climbermom

I haven't seen a recent thread about this. Wednesday morning, flying on the 6 am flight from MRY-LAX in a CRJ-200. 32 passengers in 50 seats. I am a gold elite (through my husband the MMer) and chose my 1B seat. Immediately before takeoff, the FA said she needed 3 volunteers from the first 3 rows (all full) to move back to rows 11-13 for weight balancing. No one immediately spoke up, and she said she would delay the takeoff and choose the passengers herself. I got up and moved, as well as a woman next to me and behind me. No men would move. We were not allowed to come back up front for the duration, but it's only a 44 minute flight.

Since UA controls the seating, why can't they preemptively block seats so that it's not the elites that end up sitting in the back of the plane?

jsl42

You volunteered yourself to move, so it’s not exactly United’s doing. Since the merger, row one of CRJs are Economy Plus. Last time I was on a lightly loded plane of that type that required people move back due to weight and balance and I was the only passenger booked in row 1, I made it clear to the FA that the woman who had poached a seat in the first row across from me would be the one relocating herself. That seems more straightforward than blocking seats in E+ and front rows until a sufficient number of passengers have booked as you’re suggesting. Also, wouldn’t blocking those seats as you suggest mean that Premiers would end up in the back of the plane anyway, a situation you’re trying to avoid?

Kmxu

Weight balancing on less-than-full CRJ200 happened very often. As Nancy Reagan said, just do it (move your butt).

prncess674

If moving back allows me to a have a seat and an empty seat next to me further back on an already small plane then I would have moved for comfort. The time it takes to deplane such a small aircraft is nominal and the flight time is short There are battles in life and this is not one I would fight.

767-322ETOPS

The few times I've seen this happen, those who moved were allowed to reclaim their original seat after takeoff.

StuckinITH

Since there's only one row that is Economy+, it's the passengers in rows 2 and 3 that need to move. I frequently sit in 1B and my wife in 1A. When they ask for 2 or 3 volunteers from the first three rows, we let the passengers in rows 2 and 3 volunteer.

gcashin

Row 1 on the CRJ-200 is Economy Plus; rows 2-3 are normal economy. What the FA should have done here IMO is to ask for 3 passengers from rows 2-3 to move, rather than displace economy plus passengers. Where they need to move pax from a zone due to w/b, they should be moving pax from normal economy seats first before asking E+ seats to move.

Regarding the suggestion on pre-emptively blocking, I don't think that would work well. There's a good chance the pax in the first few rows have had their seat assignments for days/weeks/perhaps months. Often they don't know if they'll have w/b issues until the flight closes and they have a final count of pax and bags.

JVPhoto

Often1

1. OP volunteered, so has no complaint in the first place.
2. OP may simply not understand weight & balance, which looks at not only the passenger and luggage weight distribution, but the weather conditions. Pretty much impossible to predict in advance.

The only thing which could be done would be to block the first 3-4 rows of the smaller aircraft until the day of travel and determine at that time whether it will be possible to balance the aircraft. A free-for-all at the gate on an aircraft which ought to take 10 minutes to complete boarding !

emcampbe

UA may call it E+. Let's get real - nothing on this aircraft should have a + after it.

Real E+ doesn't exist on a CRJ. And no - it's not necessarily the folks in row 2 and 3. The specific calculations are going to be based on specifics of the flight, including weather and load - if you want the plane to depart. DYKWIA is not going to help the plane get off if the folks in row 2 and 3 take the same stance as you.

Anyone in the affected area can move. Of all the E+ seats fleetwide, I'm not sure why anyone would ever proactively pay a fee for the bulkhead in a CRJ which effectively offers no advantage over another seat on the plane, except perhaps, being the first to be able to deplane.

Correct. Imagine if we could predict specific load and weather conditions for a specific flight time.

Because this wouldn't prompt an outcry on this forum. I can just see the threads (i.e. "Stuck on CRJ, can't select seats in rows 1 - 4").

jhayes_1780

Welcome to the world of every one of my trips beginning and ending on a CRJ-200.

BTW, I did have an interesting weight and balance issue on my last flight. FA comes on and says she needs 3 volunteers to move to the back: but the plane was booked 49/50 (and all seated). SO the 3 went back and the first lady got the open seat in the back. The FA then realized the issue and told the crew.

enviroian

I've had this happen to me a multitude of times on CR2's and ER4's however I thought the W&B issue (or even CG) would be a moot point once at cruise.

StuckinITH

Maybe it's not a real E+ but in 1B I don't get a seatback in my face and in addition I can put my legs straight in front of me. In other rows, my knees touch the seat in front.

And sitting there not saying anything is not what DYKWIA is.

CIT85

What does volunteering have to do with complaining? She was not happy about the process.

Yes, OP volunteered since no one else except another woman volunteered. If she didn't move, then the plane doesn't fly. It's the process of moving passengers that's in question.

emcampbe