Smile broadly and thank them, telling them there is no more room for any of your boogers under your current seat, and you're happy to have a new one.

Some interesting performances aren't widely advertised in advance. Depends on the ad/PR campaign and the visibility of the sponsoring organization, venue or performer.

Agreed, alas. It's doubly annoying when folks decide to move--even just a couple trading seats--only after the seat belt light is on, er, the curtain has gone up.

I attend classical music events including opera all over the place. My travel arrangements are usually made with shorter lead time than I apply to buying opera tickets at home, so like Till I end up with limited seating choices at the price level I have chosen. But there may be plenty of more desirable seats in the vicinity of my purchased seat. I wouldn't get up and move into a seat in a prime center section but moving from a side aisle section into one of many empty seats closer to the center seems harmless. It's the same show, after all. No extra services or privileges.

It seems that the unwritten rules of self-upgrading vary quite a lot. In some theaters the ushers guard empty seats ferociously; in others they will help people fill empty seats in better sections (though usually not before intermission). There seems to be a correlation with local attitudes towards following rules and standing in queues.

Sure, I will switch... My Y for your F.

Sorry, but that or being forced to do so by a GA or TA, is the only way I will move. As a matter of fact, it's happened once (Y for F - Sure!) and three times (Y for Y - No!). Now days, I don't even take off my headphones. I don't care about the litter of kids next to me, or your on your honeymoon and some how forgot to make sure you sat by each other, congrats BTW.

I don't care if your wife will "puke" :confused: ... I pretty much sleep anytime I am in a moving object I am not in control of, so keep talking to my headrest.. It's probably not going to move either.

Going to be hard to continue sleeping if she does spew all over you.

Just the things people say to try to get their way. LOL

Thanks for agreeing with me ;) Actually, whenever I'm at a classical concert lately, I'm performing in it, and I have an assigned seat. But I maintain I should be able to stand my ground and not allow someone to move into my seat at a poppish music concert. Since this was a show with four acts, a bunch of people arrived late, and even though they sat down during the intermissions, I found the act rude.

As for airline seats, my travelling companions and I get our seats rearranged by the check-in agent if need be, for instance when my mother and I had separate seats on Air France BCN-CDG and got ourselves seated together in the exit row.

One time on an AA flight, I found my aisle seat occupied by a guy who wanted to sit next to his girlfriend. He asked me to take his middle seat instead. Unfortunately the flight was about to leave so I didn't have time to get a FA to help me out. Plus, I would have looked like a jerk.

People wanting to sit together should either ask the gate agent or an FA for help, not just steal a seat and expect other people to suffer...

For future reference:

1. You would not look like a jerk. The guy was the jerk.

2. You would not have been the one to hold up the flight -- he would.

^^^ (What he said.)

Just had someone ask me to switch yesterday, my aisle for her window, so she could sit by her husband. I was a little puzzled why she didn't ask the guy sitting next to her to switch with her husband, as that would have been aisle for aisle. I politely said, "I'm sorry, but I don't do well by the window. " I hate the window and always book an aisle, and didn't feel bad at all for telling them that. They then asked the guy sitting next to the woman, and he said, "I paid for this seat and I reserved it months in advance. No!" They were pretty surprised, but that's true, it was that guy's seat and he shouldn't have to feel guilty for not moving. They ended up switching with the guy behind me, as he had an empty seat next to him, and the wife poached the empty seat. Of course someone showed up to take the seat, and the wife just kept repeating, "This is my husband!" until the person took the wife's window seat.

Declining a Seat Swap Request - Am I a terrible human being?
 

Last week I was flying AUS-ORD-DUB on a 777 and I was sitting in 17b (best E+ seat in the plane in my opinion.) My upgrade didn't go through but that was mostly because it was a last minute flight. The flight was packed and at the last minute a couple gets on right before the doors shut the gentleman sits next to me in 17a and his wife sits in 18d. As they are doing the safety video the gentleman explains that they just barely got on and they had been flying stand-by all day and "would I mind trading his wife for 18d."

I told him yes I would mind.

I explained that it was an 8 hour flight and I had a great seat and I didn't want to sit in the middle. I told him that if he and his wife really wanted to sit together he should ask 18e to trade as I am sure that person would jump at a chance for a bulkhead window seat.

He didn't, he just got up very huffy like and told his wife that I wouldn't and for the rest of the flight I got looks and the husband had an attitude and got up numerous times to talk with his wife.

Now I did feel a little guilty and I try to be accommodating on short hops, but I wanted to hear if anyone had a similar experience.

No. Moving from an aisle to a middle is not something you should feel compelled to do.

You did nothing wrong.

You have every right to sit where you did. Don't feel bad. I probably would have done the same.

But be honest, were you just a little bit peeved that your upgrade didn't clear and that you weren't in the best of moods to begin with when the guy asked you to move...?

Moving to the TravelBuzz! Forum, as this question is not specific to United.

Thanks,

FlyinHawaiian, Co-Moderator
United Mileage Plus Forum