AugustusM

I had a pass poacher once. I had connecting flight back home through ORD which was a last-minute booking so I wasn't able to get an F seat on the final leg. I was already GS by then so I got on the plane and took a seat in E+. I refresh the app and lo and behold someone must have missed the flight as I had been upgraded seat to 4A. I grab my carry on and head up only to find someone in it.

I politely say, 'you're in my seat'. He claims it's his and whips out a boarding pass....with my name on it. I call the Purser over and she confirms it is the correct pass and person for that seat. I tell her to hold up and take out my NJ driver's license which obviously has my name and photo. She makes the guy hand over his (my) pass and sends him on his way back to steerage.

Turns out he grabbed it off the gate desk when the GA was trying to locate me. He claimed that he was me and probably figured I was a no show instead of having pre-boarded.

fumje

And they let him fly at all after that?? Feels like rather than sending him back, they should have sent him forward — to the jetbridge.

lincolnjkc

2A is "my seat" in F... except when it isn't. Most of my trips are 2A->2A outbound and 2A->2A return. On those occasions where someone else got to booking 2A before I did it takes a conscious effort to not slip into that seat on boarding. Usually I do one last glance at the BP before sliding into the row to confirm seat and more than once I've caught myself just in the nick of time (When I'm in 2F seem to be my closest calls)

There's a difference, IMO, between a poacher and inadvertent mistake -- premeditated seaticide vs. involuntary seat-slaughter, perhaps?

AugustusM

Yeah, it was just a walk of shame back to economy.

Live4Upgrade

The only time I'm EVER giving up my seat is either for my wife or to move from Y to J/F. Otherwise, no way, no how.

EmailKid

Kind of clever. Though still WRONG (next person on u/g list should get the seat )

Ya, there is that.

No consequences, maybe why people keep doing it

bluedemon211

I'm sure you know the facts far better than anyone. That said, it wouldn't surprise me if the GA upgraded you, printed the BP, and noted you had boarded. Instead of stopping the usual frenzy as they are trying to get the flight out on time and going on board, they might have simply said to the Pass holder, "would you mind walking this on the plane and giving it to the upgrader and you take his seat in Y". That's happened to me twice in the last couple of years.

AugustusM

That actually makes a lot of sense as to how it happened. If I recall correctly, it was a full flight, like most ORD-EWR flights were, so this seems to be very likely. I always wondered how he got away with taking my pass.

korea71

Well, it happened to me again on way home yesterday EWR to ORD. I boarded and took my seat in 3B next to a gentleman. Hi wife was in 2B and asked if we could swap so she could sit with her husband. I almost wanted to say no as this was my first flight after reading all the comments in this post. I said OK and as we switched, she was giving me a bit of an attitude. She had previously already loaded her carry on to the bin next to her husband so she was assuming that I was already going to do the swap with her. I paused for a second and almost said NO. I decided to let it go. Have a flight to DFW this week so we'll see how it goes. I thought I was pretty laid back about this sort of thing but it is starting to irritate me a little. I think I might try the not speaking English thing next time.

Kacee

Or just say, "no thanks."

But if the seat's the same, why does it even matter that wife had already placed her things in the row 3 overhead?

Also, if there's bad blood on either side, I'd rather be the person reclining into 2B than the person being reclined into in 3B.

korea71

It was mostly her entitled attitude and she was just giving me the courtesy of letting me know before she switched seats. If she didn't give me an attitude, I wouldn't have even given it a second thought.

ijgordon

Really? It sounds like she still asked before just sitting in your seat and telling you that you were swapping, even if you may have interpreted it differently.

abaheti

This I get if her attitude sucked. When I fly with my wife I try to keep the heavy bags near me if we are close but not together so I can get them down and have ready for her .Probably helps everyone as it is usually faster for me to grab a bag down than her, and if she's behind me a row or two I can just stash her bag in an empty row so it is there for her.

Maxwell Smart

Not sure I understand. Since you said you had already taken your seat 3B, how was she just "letting you know" before switching? Are you saying she had an attitude implying that the swap request wasn't actually a 'request' at all and she was in fact ordering you to swap?

JAXPax

This happened to me 4-5 years ago... Thought I would miss my flight, and they gave away my upgrade, but I made it running from connection. Got put in coach, fine, on the plane. I'm sitting in my exit row aisle seat (content because it's only a 90 minute flight) and a passenger boards at the end, walks up to me, and goes "You're in my seat, boy!" Thankfully I barely got through "Who are you calling..." before the gate agent was quickly standing behind her with my new boarding pass.

(I took my bag down and went up front... overheads full of course, F/A said he would put my bag in the closet and it disappeared from my sight... after we push back he hands me the receipt for a gate check tag, which did not make me happy. I had a projector in my bag which suffered damage - bag was a bit tight, but I didn't plan on checking it - and of course I got the whole "not responsible for electronics in checked bag" BS from the baggage service office....)