Seat Hog?
 

Last night flew on a redeye flight in a 737-800. The flight was fairly full with many pax, including myself, sitting three abreast. However I noticed a pax sleeping while occupying three seats. Asked a FA if this was acceptable seeing how other pax were cramped. She responded that she thought this was inconsiderate on the part of the pax, but was not prepared to awaken the pax so some else could share the three seats.

What are your thoughts about allowing a passenger to occupy three seats when others are crowded? Should the FA have reacted differently?

Head down the aisle to the lav.

Stop beside him.

Pee down his leg.

Loudly call out "It's raining!" to wake him.

or better yet, have the FA to wake him and say:

"The gentleman back there wants to buy you a drink."

Always best to let sleeping dogs lie.

People sometimes change seats as boarding completes, and I think it would be unreasonable to try to hold 3 seats at that point, on a packed plane. But if the pax was lying down asleep, this must have been after takeoff. If I'm on a redeye, and the plane takes off, and I'm lucky enough to have a row to myself, yeah, at that point I'll lie down to sleep.

How is it not acceptable, so long as the sleeping passenger was not denying another passenger their assigned seat? Luck of the draw (or careful planning) to end up with a row to yourself.

Anyway, only 3 additional passengers could benefit in the scenario you outlined. That would entail a middle seat passenger moving from a full row of three over to the aisle seat of slightly less empty row (assuming the sleeping passenger wants to keep the window). Not worth the FAs trouble if you ask me. If you wanted the seat you should have asked for it before the other passenger fell asleep.

+1

Agreed! Plus, some airlines will try to give their best customers a row to themselves if they're on a particularly long flight and availability permits.

Lucky guy!

if no one thought to ask before boarding "are there any rows I can move to with an open middle seat" and had it assigned to them... then I say the guy can do whatever he wants.

Unfortunately (and YES it would irritate the heck out of me) first come, first serve. Too bad for the other pax. Myself included - I've been in similar situations.

I dont' see anything wrong with this. That guy was just lucky to have no paxs next to him at all. That's all.

Drooling, twitching, and talking to yourself in a loud voice pretty much guarantees the empty 2 seats :D

Some years ago I was travelling on a 80% full flight from MEL-LAX in coach. As an elite I used First Class check-in.

I was asked if I would like to have a row to myself. The 747 was 3x4x3 in coach and the Agent advised they could block a window and a middle seat then allocate me the aisle in a row of 3.

She said this would be easier to for me to "defend" than "a row of four".

So, to the OP, you do not know the circumstances of this guys travel, perhaps he was a "disrupt" and had been accommodated with blocked seats - or simply an Elite being looked after.

Prime example of a situation where if the OP had such an opportunity nothing would be wrong, but since it's not the OP it's not fair.

If I got a whole row to myself would I tap the person infront of me and let that person know? probably not. As others have said it's the luck of the draw. Sometimes I get an open middle, sometimes I get packed in. It's all fair in the long run. To guarantee yourself space you'd want to buy the seats or pay for a higher class.

I remember many years ago as a freshman writing a paper about Kantian vs utilitarian systems of ethics and this seems like a perfect example.

Kantian analysis (categorical imperative; "do unto others") would suggest that the guy should not hog a whole row. Utilitarian analysis (maximize benefit) would likely yield the opposite (1 vs 0 relatively comfortable people).

just want to add my thoughts....


I think middle seats(in coach and business) should be banned.

Agree. One of my sons was recently involved in a serious auto accident overseas. I called the airline to ask about an early return. The CSR was great. I explained the circumstances and the extent of his injuries and she said " I will do my best to find 3 empty seats for him." I have to say that the other pax and FA's were very understanding and no-one begrudged his seating arrangement.

I say it depends on intent. If the pax wasn't trying to be a hog, then it's OK. If no one sits there during boarding, then why not take advantage of the space? I think if the rest of the flight was completely full then you might be justified in saying "excuse me, could I switch from my middle seat to one of these".

