flavorflav

Let me give your analogy another try. On a short Q400 flight, everyone is getting plain hot dogs - it doesn't matter if you paid the steak price or the hot dog price. F cabin passengers are still getting a hot dog, just maybe a jumbo hot dog with mustard. I understand there's a principle involved - you paid steak prices, so by G-d you should get a steak. But we've both been in F on Q400s on short hops and we both know that the "steak" is really "a Heineken, a banana and a package of almonds."

Saying it loudly doesn't make it true. You do not decide where you sit. The airline does. It's their airplane. You can decide whether or not you fly, but ultimately you're sitting where you are told to sit.

Following your restaurant analogy, you may own the food but you don't own the table and chairs. The restaurant does. You'll sit where the restaurant tells you to sit or you'll dine elsewhere. (Please set aside that restaurants that treated its patrons as shabbily as UA customarily does would go out of business in a month.)


I think we agree that it's up to the FA to seat passengers properly and not the responsibility of the passenger. A better FA would have ensured that the poacher was seated in her assigned Y seat and that the OP was properly seated in his assigned F seat. But discretion is sometimes the better part of valor, and in this case the OP chose to not press the matter.

LilAbner

"Discretion and Valor" would also apply to dropping the matter once and for all after he did the gentlemanly deed, thus dispensing with the need to share his story with people on here that are prone to take sides and argue about anything involving manly-hood, karma, and standing up for their God-given rights.

Wanna swap seats --- GO AHEAD!
Wanna sit where you are assigned --- pursue the matter, correctly!
Wanna worry about the aircraft pushing back "on time", become a pilot, baggage handler, or g/a!
Wanna let someone else sharper than you sit in your RPUed seat --- GO AHEAD!!!

kvs25

as an Indian, sorry.

elg26

And if you did the same thing on EWR-HKG, the FT community would have you committed

Just like in the classic Seinfeld episode with Elaine

jon0

OP Here. I would never have paid outright for an F seat on a Q400, nor would I have wasted an RPU on one. I am also likely to pass on a $10 TOD upgrade on a Q400 if offered. I'm just that cheap.

Here's what I imagine might happen:

Initial polite asking by FA: 2 minutes, no effect.
Escalation to captain: 1 minute wait, 2 minutes of prodding, no effect. (And oh, the captain gets to delay running his checklists to deal with this too)
Getting ground staff to come help: 5 minutes wait.
Fetching the aisle chair: 5 minutes.
Forcibly deplaning or relocating passenger: 3 minutes
Documenting the incident for the company: 10 minutes
Getting that DYKWIA feeling: priceless.

Flight was already delayed 20 minutes when we started boarding, we loaded and left pretty much immediately.

Just because I don't really care for something doesn't mean it has no value to me, however marginal. If a dollar bill flies out the window while I'm driving down the highway, I'm not going to stop to pick it up because I don't really care for it given the circumstances surrounding what I must do get get it back. However, if I drop a dollar while walking down the road, you bet I'd bend down to pick it up.

Also, sitting up front for the tight connection wasn't too important, since I had gate check I needed to wait for, and also because you could simply say "Excuse me, I have a tight connection" and walk to the front of the plane before the door even opens.

Yes, this was the starting leg of a TCON itinerary.

emcampbe

I think it was enough for the OP several pages ago. Don't see why there should be a vote - the OP never even asked if people thought what they did was right or wrong. They simply asked how a person who [presumably] was assisted in priority boarding could be seated in their seat, and in the incorrect cabin no less. They never asked if anyone thought it was wrong of them to take the action they did. The responders in this thread (granted, myself included in my initial response, but after noting that point first), took it upon themselves to provide their opinions, some even attacking the OP for dropping the claim to the seat.

Parikh1234

I would have sent that woman back to coach with her metal brace.

CO_Nonrev_elite

I love how if you even look at a flight attendant wrong you'll be removed from the flight, but if you just walk up and take an F seat and refuse to move... you'll be fine

jon0

OP here. I never asked people if what I did was right or wrong because, honestly, I never thought it was an issue. I never concerned myself with any possible moral ambiguities because, at the time, my decision was (obviously!) morally right, situationally expedient, and kind.

10 pages of responses have shown me that people do think differently than I do, and places vastly different moral judgements on even the simple act of giving up a premium seat to someone who took it without asking first.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in finding out what frequent flyers think about this situation, correlated by ethnic, religious, and economic background, and frequency of travel, etc. But that's what makes me an information geek...

Loren Pechtel

Nah, they would just have sent her to her assigned seat.

Deboarding her and cancelling the ticket would be the right thing--make poaching carry consequences.

Yeah, that would be my inclination.

There are times an upgrade is reasonable. The last flight we took my wife was using the aisle chair. I noticed that somehow we had ended up assigned one row apart rather than next to each other and I talked to the GA to see if it could be fixed. It was--by moving us up to E+. The extra space definitely made it easier on her. Nobody got bumped, though--that would be going too far.

Briskly is probably a sign of scamming but some passengers can walk but the security line could be too much for them. There was a period of time where my MIL would have been in that category if faced with modern lines.

kettle1

Bottom line. Send the poacher back to Y. End of story.
FA: Please take your proper seat Mr. "Smith". FA: Poacher get your ... back to Y and take you assigned seat. FA: Can I get you something to drink, Mr. "Smith". Yes I'll have a G&T. Be right back with your pre-flt drink Mr. "Smith". Enjoy your travel on the "New UA" which I am proud to work for. After we reach a safe altitude, what would like me to do? Perhaps another drink, snacks or just a smile. I can provide all three on the new UA.

Mr. Smith is a happy camper and will stick with UA. THAT IS HOW IT IS HANDLED. At least it was until about 3 years ago on UA and still is on DL and AA.

jaseuk

Disabled or not - I would have forced her to move. I can't believe you capitulated in this way.! Outrageous! ,

Live4Upgrade

I have simple policy. No way do I ever exchange for a seat that is worse that what my boarding pass says. Equal seat or better seat -- no issue. Worse seat -- no way unless the GA can produce a new boarding pass with my new seat and if class of service difference, with compensation.

UA can find someone else who hasn't flown 2+ Million miles to change their seat.

Silver Fox

Did she manage to make it out of her seat unaided or did she have to wait for a crane?

jjmoore

I have 0 empathy for this "disabled" passenger. She knew exactly what she was doing, and I would have absolutely demanded that she get up and move, or have assistance come back on board and move her to her originally assigned seat. I would have looked like a total jerk, but that doesn't bother me, especially when someone pulls a stunt like this. Good thing it wasn't my seat.