare reasons that don't always justify being arsed to move. Fear of flying, claustrophobia, can't sleep at window and apparently doesn't know you can book seats ahead. Usually a kettle.

3: The person you will be annoyed with, but may switch. Separated parents and kids, or a special needs companion, VERY tight connection, flight over 2 hours. Generally asks politely but not always.

2: Clearly needs to switch for obvious reasons, offers an EQUAL seat, but not better, short flight, polite request.

1: Clearly needs to switch, is apologetic for it, offers a better seat or equal seat, buys you a drink.

Visconti

Pretty comprehensive list you've got there! Unfortunately, at one point or another, I've experienced each type.

As a teenager when flying with friends assigned separate seats, we'd always offer a swap with the pax with the best seat, usually a window or isle closest to the front. I mean, what motive would anyone have to swap from a better seat to a lesser one? Even then, we never assumed the offer would have been accepted, only that it increased the probability.

The_Bouncer

Proudelitist's scale is spot-on. I have encountered all of these, except 2 & 1.

I have never been offered a better seat by anyone wanting to switch/poach, and I can't remember even being offered an equal seat.

Call me cynical, but if someone wants to switch/poach, there is a reason why, and that reason is usually because they have a bum deal on their seat assignment.

tentseller

Like

CopperSteve

Proudelitist, congratulations, you just won the internet. ^

Proudelitist

I am mentally going over all the swap requests and poach attempts I have dealt with that I can remember. Recently it was a poach attempt by a non-rev. Before that it was a split up couple where one got the UG and his wife in E tried to argue that I should take a downgrade for her. Before that it was a guy in coach who had the middle but wanted my aisle. Then there was the guy who simply took a chance on taking my exit row seat on a 5 hour flight, moved when I got there. I was asked by a couple on WN to move to a middle so they could sit together on a flight under 1 hour..didn't do it.

The only polite, reasonable request I can think of was over 2 years ago. In F my UG cleared and had me in a window. The woman in the aisle seat wanted to switch. As I prefer aisles, and she liked windows, and we were both in F, I had no problem with it.

Other than that, I think the only time I was ever bought a drink by a requestor was on a flight sometime in 1991 where I moved back like 2 rows to an equal seat to keep a couple together.

Considering that I have been flying almost weekly for 25 years, that's rare.

nkedel

Better seats are subjective, but I've at least twice been offered "better" seats by at least some definitions -- aisle-for-aisle, with the person offering being farther forward in the two most memorable cases. (Quite a bit further forward in the Y case.)

In both cases, they may have been subjectively worse for some people -- H for G on an AA 772 (so 2-side vs. 5 middle) and further forward in domestic F might have gotten a later meal choice with FEBO, but neither was particularly bothersome to me.

I'd have turned down the one in coach if they hadn't asked me early on in boarding; I would not have wanted to be that far from my bag.

Pam

We were traveling once and discovered we were on the flight with the local university basketball team. When I got to my seat it was one of those that didn't have a seat in front of it (I don't remember what type of plane); one of the team was sitting in it. He said "I know this is your seat, but I have the aisle right over there, and was hoping you wouldn't mind trading". The kid was almost 7' tall, of course I would trade with him! No horror story, although I guess it could have been if somebody else was assigned that seat and didn't feel sorry for the boy.

The_Bouncer

You're quite right. It is totally subjective. On long haul flights in Y, I actually prefer to be nearer the back, as there is far more chance of getting an empty seat next to me. For me, an aisle seat with an empty adjacent sest is about as good as it gets in Y.