Kudos to you. I think I'd have lost my rag with such a tool.

Honest mistakes are routine and easily taken care of; however, it is becoming more common now for someone to simply "requisition" a more desirable seat. When I believe I am about to become a victim of such a flim flam I immediately press the FA call button. They know better than I how to deal with it. And they do.

If by "requisition" you mean simply "grab", that's why I show my boarding pass and ask to see theirs. I only go to the FA if there's a genuine duplication, or if someone won't vacate my seat.

Maybe one time in 20 it's my mistake--I've spaced and sat in the mirror-image seat in a one-aisle plane, or not noticed that outside and center row numbers are off, or something like that. In that case I apologize and prepare to move. If the other person offers to swap seats, I accept the offer, but I never make that request, even if the seats are equally good.

I was flying from MSY to ORD or somewhere and had booked the window seat. I get on and I find someone around 20 yrs old sitting by the window. Immediately I figure the worst and ask him politely to move. He apologizes politely and moves. A while later I speak to him and find out he's on his way to basic training and had never been in a plane before and really wanted to look out the window. He said that someone told him to just take the window seat that it would be no big deal. A bit later he gets up to go to the bathroom and so then I moved to the middle to let him have the window.

The only other time was on Southwest where there were plenty of empty middle seats but no two together. A woman was stuck in a middle with her lap baby and the FA asked someone to switch. I was nearby and with my family but wanted to set an example for my kids and so I switched with her. I even got a Southwest computer monitor cleaner as a reward :)

The last time it happened, US miserably failed me. On 3/1/06 PHX-PHL, my wife and I boarded an A321 to find a woman in my aisle seat. She refused to move and other passengers stated she was causing issues earlier. I rang the callbell and stood at the 2R door. She refused to move for the F/A. The F/A proceeded to tell me to take another seat and this is where things went south. The F/A informed me that I was holding up the departure and to sit down now. Taking the blame for problems I didn't start is not my specialty. I informed her to get the pursur or a member of the Flight Deck before the situation worsens. Other passengers in the area having dealt with the unruly squatter were vocally stating the woman needed to be removed. Another F/A with no clue of the situation arrives, tells me that He was the pursur, that He would not get the Captain, and that I either sit down or get off the plane. He then looks at my wife (silent up to this point) and tells her to "act more civilized". I had to give up then and before my wife removed the head of the pursur. The situation was so bad that the unruly squatter would not even move her legs for my wife to get to the middle seat...and was stuck next to her for the 4 hours. And I proceeded all the way to the rear to find the only available seat left.

US has 10 days remaining in their "30-day response" to get back to the letter I sent...or my CP status with them will get turned into DL.

My sister-in-law and brother traveled to Vegas on ATA on award tickets we gave them. They had a window and a middle assigned. When they boarded, a young woman was in the window seat and refused to move...in fact, she had a tantrum. Turns out she had some sort of mental disability. The rest of her family was across the aisle. You'd think they would have booked her into their row, but nope! I would have gotten an FA to get her to move to the aisle so the family could babysit her, but my sister-in-law is non-confrontational and also a mother to 8. She spent the whole flight amusing the woman like a little kid while the family just ignored the whole situation.

I would have demanded either that she move or that the family trade seats so that my party could sit in peace. You just don't get to inflict your problem on fellow passengers, and you don't get to pitch a fit to get what you want.

I was on a TED flight MDW-DEN when I tried to go standby earlier in the day but did not make it. I had a printed BP from home and when the GA scanned it the machine beeped several times and the display read "dupicate seat". The GA told me to go anyway. When I arrived onboard there was someone in my seat, and sure enough both our boarding passes showed the same seat. I talked to the FA and after checking the manifest told me to wait and take an open seat after everyone boarded. I got exit row window which was a huge improvement over my original seat. :D
I had to call UA to get the miles on my account and their record showed that I never flew the leg. I suppose that means that I could have used that segment another time, but oh well.