I don't mind sharing space, but I also think I should be able to take advantage of the situation if a row I'm sitting in happens to be empty.

I once had a chair with extra legroom, but because a family wanted to sit together I was asked to change seats. I explained I wanted to have the extra legroom and that's why I checked in as early as possble, so I had no problem changing seats, only wanted extra legroom.

Unfortunately there was no seat with extra legroom available at that time, but I was offered a complete row of four - as far as I could see there were not many free seats, but there was one free row for me.

Later on the flight other pax wanted to sit in my row, but the FA clearly told them that it was for me only...

Quite a few times I snagged a row of 3 seats on a 757 all to myself on SFO/SJC/LAX-JFK/BOS redeyes, usually when every other seat was occupied. For me, the 3 seats were more comfortable than AA's 757 F seat, so I'd downgrade (relinquish my upgrade) when I could get the entire row. Usually one of the last rows, the last of which was (and still is) informally held as FA rest seats unless needed for passengers.

Back then, AA would block the adjacent seat for elites, so all I had to do was ask the Admiral's Club agents to block the window, which they gladly did. That seat block could have been lifted by the gate agents, but most of the time it held.

As a top tier elite, I could board immediately after First Class, and within a minute I was reclined, defending the row against seat poachers until the seat belt sign came on and the door closed. At that point, the FAs are telling everyone to be seated for pushback and nobody could switch seats. As soon as we were wheels up, I'd be reclined again, belted in with the middle seat belt. 4.5 hours later, I'd wake up when the FAs told me to sit up for landing.

On lightly loaded international flights, this is routine. Passengers will stake out empty rows of 5 seats (more than enough room to stretch out). I've done it on lightly loaded JAL 747s between NRT and SIN on the 4 seat middle section but learned early on that you don't do it without asking the FAs if it's ok with them. Never been refused.

Inconsiderate? Perhaps. But frequent flyer status comes with perks, the exercise of which might look inconsiderate to the non-elites. The airline was always more than happy to help me carry out the plan by blocking the middle and window seats.

I was on a UA A319 once from LAX to IAD (Saturday night redeye). Not many elites on the flight, so E+ was empty (maybe 5 of us in there). Coach was pretty full (a few open middles, but no one person-to-three seats ratio). Made for a nice flight up front (I could lie down on the row of three) but not so much for the folks in back. Still...was a nice thing to have given my FF status.

An Eye Opener
 

Was unaware that one could be qualified to do psychoanalysis over the internet.

some airlines have empty seats closer to the back of the plane, everytime I travel internationally people always seem to want to sit nearer to the front when they fly but me i am happy to be sitting in the back hopefully having more than one seat so i can put my feet up some of the journey....

If i saw someone do that i would say well done as we are all the same with wanting something more for less, but nothign is guaranteed so if you want to guarantee more space then pay for it

I do this all the time and see others, although I can't say I've seen it on a crowded flight like that. But I would have been highly pissed if someone woke me up. It is a first come, first serve type thing, especially when people probably sat there looking at the empty seats and didn't bother to jump in them before take off.

Agreed. If no one moved to the empty window or aisle seat before takeoff, shame on them. Once the boarding door closes and the FAs indicate everyone's on board, if I see a better seat available in the same class of service, I'm taking it.

To those who say it's not rude or wrong (not that I'm saying it is): What if the person was using the other seats for storage, say sitting in the window seat and putting clothing, books, etc. in the other two seats?

In NYC they arrest people for using two seats in the subway, or at least occupy more than one seat after being told not to (a relative of mine has seen it happen).

Perhaps they were respectful and waited until the door closed (isn't it rude to take someone else's seat before the door closes)? Then once the door closed they could not legally get up until the aircraft reached cruising altitude.

Huh ? It's not only rude to take someone else's seat, it simply is not allowed. Taking an unassigned seat though is usually OK, and the door closes before the plane starts to move; ample time to switch. For the clued-in, anyway.

