It would never occur to me to be bothered by someone's mode of dress.

While working as an intern, I had to give a presentation in another state, and a full-time employee came with me. When we were returning back home, an older gentleman must have known we were together and offered to trade seats to sit together. I respectfully declined the offer because I had spent the last several hours talking to my coworker :D.

^

here is the question... say you were assigned an aisle seat and when you arrived you saw someone in it already and their seat was the middle one which you don't want. So, you call the FA to sort it out and the original pax gives her some BS about requiring the aisle due to flying "sickness" or whatever and the FA insists that you have take the middle.... do you have any recourse or is it just tough luck? Can you complain later and get re-imbursed in any way for your inconvenience?

There is no "sickness" that manifests itself in a middle seat but not an aisle seat. (I think the medical term for it is...."I booked my ticket too late for an aisle seat, but I really want one anyway, so I'm going to make up a bunch of BS")

If they were in MY assigned aisle seat, I would politely ask them to move over...LESS politely each ADDITIONAL time I had to ask them.

(And as far as compensation for "seat inconvenience," see post #289)

I would refuse to take the middle seat and ask for the purser and then the captain, in that order. If all required me to take the middle seat, on a short-haul, I'd take the seat but also take names and write a letter of complaint. On a long-haul, I'd grab my carry-on, demand to see the station manager and insist that either I be given my assigned seat, or my checked bags be removed and I be placed on another flight. AND I would take names and write a letter.

You will find that, usually, when you escalate to the purser (or Senior FA) or pilot, you will not be forced into accepting the lesser seat unless it involves a FAM.

No reason you can't claim the same BS "sickness".

I inevitably have seating problems on KLM/Delta when my partner and I travel with a lap infant. Despite our booking seats together well in advance, the airline inevitably reassigns me to row 29, aka the baby row, against my expressed desires. This means that the gate agents in Amsterdam have to reshuffle seats around to get us together to share the joy of an lap baby on a transatlantic flight. It's a hassle for the agents, for us, and for the other reshuffled passengers that could be avoided if the airline would leave well enough alone. Twice now the airline automatically assigned too many people to those seats, adding to the confusion.

Exactly !!

Just tell them "wow, there must be something in the air, because I have the exact same condition; and due to that, I'll need to sit in my pre-assigned aisle seat. Sorry!"

Hairy guy in a tank top? Body mutilators? Maybe such things don't bother you, but I want to put as much distance between these people and myself as I possibly can.

I'm sure these people look at me and see a pair of clean khakis or jeans and a starched shirt and think, "Ewwwww!" That's fine. my feelings aren't hurt.

I just sat next to him. My tank top guy was drunk and chatty.
I felt downright blessed on this flight. :(

Good question! But I am afraid there is no specific answer. I have been in exactly the situation you have described..was assigned aisle seat, some doofus is sitting in it, and he tried to get me to take his middle seat. I said no, he told me not to give him "back talk". I then got the FA..he gave her lip too and she asked me if, for the sake of the peace, if I would sit in the middle. I said no, and she went back and got him to move...I won that battle, but I have heard of situations in which the FA took the poacher's side for some reason or other..could be the FA doesn't feel like dealing with it, or they just want to push back and go because they are already behind. Other times they know the poacher..usually a family member or deadheading co-worker.

There IS some recourse, particularly if the seat poached is "Extra revenue"..such as Choice Seats on USAirways or Economy Plus on United..in such a case the person assigned the seat actually extra for it and has more grounds for legal action if denied what they paid for (and the poacher would be guilty of "Theft of Service" under law).

Even if NOT an extra-rev seat, the FA does not have the final say..you can ask to speak to the senior FA, the GA, or the pilot/first officer if you do not get satisfaction from the first FA. Be careful and tactful, without losing your temper..they are just as likely in this paranoid age to kick YOU off the aircraft as they are the poacher if you raise your voice.

If the poacher claims a medical need, claim one yourself. They get airsick? So do I! And I was assigned the seat. I picked it because of my airsick/weak bladder/diarrhea/psychological problem.

I would advise going and finding the FA yourself and being polite and casual with them, as opposed to hitting the call button and letting them find you instead. You have the advantage of first contact with the crew instead of the poacher, who is going to stay put to prevent you from taking your seat.

I quite agree. People shouldn't make so much of where they sit on the plane: they should just take their assigned seat without complaint.

Couldn't care less, as long as they:
1) Don't encroach into my space.
2) Don't smell.
3) Don't bug me (unless they have something interesting to say, on a day trip when I'm not trying to sleep.)

None of these seem to correlate with casual dress or body art.

Tied for the worst I've hit for #1 was some super-tall dude in a dress shirt.
The worst I've hit for #2 on a plane was some well-dressed older woman in a cloud of perfume and tobacco odor.
The worst I've hit for #3 was some woman in a suit who, back during the dot-com boom, tried to elicit from me my life story and then tried to recruit me for something that sounded like a techie version of Amway

The closest I've come to any with what you note was the other tie for #1 - my first trip outside North America back in 2000, I ended up on ORD-LHR next to a guy who sort of matched the "hairy guy with a tank top" (although I think it was a somewhat undersized-for-his-bulk T-shirt) - he bore a resemblence in build and appearance to Jesse Ventura, and the two of us did NOT fit well into the A/B seats of a 777 (I'm short and broad.) OTOH, he was very courteous about it and we made do, albeit with less sleep I'm sure than either of us would have liked... one of the few genuinely interesting seatmates I've had - going to visit buddies in Germany, and a good source of advice on my own travel plans.

@pinworm

thanks for that post, I had no idea that the matter could be escalated to the senior FA and also the pilot. I always thought the pilot is not accessible for this type of stuff. As you said in this day and age it's always scary to insist too much due to the fear that you may be accused of "interfering with the operations of a flight by not complying with a FA"