I recently flew AA (coach) and this happened to me. I had a window seat (my favorite) and upon arrival a woman was sitting in my seat with whom I presume to be her husband and they were eating Burger King. She was supposed to be seated in the aisle seat behind me. I'm really a nice person and would have more than accomodated her and her husband if she had just sat in her seat and waited for me to board. Since she had the nerve to do this, I told her no, I really wanted my window seat...then she asked why? Amazing, huh...(at this point I knew I was right in challenging her sense of entitlement to my seat). I politely sat if she refused to move I would get the FA as this was my seat. She moved in a huff, cursing and the like and I sat happily in my window seat. Hopefully she learned a lesson in manners here.

Sounds like a perfect time to leave the aircraft and get some IDB compensation...

The most brazen I've had to put with was while on an MR, an OAK-DFW segment in an MD-S80. I get to my exit row aisle seat (21D, on the 3 seat side), and there is a man sitting in my seat, and a woman in the window seat (already rare as I usually early board, but was held up this time grabbing some food in the terminal on a fast turn-around [double catered from DFW] flight).

An FA steped up and said that she changed their seats to that row so they could sit togehter, so would I please take the aisle seat in the next row back.

I stand there a little flabbergasted for a second, then calmly ask the FA why I should take my non-exit row seat aisle seat when this couple wants to sit "together" with her in the window and him in the aisle? He can sit next to her in the middle and I can sit in my exit row aisle seat.

The FA looked confused for a second while softly repeating "exit row?" while the guy said that he wants the aisle seat, and his wife wants a window seat, that's why.

Apparantly she didn't realize/recall it was an exit row she seated them in, that I had have elite status, and the inherant unreasonableness of his wanting a three seat row for himself and his wife. The FA apologized to me and moved them somewhere else.

I enjoyed the quite full flight alone in my 3-seat exit row. :D

Steve

Ugh, 2-5-2 is the worst configuration known to man. I hope whoever at Boeing designed it got fired.

One time I booked my sister in a window seat and then she somehow got pushed into the middle seat in between two really apparently fat people. I told her the next time that happens, GET UP AND ASK THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT FOR ANOTHER SEAT. I didn't call Alaska Air to complain because it was only PSP-SFO and the flight wasn't too long.

I can't believe people are getting on the wrong plane. Even my 13 year old sister can get on the right flight without the assistance of a UM person.

A couple cases I didn't mind.
 

NBO-EBB on KQ. Connecting KL flight was 4 hours late so my 3-hour connection turned into them holding the last KQ flight of the night, and double-booking my seat while they waited. Thanks a lot, guys.

I had the aisle, a couple rows into Y. Sat down, decided to stow my bag overhead, stood up, put the bag up, and someone else sat down in the seat. :-o And he had a boarding pass with the same seat assignment as me. So I waited politely for them to finish boarding, and a nice FA put me in the one empty seat they did have left... 3C in F. :)

OAK-ITO on TZ. I had 24C. The guy with 24B came along and said, "My wife's sitting up in 20D, can you switch with her?" 4 rows closer to the front and still an aisle? That was a no-brainer. Even more of a no-brainer when 20E turned out to be a cool girl who was good to talk to. The flight was 4 hours late (see a trend here?) and she wound up coming home with me for a shower and crash space (and nothing else!) instead of waiting 5 hours at the airport for her ride.

Generally, I'll switch seats to help people sit together, as long as I've still got an aisle (or window if it's a really short flight, like a half-hour). Never been the worse for it.

I boarded a flight from MSP to Boise to find a college-aged girl in my seat. She insisted it was her seat, and since it was an empty flight I just sat in the aisle. As I was waiting for my checked luggage in Boise, she was having a fit because her luggage didn't show up. The claims agent took her BP and asked if she was connecting because her ticket was for Pocatello, not Boise.

Apparently, she had somehow boarded the wrong flight. So if someone's sitting in your seat, ask to see their BP - it could be more than a double booking.

I flew from Copenhagen to London on Sterling, a cute little budget airline a couple of years back… I was in the middle seat and had a running battle with the Danish chap in the window who kept invading my space - not just elbows but crossing his feet into my area. He actually reached up and turned off my light and air fan as well!