That nobody did and the guy ended up with the entire row is their fault, not his. Inconsiderate ? Not in the least.

And do you really think the FA gave a damn one way or the other ? :rolleyes:

You only know that the seat is unassigned when the door closes. I guess there may be some time (seconds to minutes; I haven't really paid attention) between door closing an when it becomes illegal to stand.

One could ask the GA for a list of unassigned seats. :D

It may be their fault, but one could certainly say it's slightly inconsiderate of the guy. To put that in perspective: I say it could be called inconsiderate, but it's something I'd do myself. :)

Would it be inconsiderate to take two of the seats (three if none was originally assigned) if the guy goes to the lav?

No; I never said I did. No need to roll your eyes.

I've done a middle seat on a red eye. Of course, I had an eye mask, ear plugs and a travel pillow. It would have been hard for me to be upset at anyone with a full row. I was prepared so I slept the whole time.

AC once downgraded 5 (or 6) paid business to economy from HKG to Toronto. Each got an empty seat next to them. I got a row of 4 to myself. The FA's new of our situtation. One asked if I would give up one of my seats during the boarding process when I was still beyond pissed (note, I was continuing on from Toronto to south america). I growled and they knew the answer was NO! After about 8 hours curled up on 3 of the seats, a guy took over one of them. It didn't bother me so I didn't say anything.

As an aside to this thread, the compensation was the difference in price + about $400 US, nothing else, not even business class food. :mad: And the people in the AC forum thought I got compensated fairly. :confused: But that's another story.

This can be something of a game in economy long-hauls. In April I flew to Brussels -- shoulder season, mid-week, not particularly crowded according to the seat map. It was clear that some of the pax were regulars on that route, and they had figured out a routine for choosing assigned seats strategically so they could colonize center rows and stretch out overnight. I had hoped to do the same thing, but they had the moves and the timing. At least I had Ambien.:)

I have been extremely lucky with seats on all my recent flights. Non status, i'd say 15% of time I have been upgraded, 50% of the time i have a bulkhead/exit seat (usually at the part where the business aisle meets the economy cabin (15m of legroom :D ) 30% of the time i get 3 or more seats (the best was on a completely full Air NZ 747, 2nd row middle 4 seats all mine (every other seat as far as i could see was full), I had to go to the restroom and come back and someone has poached 2 of my seats. I sit down and then I get asked if I want to go to business. I could see her from my business class seat :D was priceless. (I have no idea why this happened, I did have a nice chat with the check in agent, maybe the FA thought “hmm he had 4 seats, he could be important” and thus helped me out when i lost them).

On the rare occasion I don’t get a nice seat :( But its very rare, even when I don’t plan ahead (ie waiting on standby), still end up with a bulkhead or exit row :D

: ) now if only I had such luck on the stockmarket.

I fly once or twice a year from Hawaii to the mainland, almost always on red-eyes. On my most recent trip, the FA moved a passenger up to my row from the row behind. The two remaining people behind me stayed seated next to each other on the window and middle seat. The person who moved to my row was eating loudly much of the time and kept her reading light on. This was the only time in over twenty five years that a FA moved a passenger to my emptier row. I was upset - I think it is the luck of the draw to have an empty row. Noting rude about protecting your space.

+2

The seats in the back couple of rows are generally the last assigned and least desirable. When I see someone that has managed to snag a whole row (while I sit crammed in a middle seat), I might be jealous that they were quicker, had more status, knew the agent, etc., but I certainly don't think they are rude for stretching out and taking advantage of it!

I have been given a middle and isle seat when downgraded once, it was nice but I wasn't given a BP for it. I worried because the flight out someone jumped up to our middle seat since it was an exit row.

Had it happened on this return full flight, how would I had defended my extra seat?

BTW once the stranger seat mate found out about my added benefit, he seemed happy, and I can share..

Why do I always find sand on the isle seats?

Totally agree ^

Oh geez..

LOL