These threads about asking people for seat changes have made me hesitant to do so in the following situation for ORD/LAX:

Wife (very pregnant) in 320 2D (award), me in 2A (upgraded). My wife is wondering whether to ask someone to switch an aisle for a window in row 2. I do not think I want to ask someone to do this. Is there any chance with asking the gate agent to switch someone? I would be fine sitting apart for the flight.

It's certainly a possibility to ask them to try, but I would just do it myself. If you ask in a nice way (NICE being the key word, without any sense of entitlement), I am willing to bet that one of the aisles would be more than happy to switch, especially if your wife is very pregnant. These threads are negative because people are rude and demanding. It's amazing how much a good attitude can do.

[QUOTE=drummingcraig;8243671]I almost started a new thread on this when I first got home a couple weeks ago, but got lazy. Seeing this thread rekindled my memories so here goes...

A couple weeks ago I traveled JAX-SNA via ORD. I got to witness firsthand some nice poaching on 3 of the 4 flights.

JAX-ORD: Soccer Mom with 3 kids in tow. I was sitting 4A on a CRJ. Mom had 3A, B, and D but not C. Of course she filled the whole row with her offspring anyway. Turns out that her teenage son had 4C and she couldn't bear letting him sit 4 feet away for the 2 hour flight. When the real 3C arrived and inquired with the son about his seat Mom insisted that it was "OK because they were all flying together and that he could sit in the son's seat in 4C." I could tell the px was irritated but begrudgingly took 4C anyway. Here's the clincher...Mom stuffed her huge duffel bag underneath her seat eating up much of my legroom. She also instructed all three kids to do the same. Even though I didn't speak up about it I had no qualms over using her bag as a nice footrest!^

<snip>

If she had done that one to me, it would have been "off with the socks" Once she got a good look at these puppies�s she would have headed for the bin. They look more like they should be pull�n salmon out of the river!!

Jim

[QUOTE=jimglot;8244087]
Don't the FA's enforce putting bags underneath your seat?

[QUOTE=ordogg;8244172]Yes, but the key here is that your bags should go under the seat in front of you, thereby invading no one else's space. In this scenario their bags needed to go in the overhead as they were sitting in a bulkhead.

Craig

I'm with lucky on this one. Its not the asking itself...its the attitude that accompanies the request. I think that if you are polite and humble you'll have no worries.

Craig

To the OP: Being commanded to remain standing is pretty rude. Why should that girl cooperate with someone who probably won't appreciate her compliance?

I always choose my seats for specific reasons. If I were that girl, I'd have politely told that man I wanted my assigned seat. And I wouldn't have allowed that mother to put her bag under her seat. I always "utilize the space under the seat in front of you", so I'd need that space for my own bag.

Now, if a flight attendant made the request nicely, or if the man had been polite, I'd be more willing to give up my seat. But I'd check to see what seat was being offered in return.

I was just thinking about this topic a few weeks ago when I flew home from Frankfurt. We were comfortably settled into our seats 21H/J ^. A woman sat down a couple rows up in G, stowed her stuff, put the pillow behind her head and wrapped herself up in the blanket. About 20 minutes later (it took a long time to board and E+ filled up on the late side), a man came along with a bp for that seat. It was very obvious from her reaction that she knew she wasn't in the correct seat. So, she very slowly moved to the middle (E or F), leaving the now-used blanket and pillow lying in G. Same flight, one of the flight attendants had to shoo several people out of the crew rest seats during boarding--despite the signs taped to the seats and o/h bins.

Also, my husband recently bought E+ at check-in and was lucky enough to get 6C on the Airbus. But he had the last boarding group, and found someone already in his seat. Turns out, that person had a different seat assignment, but someone else (who never had 6C in the first place) had asked him to switch it for 6C. Husband's reply when asked where the person now in 6C was supposed to go: "Sorry, not my problem."

Me: As I take my seat, "You're mistaken." Headphones out and ignore him.

Me: As I take my seat, "You're mistaken." Headphones out and ignore her.

I would not have switched. Next time, she'll know to book seats together if that's what she needs. As we used to say in the aerospace industry, "The lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."


I'm not quite sure what this kid was doing. If it was really that bad, i.e. the kid was out of control, I'd call over the FA/Senior/Purser/Captain (in that order) and say, "This kid is a safety hazard as well as a nuisance. Either it goes, or IDB me, but I can't sit next to that."


I understand that different people respond to these entitlement-demanding impositions in different ways, but I don't think passive/aggressive accomplishes much. Be vocal about it -- make it clear that what they're doing is rude and unacceptable.

I believe the correct phrase is "security risk".

You sound like my old commander! He LOVED that statement.

You are probably right about being blunt. I shall have to try the blunt approach when this happens again.

While I agree with this philosophy in general, I don't think it applies in this case. No amount of planning can guarantee you seats together, as the airlines are all very clear on the policy that seat assignments are not guaranteed. Also, IME it can be very difficult to get seats together in the first place for a group of more than 2-3; I had to split up the group 2-2-1 on one flight the last time I booked a trip for my family.

That said, none of this excuses the seat poacher's behavior. While I have sympathy for the people who can't manage to get seats together, all that sympathy goes out the window if you pull a stunt like this.

My response: calmly pull our my boarding pass, ask to see the seat poacher's, and politely direct him/her to the proper seat. If they complain, suggest that they talk to an FA who might be able to assist them.

^

I'm with Craig and Lucky. It isn't the asking; it's the tone. I love doing favors. But if the person who's asking for a favor is already disrespecting me by being rude, it's a lot harder for me to grant their request.

It should be enough to simply do the thing that promotes harmony, whether or not the recipient is grateful. I wish I could get over the need to have people appreciate the good and helpful things I do. It usually isn't that hard, but on airplanes, when people are crammed together, the instinct to protect one's tiny patch of territory is very strong.

And the overall attitude, including what the asker is willing to give up. If you're trying to get seated together, you should expect to trade your better seats (if there's any difference) rather than trying to get your whole group into row 6 on an A320, for example.

If anyone is already settled into my seat when I get there, I'm much less likely to be accommodating because I resent the not-so-subtle effort at coercion. On the other hand, if the pax immediate stands up, says "I was wondering if you'd be willing to swtich" and makes it clear that I can say no, then more inclined to say yes.

Of course, if you're asking me to swap an E+ aisle for a row 30 middle seat, you'd better throw in some $$$, too.