So you'd rather miss a 6 hour flight (and potentially an overnight delay) rather than put up with an hour in Y? Whatever the rights or wrongs (and I agree the OP was wronged) that seems to me rather like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

In addition as the OP was upgraded if they missed their connection they may not have been in F for the transcon flight either.

Right. This is why I asked if the op would feel differently on paid F than an upgrade. As an F passenger I do t sweat losing upgrades on mis connects. I get re-accommodated into F.

As for delaying the flight, I can't imagine it taking longer than, what, 3 minutes MAX to move even the feeblist crazy lady from row 2 to row 18 on a Regional jet. 3 minutes so a crazy lady doesn't eat the steak off my plate is a very reasonable sacrifice. And if I remember the op correctly they left 20 mins late anyway. 20 mins. Sitting there at the gate staring at the hot dog in my hand while the crazy lady ate the steak I paid for?

Not ever.

Knowing UX crews I suspect 10+ minutes is a more reasonable estimate of the time taken to move the seat poacher, they're not known for being proactive. Even longer if she decides she needs assistance to be moved.

It's interesting that you'd rather have a misconnect (even with re-accomadation) than an hour in Y. Personally I'd rather spend 2-3 hours in a middle E- seat than an extra 2+ hours in an airport. I'd be angry about it, sure, but at the end of the day I'd rather get where I'm going than miss a connection to make a point.

Karma will be yours, OP!

It's just that I absolutely refuse to concede that my wanting to sit in the seat I paid for would result in a substantial delay.

But if it did, so be it.

I don't negotiate with seat kidnappers. :);)

Really? So if you don't care for it, why didn't you decline upgrade and just choose a seat in Y? Even with your tight connection, sitting at front of plane is not something you care for?

Enabling Behavior.
 

The poacher knew exactly what she was doing. Instead of apologizing or acting confused, she literally begged OP for the seat, telling us that she had done this many times before and been rewarded.

OP's actions will no doubt cause headaches for some future poaching victim because the poacher has been rewarded for her behavior, and is expecting a positive result from her scam.

The FAs were handling the situation and OP cut them off at the knees.
No good deed goes unpunished it seems.

When I read this, my first thought was "who in their right mind would pay F fare on a Q400 flight under an hour?" My second thought was "I have never seen anyone use the word "steak" when referring to the F cabin on a Q400.

Seriously, to use your analogy: On that flight you're never getting a steak. You may be paying steak prices on a paid F fare, but you definitely know ahead of time that you're getting a hot dog. (Meanwhile the people on that flight in Y paid hot dog prices but got only a bun.)



To paraphrase the peerless James Tolkan in "Top Gun," you don't own that seat. The shareholders do. The airline assigns you to a seat - it's called a "seat assignment," not a "seat lease" or a "seat deed of title." The airline or its designee may change that assignment for any reason or for no reason at all.

If the flight attendant decided reseating the poacher just wasn't worth the hassle and told the OP to go sit in Y, that is completely within his discretion. You might be entitled to compensation later, depending on the situation. And the employee might get in trouble later for possibly violating an internal policy. But in the moment you're on the aircraft, there is no reliable appellate process. Maybe the FA will get the GA, maybe not. Maybe the GA will get a supervisor, maybe not. Maybe the pilot will get involved, maybe not.

There's a lot of tough talk about "I would never let that happen." Maybe you would have pressured the FA more to deal with the situation, and that's fine. But never forget that the airline decides where you sit. Your only decision is whether you are going to fly in the seat assigned to you or stay home.


And this is why the OP is a mensch. Being a regional FA is a crummy, low-paying job. Should the FA have been so hands-off? Absolutely not. Did the OP do the FA a solid by defusing the confrontation and making the FA's life easier? You bet. So many flyers take up adversarial positions with every human at the airport - gate agents, flight attendants, bartenders, other passengers. In this instance, the OP saw fit to help out the FA and save him from dealing with a potential mess.

Ok, so why in the hell would I accept a bun when I paid for a hot dog!?

That's just crazy.

This is a bizarre argument. The airline doesn't decide where I sit. I do. I pay for a seat in my ticketed cabin. If some crazy lady decides to try to steal that from me, I say not just "no," but 'HELL NO.' Just like if a crazy lady tried to steal my meal at a restaurant. I really don't give a crap what the waiter says. Or the waterboy. Give me the meal I paid for and get this crazy lady out of my meal. NOW.

Oh hell no. If a crazy person demanded the meal I paid for at a restaurant, I don't give a rat's arse about how the waiter feels. He or she better give me my meal or I will see that they are fired. But in this case the waiter was trying to resolve the situation to the satisfaction of the patron who paid for the meal. So on this I totally agree with:

Bottom line: show the crew your boarding pass, stand back and let them resolve the situation. No need to get involved.

What's crazy, to borrow from a poster above, is cutting off your nose to spite your face. You need to learn about the dangers of thinking in sunk costs.

My grandfather gets a lot of people "fired." I'm sure they and their bosses have a good laugh about it after. :rolleyes:

Clearly OP was working with the woman to scam compensation from United ;)

Christian

I was that "poacher". Did you order your eggs scrambled? How was the flt in Y?

The FA's were bowing to me the entire flt on how well I pulled this off. I actually ordered my eggs sunny side up.

Thank you. I enjoyed every minute sitting in your assigned seat. Next time I will order an omelet or the steak and eggs. This of course after the Lox service comes gliding by. I hope you still made your connection. Hope to see you on future flts. Damn another shooting pain in my lower back. 2B next flt. Seat purchased 17C.

It will be interesting if we can ask Mod and vote for our options.

I think it is enough for the OP.

Bottom line. I did not "Poach" a seat from the OP, but NEVER EVER give up a seat in FC and move to Y. That poacher needs to sit in the assigned seat given to her. If it were me, I would have been in my assigned seat and have enjoyed the "grand service" of sitting in FC on the "new UA". :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Most people travelling in F on such flights, I suspect are doing so as part of a larger itinerary. Many international C customers start at smaller airports and need regional jets to connect to the main flight.

The OP said he used an RPU so I presume he did not use it just for this segment (which he says he doesn't care about sitting in F anyway) so maybe he was heading on a transcon or the like.