dmanlv

On the airbus A321 LAS-PHL I got the aisle seat in the row behind the most forward washrooms. Best seat on plane. Tons of leg room and nothing in front of you and only 1 seat next to you. Best of all I didn't have to pay the $100 fee because I have the AA card which also lets me board in zone 1 !

I board in zone 1 and settle down for the 5 hr flight.

Guy in his late 40s sits in the one seat to the left of me. Asks me if I would mind swapping seats with his wife. Seriously? And her location.... middle seat 20 rows back.

I POLITELY tell him no and a little white lie that I paid the upgrade. His reaction, to turn around and yells at the top of his lungs, complete with attitude for the whole plane to hear, to his wife sitting in the back "this guy says he doesn't want to switch, something about an upgrade or some nonsense" and then looks at me "a--hole". Unreal. I then had to listen to under the breath rude comments and snickering directed at me for the first hour of the flight.

People are so darn rude but why would anyone in their right mind think another person would give up the best seat on a plane for the worst seat?

porphyra

Good for you. His wife could have easily asked her fellow seat-mate to go right up, which most people would have gladly taken. But no! The entitlement some people have is unbelievable.

Dodge DeBoulet

This thread will probably get merged with one of the many other seat-swap etiquette threads, but anyway . . .

Your best response would have been to say something like, "I'm not particularly interested in moving back there, but why don't you consider switching places with the guy that's currently sitting next to your wife? It's a win-win. He gets a nice seat upgrade and you get to sit next to your wife."

He really can't decline without looking like a selfish idiot

gobluetwo

+1. Great response.

ou81two

To the OP, it's not your problem to fix. Just say no. YOu don't have to give an explanation to that or anything else in life. Just practice it sometime so you won't feel awkward if you're someone not good at it.

A fun alternative would have been to push the guy's buttons and make him go off and get him thrown off of the plane.

Yeah there's lots of selfish douches out there. I remember once in my early flying days I was in a middle seat. This couple were on either side and asked me if I wanted to switch so they could sit together. I said sure and got up to let them in the middle and window seat. They meant for me to move to the window. In other words, sitting next to each other was important, but not so important that would give up the aisle.

I honestly don't get why married people, who spend so much time together, have this dire need to sit next to each other on a plane.

nrr

Isn't it obvious why he didn't do as you suggest? (1)He gets to keep a (very) good seat, (2)his wife would now be seated in a much better seat than she had, (3)the "sucker" OP would have swapped excellence for junk--he wins, OP loses.

Badenoch

What is this need many people have to somehow explain or excuse their own behavior when they've done nothing wrong.

"No, I won't switch, thank-you" is all that is required. No further discussion is necessary. He can mutter to his heart's content. Headphones on, seat reclined. Happy landings.

6rugrats

No, you were right. But, you should have said nothing but, "No". You don't owe any explanation.

I've had the same thing happen; you decline to change and you become the "bad guy". I've even had people in other seats make comments to me; of course, they aren't giving up their seats.

This guy could have lived without sitting with this wife, traded seats with her or as suggested, traded his seat with the person sitting next to her in the back.

Next time, just say, "No" and if your seat mate is rude, complain to the purser that you feel threatened.

noley

Or, he could have just swapped seats with his wife before they even sat down. Giving you a hard time for not giving up your seat when he doesn't think enough of her to simply give her the better seat is nuts.

Maybe she thinks less of her husband for not just giving her the nicer seat than she does of you for not giving in. But, probably not...

n.

Tchiowa

You did the right thing and he's a jerk.

Concerto

No, I just speak pseudo-Chinese to absurd people like that (which I'm very good at doing, for I spent time in Hong Kong when I was very little; I only regret not being able to speak the language properly). It also works against telephone marketing, people begging on trains to fund their drug taking habits, and people trying to sell you things on the street.

Last October, I didn't pay for seat reservations for my partner and myself. So, we found ourselves split into different seats and rows, which struck me as odd as we were on a single PNR. But we had no problem sitting separately on a 4h flight. As it happened, we had to do quite a bit of shifting about at the request of similarly separated families, but we never asked if anyone else could shift for us. Didn't seem worth the hassle. The airline was DE (Condor) and the city pair was Lanzarote (ACE to Hannover (HAJ).

eajusa

I agree, no reason to move.

josephstern

I liked the proposed response above, but I probably would have said "I'm happy to swap into any econ+ aisle seat - no problem." If he could work that out, fine, better than sitting next to him.

Allan38103

Beaver: Gee Wally, if I don't give up my seat, do you think I'll get yelled at by a grownup?

DocP

Absolutely no reason to feel bad/guilty.