Proudelitist

Someone can ask me for a swap. I may even say yes...if I get equal or better and you have the BP to prove it. But if your butt is in my seat before I get there, the answer is no.

There is no 5 second rule on seat poaching. I don't want to feel your body heat in my seat, and the PIA you have created for me by squatting there is already too much.

Separated from your companions? Not my problem.
Separated from your kids? Not my problem..let the crew sort it.
Separated from a spouse? Not my problem, you are grown up.
Claustrophobic? Some other kind of phobic? Not my problem. Pull yourself together or don't fly.
Reseated by IRROPS? Sorry to hear it, but count yourself lucky to be on the plane at all. Don't make your bad luck into mine.


You should have booked seats in advance. You should realize that I did, and paid more to do so. And spare me the lines about common courtesy. Common courtesy is taking what you are given and not imposing upon others.

It's a competition out there for the most comfy ride. A competition for the best fares, a competition to select the best seats as soon as possible, and a competition to keep checking to make sure you keep them right up until boarding. All the tricks, all the research, all the experience...and I won. You lost. That seat is mine to give away, not yours to take.

rickg523

Nobody should ever just plop down in someone else's seat for any reason. And nobody should certainly expect that person to accommodate them. Here we totally agree.
Not sure about this paragraph though. That's a pretty limited way to approach travel - as some sort of bleak Darwinian exercise, never giving quarter in an endless attempt to climb out of the muck into the sunshine.

AggieTexan

We've had a seating issue on our last two trips due to an equipment change. We always book aisle seats across from each other in E+. In both cases, when the aircraft change was made they reassigned us to an aisle and a middle. On one flight I didn't discover the problem until a couple days before the flight and I had to move the middle seat to the last available aisle which was several rows back. The gate agent at IAH tried to assist, but the flight was full and there wasn't anyone willing to move. To their credit, we received a very unexpected refund from United for the cost of our E+ seats.

It happened again just a couple months later. Luckily I happened to catch the reassignment sooner and switched our seats back to aisles across from each other.

On the second trip, the person who had the window in our row was insistent that my husband needed to swap with him. He kept pestering me to do it now. I waited until the door was closed and I knew the middle seat was vacant, then let him have his way. We got the better end of that deal, but it was annoying the way he kept telling me my husband needed to move!

RandomBaritone

That paragraph you quoted probably sums up his world view!

In general I agree that one should never, ever take something one isn't entitled to. But a little kindness goes a long way, whatever the situation.

StringerBellBivDeVoe

Absolutely they should ask first! But if they don't, I wouldn't go into insta-hostile mode either. Maybe their rationale was to do it before people got settled in or something - it may not be right, but it at least makes some sort of sense. But don't get hostile - at the end of it, you have the boarding pass for the seat so if you don't want to swap, you'll still get your seat eventually.

Would I downgrade from F to Y? I never have, and the only time I think I'd do it would be for someone who clearly NEEDS it more than me - although I struggle to think of an exact situation that would fit that.

Would I move my aisle or window seat in E+ to a middle so that a young child could sit by their parent? Yes, and I've done it 100% of the time when asked, and have even done it into a middle seat proactively once when I saw a nervous child sitting next to me (I'm a big, somewhat scary looking guy) and the mother looking over to check on the kid, obviously afraid to impose.

The people that are obviously trying to take advantage of you? Nope. The lady who wanted me to swap my window seat for her middle seat in the row behind me so she could sit next to her adult daughter? Nope.

The steadfastness about what people think is "theirs" and/or expecting people to grovel/beg for something like this astounds me. We're all on the same team, folks - if you want a better world, start being a part of it.

AAExPlat

THAT NEVER HAPPENED. I REPEAT. NEVER HAPPENED. That was a JOKE I cracked in the OP. We boarded the airplane because UA REFUSED to help.

And we did, but UA refused to help.

That is NEVER what happens in a situation like that. Every time I have been displaced, I have been unable to get my original seat back. And that is prett much SOP.

That is indeed not cool.

EXCEPT that never happened.

Agreed.

We did. And as a 1k (as is my wife) we did "pay for the seat" the same way someone else did. And the "take what you are given" line is all good until you tavel with someone who can't take care of themselves and need you to do that for them...when that split happens, it simply no longer works. Never mind it wasn't my idea to split up a 5 year old from their parent. That was UA's stroke of genius. And you think it is fun to be told to deal with it and have to ask people for seat swaps? You don't think that adds stress to traveling?

MrTemporal

If I have time I stop at an Italian deli near me and get one of their sandwiches: imported prosciutto, mortadella, sharp provolone cheese, roasted red peppers, pepperoncini and a bit of Italian dressing on a good solid bun.

My theory is that if I bought a half dozen or more , I could probably sell them to other passengers and offset a good part of my ticket cost.

televisor

Lol no. If the airline won't budge, people aren't going to take a different flight. If you don't want to sit next to the child, feel free to take a different flight yourself, otherwise you'll have a child by themselves next to you (which is what the airline forced on you after all - hence it's clearly reasonable to fly like that). Of course there's no need to switch seats, but your choice is child beside you, or switch seats (no threats or extortion needed, that's the plain reality).

PTravel

I see where you've clarified that after my posts. Fine. For what it's worth, this actually has happened to me twice. Twice isn't much in a long career of frequent flying, but the fact remains that it does happen and has happened to me. And, also for what it's worth, in each instance the parent was given the choice of taking their assigned seat seat or leaving the aircraft. In one instance, the FA had to back up the "choice" with a threat to have security remove the parent forcibly.

You're free to ask and if, in fact, it was a like-for-like swap, I'd probably agree without fuss. In the two instances I mentioned, my seat was in E+ and the parent was back in E AND in a middle seat.

So, yes, if it's like-for-like (and in my opinion, not yours) and you ask nicely, no problem. Poach my seat and the answer is an automatic "no."

Sometimes you bite the bear, sometimes the bear bites you. Customer service on UA has deteriorated dramatically over the years and the de facto response is, "no help from us," more often than not. I've found that offering viable alternatives to GAs usually makes a difference, i.e. "I understand there was an equipment change and there are no adjacent seats left. I do see that there's another flight leaving in an hour -- how does that one look?" The reason I suggest this is because that is exactly what I would do when I was in my "window or nothing" period. And, yes, there were rare occasions when the airline could provide no reasonable alternative and I was forced to purchase a ticket on another airline to assure my window. WN was my solution of last resort as I could usually get a business select ticket which, while costing a little more, guaranteed me early boarding an access to window seats.


Sure, I can't get back my original seat, either. However, I've almost always been able to secure a reasonable substitute seat.

As I said, it's happened to me, personally, twice and I've witnessed it happen to others.


Of course it adds to the stress of traveling, but your argument remains with the airline, rather than adding to the stress of strangers who have nothing to do with either your decision to fly with your child or UA's decision to split you up. This is what I've been trying to explain: air travel is stressful and we all try to minimize the stress on ourselves when fly. When I fly I do what is necessary to make the experience as painless as possible. I take responsibility for myself and, if my plans and preparations prove inadequate, I resolve the problem myself with involving strangers who have their own concerns.

goalie

This is a thread about set poaching but it has morphed into a discussion about seat swapping etiquette, traveling with/without children, children separated from their parents and/or unnecessary bickering amongst each other as is now closed pending moderator review

goalie
UA Forum Co-Moderator