It happened to me twice. First I was on a flight from Detriot to Frankfurt (about 8 hours) and my seat was an aisle in the bulkhead row. A woman asked me to change the seat and hers was a middle seat on the row behind me. She said her husband sat next to me. She asked me politely.

The second one was on a LAX-NRT flight (about 11 hours). My seat was 21C (also aisle bulkhead) and 21A and 21B were father and mother whose little boy was sitting in 25B (Middle). The parents asked me to change the seat with the boy so that they all could sit together. I was not happy because I made seat selections well in advance.

In both cases, I let them take my seats but I'd like to know what most people decide in this situation. Thanks.

If the flight is over 5 hours...forget it...under...based on how they asked.

Dorian

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That's a tough one, because my nature would be to help out someone who has taken the time and mustered up the courage to ask me a favor like that.

But on a long flight with a pre-selected seat (especially bulkhead), I would have to somehow find a way to be as nice as possible, but say no. I would explain why I was saying no, because where I sit on a flight matters a lot.

I would have probably said no. I work hard to get particular seat assignments in advance. Especially for flights of that duration.

I would also think that they will be sleeping for a good portion of the flight... so being beside each other vs. one row behind is not that substantial.

I know I would NEVER give up an aisle or window for a middle seat. Unless it was for a middle seat in Business or First....

William

If I like the seat I'm in I'd say no unless the flight's under an hour, personally. Especially if I had a bulkhead or aisle/window seat and was asked to switch to non-bulkhead or middle seat.

Ask politely is fine; saying no politely is fine too. I've done both.

The tougher of the two calls regards the parents and the child. Of course, if the child is very young, you might want to consider switching seats. But then again, if they already had two seats together, either the mother or the father could have sat with the child.

My bottom line is this: if there is no difference in seats (i.e. switching non-bulkhead aisle to another non-bulkhead aisle, there's no reason not to switch -- unless there's some other hidden reason why one seat is better than another). But you should not feel obligated to switch to a worse seat. If it's less than 2 hours, I'd switch. But I always have in mind a quick excuse why I can't switch. Such as:

I need a window seat because I'm a little claustrophobic and if I don't have a window, I start to get very nervous; or

I need an aisle seat because I have to get up to use the restroom often; or

I reserved this seat several months ago and I really would rather avoid being in the middle seat because (and then see one of the above excuses).

You willingly took a middle seat for an 11 hour flight??? I hope you were sitting next to a pair of lovelies from the Swedish Bikini Team. Tell me when you're flying first class, and maybe I can ask you to switch with me in coach.

Here's how I reply, putting the ball back in their court:

"I paid extra to take this flight because it had a bulkhead aisle seat available."

That leaves them with the choice of offering you $$$ or leaving you alone. As one who has changed itineraries and paid the airline extra to get a better seat and also one who has paid/bribed fellow flyers extra to switch seats, I find this extremely fair. People will be real nice to you when you're waving a Franklin.

Call me a money-hungry jerk, but there is a reason why different seats on the airplane sell for different prices... Heck, there's no cost to asking and somebody got a good deal off of their kid's puppy-dog eyes.

Unless we are trading even up (aisle for aisle, or window for window), I would never ask anyone to change seats with me so I could sit by a friend, co-worker or relative. Neither would I feel remotely obligated to give up an unequal seat for the sake of a stranger, especially on a long, long flight.

The parents should most certainly have split up and have the boy sit with one of them.

Most marriages are strong enough to withstand an 11 hours separation.

Having said all that, I am very willing to voluntarily give up my seat if it is obvious that someone else has greater need. I.e., I recently traded an ailse, bulkhead seat to a blind man who was in the seat behind me, in order to give his dog more room to lie down. I have also traded window seats with kids when flying over Mount St. Helens on a particularly beautiful day (I get to see it every week).

I think I would have a bigger problem accepting money for my seat, then saying 'NO THANK YOU', when other passengers are watching for your reply.

On another string, I reported on a recent flight, that I had an aisle Emergency row seat for which I had driven to the airport (40 miles R/T) a few days earlier to get assigned. A women in the middle seat with husband in middle seat row behind asked me if I would....... I immediately replied 'Don't even ask'! She said the desk agent told her to ask for someone to change. Obviously, they didn't plan ahead AND checked in LATE. This has got to be my shortest fuse. Anyway, Her husband traded wiith her and was a little pushy the whole flight! I couldn't help it, if he was 6 foot plus! He should have planned ahead, if they were not standbys!

In this case, I wouldn't have changed seats for money!

Let's be blunt.............

Go away.

Or you can be nice and just say 'Sorry'.


Dan
Up in the air, it's every woman (man) for themself.

I would think the parents should have offered to give the bulkhead seats to the 2 pax seated on either side of their child, or switch off as stated above.

Same with the couple, if I wanted to change seats, and I had the "better" of the 2 seats, I'd use that a leverage to trade. I've traded seats with people in coach when I was in first(wanted to sit next to girlfriend), never a refusal... just some strange looks.

Thank you for all comments. For the second case, I also wonder why the parents let their son (about 7-8 year old) sitting along in a middle seat. Probably that was to get some sympathy from me. I had 2 choices. 1. Refuse and sit with them who wouldn't like me much because of the refusal or 2. let them take my seat. I chose the second one although not happily.

I agree with Orix.

If a group wants to sit together, they need to move to be around the passenger w/the worst seat.

After all, the value of their seat is proximity to the rest of their party, so their loss in giving up bulkhead is offset by that gain.

I agree.
Why is it that the people with the worst seat in the party always want to switch for the better seat? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Us poor souls with the innocent looking faces (myself included) are always the ones asked to move. We have to be forceful and say, ever so politely with a BIG smile, No, but I bet you could switch the seat BACK THERE !!!

One more interesting story...

I was on a DL flight home from Paris to LA in Business class, connecting in JFK (old 3 class config.). On the JFK - LAX portion, I was separated from my girlfriend. She had the aisle and I the other side of the aisle. I politely asked the gentleman seated next to me if he wouldn't mind switching with her, so I can sit next to my girlfriend. Well, what a pain her was. He insisted he was comfortable, his bags were on his side of the overhead bin (I even offered to move them for him), and simply refused to move. (I guess he didn't want the person on the window side to step over him)

Well, I took my seat, then a gentleman came up and said he was in the same seat as I was. Funny, 2 people in the same seat? Then, the red coat came and took my boarding pass and gave me a new one, seat 1C. Operational upgrade to first class. I looked at the gentleman who wouldn't trade seats, smiled and offered my first class seat to the gentleman who was to be in my original seat. I guess sometimes you never know.