spreading out etiquette
 

What's the right etiquette for spreading out on a row of seats when they are available?

Recently, on a SEA-IAD redeye on UA, I laid claim to a nice row of seats in E+, just like a few other passengers. Prior to the door closing, I noticed the open row and moved back.

I then stayed up through the beverage service, spreading out and reading. Then a guy comes up and says he wants the aisle. I tell him that I want the row to myself, because I was planning to sleep, and asked him to please find somewhere else to sit.

He then complains to a F/A who finds him an exit row window (the armrests are stuck on the exit row, so those empty seats are useless. The F/A then reprimands me and says that it is unfair for me to spread out across a full row of seats when there are people in the back of the plane sitting in center seats.

I explain:

(1) I moved from a row with recline to a row with no recline so that I could get a full row.

(2) The E+ cabin is a separate cabin.

(3) Other people are sleeping across a row of seats, so if I'm being singled out for not sleeping, then I'll go to sleep right now.

Here's my take on the situation:

- Usually the E+ cabin is jammed full with elites, while no-status travelers get to stretch out across full rows of seats in the back. I've gotten full rows on DL and AA, but I never get full rows on UA.

- If I was assigned a center seat, I'd get reassinged at the gate, or move before pushback. I would never consider taking away a full row from someone 45 minutes into a flight, especially on a redeye.

My lesson:

If I want my full row, I need to actually stretch out and sleep, so no one can disturb me. Covering up the empty seat with my feet and jacket doesn't do the trick.

If the flight were totally full except for your empty row, I'd say the right thing to do would be to give the guy the seat. But as long as there's some chance for him to sit elsewhere, I don't think you owe him anything.

As for the FA's comment to you--I don't think you have any responsibility to consider what those other pax in the back (the ones in the center seats) might need or want. It's not like you were turning away pax after pax. If they're just going to sit there resigned to their fate, so be it. If they want to move, let them ask for a reassignment or approach you. Why should you sit in the window seat like a chump just waiting for some theoretical person to take the aisle?

NOT stretching out in your row is like an open invitation, and I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to invite me to share the space they've staked out. Even when I'm on the wrong side of this situation, I understand that there's a certain amount of self-interest, first come/first served, finders/keepers involved.

You can't lay claim to any seats other then the one on your boarding pass. If you were not using them, then he had every right to sit in one.

Nobody can lay claim to an entire row.

If I were him though and there was another seat I could have moved to with the same room, I would have moved.

If I intend to lay claim to a row of seats, I always inform the FA in advance of claiming it so that he/she can police anyone else who tries to step in.

If you fly regularly out of a station, you can even ask the gate agent to assign you a seat in an otherwise empty row so that you can spread out immediately without fear of an interloper.

Exactly!

The practical aspect of stretching out and sleeping on all the seats in a row will probably keep other passengers away from "your" row.

Use it or lose it!

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"Yippie-kay-yay, Mr. Falcon!" -- John McClane, Die Hard II As Seen on TV

When on a 757 redeye transcon, I often assign myself an aisle seat toward the rear of the plane. When AA maintained seat blocking for elites, the middle would stay unassigned, and very often the window would remain unassigned.

Several times the Admirals Club staff would block the middle and the window for me. They told me that it would make it more difficult for the gate staff to put anyone in either seat.

I board very early, put my bags away, and stretch out on the seats, effectively staking a claim to all three seats. The rules only require that you be upright for taxi and takeoff, and by that time, the other pax are supposed to be buckled in and can't jump in next to me.

As soon as we clear about 1000 feet, I immediately stretch out with pillows and blankets and occupy all three seats. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Same procedure on lightly loaded longhaul redeyes when I choose not to upgrade, except then we're talking about five seats on a 777 in the back. Plenty of room in which to stretch out. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Who cares what the other pax think?? - every passenger for himself or herself.

See also

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...ML/009174.html

Yikes. I hope our paths never cross while traveling. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/eek.gif

I guess it's never crossed my mind to hog an entire row on an airplane. I consider myself lucky if a rare empty middle seat happens to be next to me. Even if I went sprawling about, I don't think I'd have much of a right to get upset with others that do the same.

Etiquette??? I'll have none of that. If I can get a place to lie down for myself, I'll take it.

Seriously, the FA had no business to single you out if there were other centre rows with people sleeping.

The Zen animal of the happy coach class traveller is IMHO the cat because it's utterly selfish and spreads out to cover whatever space it is given.

My Dad used to fly BA LHR-DEN-LHR about 8 times a year, usually in Old Club World although he would often try and snag a row of seat in Y because the Old Club World seat didnt recline to 180degrees. He told me he got the J service in the back cabin though I never flew with him on this route to be able to vouch for it

The whole issue is that 2 people in a 3 seat section just means a bit more leg space for each passenger, but neither passenger can lie down. Whereas one person in a 3 seat section is close to a bed.

I typically view an aircraft, in flight, like I would a park or an airport lounge/boarding area. I wouldn't ask someone else to wake-up or move if they found an empty row of seats to stretch out across so that I could have one of them. Unless it was in the smoking section. (Oops! sorry... 70's flashback)

However, last week, I boarded a flight on Southwest at a thru-point. Some jerk stretched out across the entire reclining exit-row. If you're sleeping with your legs across all 3 seats, why choose the row with the extra leg-room? Granted the flight wasn't full but what a pig...

Hmmm... I took a snooze across five seats on a UA DEN-LAX flight several months ago. I was just waiting for the FAs to come around and make me sit up for landing.

They never came around. I was stretched across all five seats until we were parked at the gate! http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Anyone here able to lie down across two seats? It can be done. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

I did this on a Northwest A320 when I first started flying. I had all three seat belts fastened around my body so I guess they just left me alone. I was wearing my walkman as well http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...um/biggrin.gif I did wake up when we touched down which was a bit shocking given that I wasn't expecting to be allowed to sleep through landing.