trm2

I think we need a little more information. If he is 6'8" and 250 pounds while she is 5'2" and 98 pounds soaking wet, there is a big difference.

james318

I know that I am in the minority here, but I don't see why people can't travel a few hours without their SO by their side. I'd rather NOT sit by them at times. I like some peace and quiet.

My family, friends, and SO's have all known... I'll but them on the upgrade list, but if I get the upgrade and they don't, they are riding in the back.

I guess I am a jerk, but everyone knows this going in to travel with me.

Analise

A live-in girlfriend. Does he intend to marry her? My guess is that he does not considering he flew in F and she in the back.

So what's your opinion on your friend's actions?

enviroian

Agreed. What I did in a similiar situation last week is I asked the man next to my gf in 5C if he would like my F seat. He bolted up, and I took my seat in 5B. I fly upfront enough as it is so it was no biggie, and I think it's rude not to sit together.

goalie

as the title says......

if only my u/g cleared, we would take our assigned seats and then i would ask one of the f/a's if it was ok if we swapped seats so she could ride in comfort. for me that's how it's s'posed to be.

g/f walks on the inside
g/f get's her car door opened
g/f rides in f

now, all i gotta do is find a g/f

Pickles

Would you really recommend a "reassessment" (what does that mean, exactly) just because the wife expects this? With Mrs. Pickles, it isn't even up for discussion who'd get the upgrade, and it isn't me.

SkiAdcock

Occasionally I'll fly w/ my sister somewhere & have managed to get her upgraded. Always wondered what would happen if I could only get one upgrade & there were 2 of us. On the one hand being a spoiled FT princess I want to be in C or F. OTOH, said sister doesn't fly that often & if I was a good sister I'd let her have my seat in C or F. Wait I am a good sister - I've given her Int'l F Award tickets as birthday gifts. Phew. But still I haven't sorted the dilemma of what if only 1 upgrade is available. I'm leaning a wee bit toward me taking the F as she's just my sister

On a trip a year ago said boyfriend at the time & I were flying LAS-LAX, me being elite & him not. Since it was TED no upgrade so no worries there, but him being non-elite he couldn't get E+ & I was really dreading E-, but figured I'd do the right thing & sit back there w/ him. I know it's only an hour, but hey it's E-. Luckily I got a UA agent who was willing to bend the rules a bit & put him into E+. Good girlfriend crisis averted!

Re: the OP's friend's situation. If it was a vacation & the girlfriend (or if it had been boyfriend; gender irrelevant) had never flown F, then yes the right thing to do would be to offer up the F seat to the other. It would have been a treat & a great way to start out a holiday. I think he should do it on the return since he didn't do it on the outbound, but given there's a bit of argument about it probably is going to take the luster off the gesture for both of them. However, it would still be fun for her.

BTW - on a biz trip to LHR w/ a client I used SWUs to upgrade to C. He had no status & I wasn't willing to use my SWUs for a new client (hey, they're hard-earned), so he stayed in E. Turns out he tells me on the connection LAX-EWR-LHR (so about 6 years ago when UA flew to LHR from EWR) that his credit card has a self-imposed $500 credit limit and he doesn't have a company card. So I had to call Diners to say expect an unusual high charge but to please ok it, as I'd be paying for 2 hotel rooms and all the meals. I was furious that he wouldn't have made arrangements w/ his company to have the hotel prepaid or gotten a company card, and that he waited until the connection to tell me. I then felt no guilt whatsoever about him sitting in E! And he checked out of the hotel earlier than I did, so I didn't find out until checkout that he had a bunch of porn films on the bill (which I obviously couldn't bill the company for & which he never reimbursed me).

Cheers.

Efrem

I have always either declined the upgrade or given the seat in front to my GF. On one occasion, offered an op-up CDG-BOS, I said I was traveling with her. They upgraded her too!

Funniest situation in this regard was at the end of 2005, the OAX-MEX leg of OAX-BOS, a short hop on Mexicana before two AA legs. My GF was on a J/F award. I was on a paid economy ticket - needed the miles to make EXP - and was able to upgrade the whole trip except this leg. She sat down in 4F or whatever it was. The seat next to her was open. I asked the FA if I could sit with her. He turned his back to the open front door, said in a loud voice so the gate agents would be sure to hear "I'm sorry, sir, you must go back to economy and sit in your assigned seat," while gesturing frantically in front of his body (which they couldn't see) for me to sit with her!

If tipping FAs was done, he would have gotten a big one.

