mfirst

The other day - my 80 year/old mother - who is visually impaired and not very big (but quite used to traveling by herself - and while clearly 'entitled' to things like early boarding and wheelchairs, etc but opts to not take advantage of such things) was on a SFO-CLE flight
We bought her ticket - aisle seat in E+ (which she prefers - she even turns down F or us trying to get her upgraded)
She boards the flight - sits down and a middle aged male (I will withhold other descriptions for obvious reasons) comes up to her and asks to change seats with him so he can sit with his family - wife and teenage son who are in my mom's row....he even gives her some sad story about why they are traveling and how they need to sit together - which clearly my mom does not believe - but she feels a little pressured (maybe 'bullied' is the correct term these days) into changing seats. So she gets up - grabs her carry on (because thats all she travels with) and then goes to the other seat

apparently the other seat was 6 rows back - not E+
and was a middle seat with a "person of size" in the window seat who was "over-flowing" into her seat....

at least my mom has (had?) enough spunk in her to then go back to tell this guy who clearly was trying to scam her that the seat change was not acceptable.

To UA's credit - the FA who was seeing this evolve was able to intervene before things got ugly and found my mom a seat in a row towards the back where she could have the entire row to herself.

If UA didnt step up - I clearly would have fired off a nasty email to them about this nonsense about changing seats that seems to be getting worse?

HNLbasedFlyer

How is this UA’s fault?

Sykes

Not only is it not UA's fault, but it sounds like the Flight Attendant went above and beyond and swiftly handled it in a way that made everyone happy.

Jaimito Cartero

It is always funny how there is a whole vacant row in the back, but the family who wants to sit together won’t move to those seats.

Your mom should have asked for the E+ seat fee, at least.

mfirst

Not implying at all that it is UA's fault - sorry if it came across that way - but I did comment "To UA's credit" in how they helped resolve the issue - or potential issue
but rather speaks, to the contrary, of the difficulties UA/FA/etc face when dealing passengers who see their world differently with regards to their own expectations


having given up my seat on multiple occasions for various reasons....this is a topic that we have discussed when "we" are the ones asked to move but -

It would be interesting to see the response from all the GS/MM'ers/1k's here if their own 80 year/old mother found herself in a similar circumstance - especially if she didnt speak up and/or no one intervened.

Hilmar Lehnert

Something is a bit odd here: was there actually family sitting in E+ or did the guy just lie? Typically UA takes a very dim view of people sitting in E+ that have only an E ticket. It's certainly nice to find your mom and empty row but I'm surprised they didn't kick the seat poacher back to E.

Collierkr

Just say no. I once told an asker that my seat was worth $213. That is what I paid to sit in it for that flight. They disappeared and surrounding pax giggled.

HNLbasedFlyer

My 80 something parents do all sorts of things I’d prefer they don’t. Other than me telling them after the fact “don’t do that” I’m not sure what can be done if not supervised by me.

A Little Cow

I find no issues with asking for seat changes as long as it is like for like (aisle for aisle, E+ or E+) or better (Eco -> First is fine with me :P). I've frequently been in the position of last minute plane changes scrambling seats resulting in my partner and I in non-adjacent seats. I never ask about a seat change unless I have something of equal or better value.

angetenar

UA has a new dynamic seat map thing that guarantees that children will be seated with at least one parent, which will put them in E+ if there are no regular E options that fit.

Lux Flyer

No it won’t. It will put them in preferred zone seats, not E+. If someone is being assigned there without paying its either due to status, B booking code, or human intervention.

if you have actual proof of that occurring by the seat map, I’m sure UA would take a report under their bug bounty program because their family seating policy very clearly excluded E+

WineCountryUA

Sounds like she handled the situation quite well.

This may create a new class of seat swap requests. UA tries to address a problem and we get this.

Boraxo

What kind of (self-censored) takes advantage of an old lady? This makes me furious. Grrr!

So now I have to train my octogenarian parents and in-laws to check BPs or ask for a cash "reseating fee"? Actually that won't be necessary because my mom and MIL would say "no" faster than a NY minute.

However I do like the "upgrade fee" response I'm gonna try that next time myself.

TravellingChris

Yes it's difficult to say no sometimes and I do feel guilty for turning someone down when they ask to swap. But I always remember that they had the chance to select their preferred seat by paying a fee in advance, chose not to and are now trying to get a better seat for nothing.

JimInOhio

I'm surprised the FA didn't move that whole family to the empty E- row.