How do you handle a seat change request? Do you ever feel like a jerk for saying no?
#152
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,656
Sent my daughter (18) alone on a TATL flight. Picked an aisle seat closer forward - had to hunt for it since ticket was bought close in. Turns out, "a couple asked her to swap" and she ended up in the middle seat elsewhere, too afraid to refuse. Hate "couples" like that. Too cheap to pay and too lazy to work for a good seat, but def. not above taking advantage of someone else. Had to vent, thank you all for listening.
#154
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Sent my daughter (18) alone on a TATL flight. Picked an aisle seat closer forward - had to hunt for it since ticket was bought close in. Turns out, "a couple asked her to swap" and she ended up in the middle seat elsewhere, too afraid to refuse. Hate "couples" like that. Too cheap to pay and too lazy to work for a good seat, but def. not above taking advantage of someone else. Had to vent, thank you all for listening.
David
#155
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Join Date: Sep 2003
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Huh? The daughter's 18 - an adult. Sounds like she willingly gave up the seat. What exactly is the complaint? "Don't let our adult daughter make decisions?" I would have told the daughter she should have kept the seat she had reserved and treat it as a learning experience that she didn't. But now, the recommendation is for the parent to complain to United about someone asking to change seats?
Last edited by IAH-OIL-TRASH; Jun 15, 2023 at 11:01 pm
#156
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Sent my daughter (18) alone on a TATL flight. Picked an aisle seat closer forward - had to hunt for it since ticket was bought close in. Turns out, "a couple asked her to swap" and she ended up in the middle seat elsewhere, too afraid to refuse. Hate "couples" like that. Too cheap to pay and too lazy to work for a good seat, but def. not above taking advantage of someone else. Had to vent, thank you all for listening.
#157
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,130
Huh? The daughter's 18 - an adult. Sounds like she willingly gave up the seat. What exactly is the complaint? "Don't let our adult daughter make decisions?" I would have told the daughter she should have kept the seat she had reserved and treat it as a learning experience that she didn't. But now, the recommendation is for the parent to complain to United about someone asking to change seats?
#158
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: KUSA
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Posts: 1,489
I got a $200 voucher from the flight attendant for switching seats on a jetBlue flight in Mint two weeks ago. Somebody’s suite door would only close halfway so they decided that warranted a meltdown. I honestly would have done it for $50 just to not have to listen to her anymore.
#159
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: New Jersey
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Sounds like a great learning experience. We want our children to make mistakes that don't involve injury, financial cost, or forever-online embarrassment. We give them conflicting messages, like "be nice & considerate" and at the same time "don't get taken advantage of" (particularly our daughters). Spending all those hours fuming in a middle seat transatlantic will do more than any parental lecture to better prepare her for the next time. Perhaps a response to a request to move, like "I'd be glad to, as long as it's another aisle seat forward of the row I'm in now." That way, you're not actually saying no. If they insist, then there's always the fallback, "my Dad/Mom told me not to swap my seat, sorry." Who's going to argue with that?
#160
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,656
I do think that no one should ask to change a middle seat for an aisle (unless, perhaps, they have some disability that makes middle seat untenable - and even then they should ask the airline for accommodation, not a random fellow passenger). "Couples" and anyone else that wants to sit together - should book those seats ahead of time and pay, if needed.
#161
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Perhaps a response to a request to move, like "I'd be glad to, as long as it's another aisle seat forward of the row I'm in now." That way, you're not actually saying no. If they insist, then there's always the fallback, "my Dad/Mom told me not to swap my seat, sorry." Who's going to argue with that?
#162
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 690
You should recognize that pre-planning isn't always possible. As an example, a few weeks from now I'm flying TATL with my daughter, who is a minor. I'm traveling on business for an event, and booked my seat in E+ a long while ago. My daughter's plans changed, and she's now flying with me to visit friends. There were only single seats available in E+ at the time of booking her ticket. While we are both in E+, and in adjacent rows, it would be nice to sit together.
#163
Join Date: Jun 2014
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You should recognize that pre-planning isn't always possible. As an example, a few weeks from now I'm flying TATL with my daughter, who is a minor. I'm traveling on business for an event, and booked my seat in E+ a long while ago. My daughter's plans changed, and she's now flying with me to visit friends. There were only single seats available in E+ at the time of booking her ticket. While we are both in E+, and in adjacent rows, it would be nice to sit together.
#165
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Seat change request - but opposite of usual.
Flying to TLV now. Husband and I are with our toddler twins. We chose Polaris middle seats in the odd rows, the ones where the seats are right next to each other. Husband with one kid, me with the other.
so we board and begin to settle in. Couple behind me asks if we will switch seats so they can be with one another.
I explained that I needed to be able to watch my child.
the male in the couple looks perturbed and says to his wife “this guy doesn’t want to help us.”
kind of reverse of what we often see, where families often ask others to move.
so we board and begin to settle in. Couple behind me asks if we will switch seats so they can be with one another.
I explained that I needed to be able to watch my child.
the male in the couple looks perturbed and says to his wife “this guy doesn’t want to help us.”
kind of reverse of what we often see, where families often ask others to move.