EWR ATC Hold

I never understand the discussion on these threads. What's the big deal here? Should both of you sit in the back miserably? I can't understand why people are SO insistent on sitting next to each other on flights. As you can see from my profile, I am a CO Plat, so I get my fair share of upgrades. While I get companion upgrades occasionally, they don't always come through, so what my wife and I generally do is take turns on the upgrade. Again, we see enough of each other, we don't need to sit next to each other on the flight. We also consider where we're going and why. If I have to work in the morning and its a red-eye that she's accompanying me on, I take the seat.

On a side note, someone suggested that you use miles to upgrade the significant other . . . since the OP was CO PLAT, i am guessing this happend on CO, where a transcon upgrade using miles is pretty much a long-shot to a zero chance.

Pinky

I am actually friends with both of them although my opinion has pissed him off... Yes, I think he should have given her the F seat or sat with her, not because she's female but because he gets to fly in F all the time and she doesn't get to experience it and because it would be a nice effort on his part to show how he feels about her. However, my opinion and my saying that FT members would agree with me has gotten me into a lot of trouble. If they don't both get upgraded on the way back and she has to sit in back again, I recommended she print out these posts and show him how wrong he is...

Incidentally, on a recent flight from EWR to SFO in F on CO, a FA was berating a gentleman for having his wife sit with the kids in the back. He kept maintaining that she didn't want to sit in F. The FA wouldn't let him have his sundae and brought it to his wife. Then she said I'll go ask her if she wants to come sit up front and have a break from the kids in a more comfortable seat. Apparently she did because she did switch seats - and everyone applauded. So apparently no meant yes - or he was not being too honest...

FlyingUnderTheRadar

Only once I have sat in FC and the Mrs in coach. I had flown from SAV->SLC and was meeting her at the airport so we could immediately fly to Costa Rica (vacation) on a red eye. As it was a red eye and we were sleeping it was okay.

Last year I gave up very valuable miles because we could only get one FC ticket - we used them for 2 coach tickets instead.

One other time I got an upgrade and paid $100 for my wife to sit with me. Way too much money but her dad had just died so it was worth it. On the second leg I gave my FC seat to my sister in law and sat in the very back with my nieces.

But that is me - if the arrangements work for them what do I care.

violist

David, what you need is a 1K girlfriend - that way you
can clear together. I'd have guessed that here was a pretty
good place to shop for same.

Jaimito Cartero

Unless the FA and the customer knew each other, and had a good relationship, this type of action should get the FA in hot water.

redbeard911

I'd give my wife the upgrade, but she doesn't really care. As long as she has her book, she's happy. We're in at least E+, and she's petite. I wouldn't ride in a different class (saving the upgrade fro when I'm alone) unless I really needed to get some work done.

FWIW, I'm 6'3", 240#.

drat19

OK, current real-world example here, and why I have the best wife in the world (also, as a sidebar, addresses the age-old seat swapping with strangers discussion):

We're flying to NYC next week, but we're originating from different cities (I'm flying in from MSP from work, she's coming up from home in GPT). We're both returning on the same 2 flights (connect in MEM) back to GPT. So, we're on different itins. My Plat UG % on NWA this year has been well over 90%, so I'm pretty confident I'll be getting upgraded. My wife has no status.

I've selected our seats on the 2 return segments so that we're next to each other in aisle and middle seats on both segments. I've made sure that *I* have the middle seats. Objective: Presuming I get the UG and she doesn't, we forfeit my middle seat. Then, I give my wife the UG, and I slide over to her aisle seat, both flights. (Of course if I miss my UG we're still sitting together.)

My wife has indicated that if this happens on both segments, she'll take me up on the UG for the longer LGA-MEM segment, but says she'll let me have the UG no problem on the short MEM-GPT. She says that's only fair. I love my wife. Oh, and we wouldn't even CONSIDER declining at least one UG...it's more important for at least one of us to have comfort in FC, and we can survive sitting apart for a few hours (hell, we survive being apart every week when I leave town for work!).

The side benefit is that thru this judicious planning, I don't have to ask any strangers to switch seats for us to sit together. (Of course this goes right out the window if there's an aircraft change or other irreg ops, but what can ya do in that case.)

Oh, and one more thing: If I do catch the UG and she doesn't, I still do plan to ask the GA at each flight if she can also score a companion UG even though we're on separate itins, since I'm NWA WP Plat. I've had better than 50% success with this request in the past, depending on availability that day.