NRSA family of four in PS F...wow!

Took DEN-LGA yesterday in F. I found 3 () families in F! It's a 752 (or 757? ... I always get confused The F cabin has 6 rows anyway ).
I had 6B and realized that there is a family taking 5A (mom), 6A(daughter) and 6D (son). Son kept begging mother to find someone to switch. I just minded my own business.
Soon after, when the boarding process is about to end, mom guessed that no one is going to board so mom left 5A to sit in 6C with son. Two minutes later, another mom boarded with two sons. Mom #2 made a point of letting the whole cabin know that they have 6C, and other two seats. The three seats are scattered throughout the cabin. Mom #2 told FA that we would like to sit together. At this point, mom #1 motioned to her daughter, my neighbor 6A, to take her assigned seat. Daughter than left the seat and then took 1A. FA came to me and asked man in 5B if he minded switching, man in 5B turned out to be dad traveling with his family in 5C and 5D (Kudos to daddy for making prior arrangements for sitting together than bothering all other pax ^). Daddy explained that his family has row 5 otherwise he would be happy to switch. FA than came to me and asked me nicely if I would mind switching to 5A. I told FA that I don't care for window seats and liked my asile seat and, like mom #2, I also made a point of letting the whole cabin know. FA understood and proceeded to think about other ways to make it happen. At that point, I grabbed FA and said reluctantly: alright, no biggie, I will do it. I did it intentioanlly to let them know it is a favor.

Story has not ended yet. So boys took 6A and 6B. Mom #2 settle things for the boys while the boys are on gameboys or something. Mom #2 had seat 3D. As soon as mom started to leave, boys started wailing... where are you goin' mom? (They are probably > 5 years old, but I could be wrong since I am not kid freindly). Mom said, I am taking my seat, and I will be back in 2 minutes. After mom #2 took her seat, a couple in 2A 2B told the FA that they would like to switch for 6A and 6B so that the boys could see their mom during the flight. So, rustle rustle rustle, people get shuffled again.

After I took my seat, 5A, daddy smiled at me and I told him this is what happened when you travel single. People expect you to switch and they don't even make arrangements beforehand. Daddy seemed a bit shocked by this comment and did not respond. I continued minding my own business.

What a zoo.......

I later on found mom #1's BP in my seat pocket and I realized that they booked via US. I actually was assigned my original seat, 6B, 1 hour before departure because of an irregular op and it just puzzled me why these people don't request to be seated together while they made the reservation.

Flight was uneventful. I took the M60 bus to get back to the city and I realized mom #1, dauther and son were also on the bus. This time they were seated together. We parted ways when I switched to #2 train in Harlem.

All of that must make getting meal preference priorities an absolute cluster.

So I'm a wheelchair user and need an aisle chair to board. A fair number of times, usually on an RJ, I never manage to get the GA to figure out that my seat assignment is completely impractical. They haul me on board the plane, the aisle chair guys and the purser *know* they'll never get me in to my assigned seat, so they put me wherever is convenient. Now I'm sitting in someone else's seat before s/he boards, I can't physically move to another seat, and it's kind of hard to explain that I'm not an evil seat poacher (at least not intentionally).

Any suggestions for my situation?

I am sure that, seeing that you require special assistance, most of the people will not think of you as a seat poacher. Since you have internet connection, at least what you may do is that, at the time of booking, make sure that you have an asile seat.

My understanding is the idea behind an aisle chair is that it is capable of moving someone who cannot walk down the aisle (hence the name). How is it that your seat assignment is so unpractical? I think the more probable reasoning was in your post: " so they put me wherever is convenient".

I've seen the aisle chairs used to take people many rows back, I would guess the "convenient" placement you speak of is the first rows, and I would also guess your then asking whomever seat that was to take yours, no thanks.

Book early, pick your seat, if thats not possible work with the GA to figure it out before boarding.

It could be that he's talking about being assigned a middle or window seat, and the people stick him in the aisle seat?

I flew MCO-PHX-YYC in F.
On the PHX-YYC leg I was in 2A and my partner was in 2C. once we boarded we noticed a couple sitting in our seat, puzzled I asked the FA who said that we must now sit in seats 1A, 1C. There was no option given to me. She told me the couple who were assigned 1A and 1C were travelling with a CAT which needs to be placed in the seat infront of them, therefore they need seat 2A and 2C and I had to get the freakin Bulkhead seat. And for someone 6 foot 2 that wasn't nice. And the make it worse the car was placed under my seat and I have allergies. The owner offered me Benedryl.

[QUOTE=jimglot;8244087
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]

ick Is this a bad foot story ???

Well bring it on if they are behaving badly....

Pilotboy - I feel your pain! I also have cat allergies. That is really poor form. Could you have asked to move further away from them perhaps?? I guess it just starts a huge cycle of seat swapping and chaos

This thread has morphed into a general switching seats one. I am going to move it to TravelBuzz! where many others will be able to participate.

iluv2fly
Moderator, UA

If I were on your flight, all you would need to do is tell me that the FA's had put you in the seat your were in. As long as I knew that you didn't reseat yourself (i.e. seat poaching), I wouldn't debate the reasons with you.

After that, I could take it up with the FA's if I felt that something wasn't right and they could explain the situation and/or accommodate me as appropriate. Most likely, I'd want to talk to them anyways to find out where they wanted me to sit.

How will they know? I don't wear a scarlet "S" on my jacket.

Alas, I am but a lowly 2P. Despite my awesome internet connection (a fantastic advantage that no one else has), occasionally I am unable to select an aisle seat.

True, and I've put in my time in 32F, and I'm sure I will again.

A couple of easy counter-examples:

1. not all the aisle armrests can be raised. The ones that can are generally on the DEF side, rather than the ABC side. If my boarding pass says 7C the FA may have me seated in 7D. As we know from innumerable threads on this site, that's gonna to annoy someone.
2. bulkhead middles and windows - can't get there, so the FA may put me in the middle or window immediately behind the bulkhead, and that's gonna annoy pilotboy1985YYC.

I would love a world where I could always pick the seat I want, where GAs were always at the gate an hour before the flight, where GAs didn't get cranky just being asked for an aisle chair and a gate check tag, where GAs knew which rows had movable armrests, and a lot of time those things happen, but sometimes they don't.

You are a gentleman. Thank you.

Katja, I think your situation is very different to those who are "seat poachers". I agree with Hockey guy - under the circumstances, that is fair enough. Good to see someone is understanding and behaves appropriately in this situation ^ to Hockey guy.

If you explain the situation, moving from one side of the aisle to the other probably isnt going to piss off 99.9% of people.
I would imagine that times when the bulkhead middle and window seats are the only ones left is extremely rare. Pick different seats during booking.

I agree. The key element is whether one reseats themselves (i.e. poaching) or one is reseated by or with the assistance of the FA's. In the former case, IMO, it's reasonable to take up the issue directly with whoever is in your seat; in the latter, the FA's should help sort things out and you should be able to avoid a personal confrontation with a pax who's probably not responsible for the problem in the first place.

IMO, it's a good idea to know which situation you're dealing with before lighting into someone too hard. Although if they are poaching, I say no holds barred!