And that is how it should work.

The conversation goes:
"Excuse me, you're in my seat". If they don't move, there's no further discussion, no pleading, no excuses. The airline staff do their job from this point on and moves them to where they belong.

I've been to countries where I don't speak the language, and when I've made a mistake, well, I've caught on really quickly that I've stuffed up and have behaved appropriately. My errors have involved faux pas such as inadvertently joining the wrong end of a taxi queue, for example - honest mistake, but I've been met with howls of protest and really quickly understood that I need to go to the other end.

no chance of giving up that seat. there's potentially a several thousand dollar difference in fare at stake - it's not like you're talking about an aisle seat in economy. not budging unless flight staff confirms i will be compensated.

+1. Ask nicely first (Unless you happen to be a mom with more than one kid under 2 and are separated from them in another row or sitting across), whether I say yes or no, is my decision.

Totally. I gave up a CPU'd F seat a couple of months back to an ANCIENT woman that was boarded via wheelchair very late--they were struggling to get her down the aisle past the first couple of rows, and it was just a 1 hour flight, so I offered the FA my seat to figure it out and went to the back.

People are decent when they need to be, which is why it's more egregious when someone takes advantage of that basic inclination.

As others have suggested here, the problem with giving up the seat in this story is that it rewards the poacher for bad behavior and gives her an incentive to continue trying this stunt to get a FC seat for free. Offering to change seats with someone who has special needs is different, as is having the GA switch you to a different seat in the same cabin or the same type, but that isn't what happened here.

Unfortunately the OP capitulated and didn't even insist that the incident be documented. I predict that it will be hard to get any ex post compensation as the OP appears to have volunteered to give up the FC seat.

What if after agreeing to the swap to avoid a delay, the flight was delayed anyway so that OP lost the seat and still missed the connection? What if the fact of having a seat in the rear of the aircraft caused the OP to miss the connection? IMO the idea that being agreeable would enable OP to catch his/her flight was just speculation. I'm glad that part worked for the OP, but the result could have been otherwise, with a poached seat and a missed connection. The seat swap could even have caused a missed connection due to the additional time to deplane from the back versus FC.

Voluntarily? Coerced, perhaps. Let me know what flights you have a FC seat on, and I'll "voluntarily" take your seat.

On Asian carriers they look at each BP when you get on the plane and it would stand out quickly if someone pulled this. I know Asiana, SQ, and Silk are militant about sitting one intra-Asia A320 "F" seats.

Although this is not likely to happen often, it would seem that the FA should validate when people sit up front at the very least.

I don't think anyone have a doubt about the behavior of the poacher.

However, the poacher's bad action does not mean OP should respond in this way.

If I was the OP and I responded this way, I would have learned my lesson and move on.

Backing away from an issue is not necessarily the solution.

So you want US Attorney's Office to press charge?

tons of seat poachers on TK , its a game!

They even have special stickers for the empty CC seats.

It's been two days since the original incident. No word yet from UA.

Meanwhile, I've posted my story on FlyerTalk and has discovered, from the replies, that I am a horrible person for having given up something I didn't really care for in the first place to someone who claimed they needed it and presumed they could get it from me. Apparently I have done a huge disservice to the FT community by encouraging this sort of seat poaching behavior. Also, I have apparently wronged myself by being willing to give up something on an airplane, with no expectation of receiving anything in return, and also without obtaining the proper documentation from the airline of what I have given up.

(sarcasm mode off)

I'll post any updates as I get them.

'I would suggest you withhold any further info, make some popcorn, and enjoy the debate as to whether your horrible enabling behavior is worthy of a emotional comfort dog, with pre-Boarding before GS.

Your apology is not accepted since SHARES doesn't support that function

(Seriously, you did the right thing IMHO)

If you sleep well at night then you did the right thing. Always a good measuring stick for life's tough decisions.

I probably would have insisted the poacher be moved... there are unfortunately too many people out there who have figured out how to trade on the sympathies/fear of conflict many people have and since I don't have much of either I consider it a bit of a duty to thwart that behavior.

I'm also perfectly willing to give up an F seat if I see someone coming on who clearly needs it for whatever reason.


As for OP, while I certainly wish fewer people would play along with the manipulators, I don't think anyone should feel like they need to go out of their way to do so.

I just flew TK comfort IST-YYZ-IST. Both directions, the middle seat next to me was empty (I was on the aisle of the middle section). Most certainly no stickers - in fact, seats were provisioned with pillows, blankets, headphones, etc. just like all of the occupied seats. No attempted seat poaching, either.