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“middle seat row hog”
I’m not sure what to call this behavior but I’ve seen more of this the last year or so than the last 35 I’ve been flying. So—I’m booked on a 777-200 with the funky seat chart ORD-EWR on a leg to DUB. I book an aft starboard window seat a month ago when there’s a nearly completely empty cabin. Yesterday, with the cabin still wide open, MSRH drops in next to me with an open aisle seat. I show this to my younger daughter who says “what-the....” and then she says “wait Dad—don’t let them force you to move....stand your ground!” I explained to her that the MSRH wants the whole row to him or herself. I’ve seen couples even split up taking two middle seats one in front of another hoping they too will get at very minimum, their own empty seat next to them—or if they have any politeness, they’ll slide over and leave the empty middle to share with their “row mates”. I did move to an open PE window seat a few hours later and I look to see that the row formerly occupied by MSRH has filled completely along with all rows in Y+. Small victory while I’m hoping to clear into many open Polaris seats. This begs the question...what kind of person is a MSRH? |
What kind of person?
A risk taker. If the flight is not full, few people will select the aisle or window if there are rows with empty middles. On the other hand, if the flight is full, someone will be assigned to every seat. The wild card is BE which will wind up assigning people to seats, typically starting with lousy ones, e.g. E- middle. |
Originally Posted by Often1
(Post 30785976)
What kind of person?
A risk taker. If the flight is not full, few people will select the aisle or window if there are rows with empty middles. On the other hand, if the flight is full, someone will be assigned to every seat. The wild card is BE which will wind up assigning people to seats, typically starting with lousy ones, e.g. E- middle. |
This strategy seems rarely, if ever, superior to taking the aisle seat and figuring an isolated middle will be the last to fill. Far too often you just end up in the middle of a full row.
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Originally Posted by tryathlete
(Post 30785979)
i guess a smart risk taker would choose an empty row instead of parking next to someone already in the window seat. Why pick a middle next to someone else in an empty plane? Also third party engines book some weird stuff sometimes. |
Originally Posted by fezzington
(Post 30786173)
Don't Non status fliers have fewer "free" seat choices available?
Also third party engines book some weird stuff sometimes. |
Impossible to know for sure without more details, but a few options would be...
* The only aisle seats left were Premium seats, and the person didn't want to pay for them * The seatmap wasn't showing correctly on the site they booked on (as you said, it was the "funky seat chart" 777-200) and they thought they were selecting a non-middle. * The seat was allocated by the travel agent who didn't care what seat they got * The seat was auto-allocated by a computer Or probably any one of a dozen other options. |
I don't quite understand this strategy. I've seen couples book a window and aisle in hopes that the middle seat will stay open. Worst case, if the middle seat does show up (and the couple wants to sit together), the middle seat person will always be willing to switch into a window or aisle.
If you are flying alone, why would you risk being stuck in the middle vs just picking a window and aisle. What are the chances the flight will be so empty you will have an empty row. And if it is empty that empty, just pick the empty row. If I was on a flight in a window/aisle, and someone sat next to me in the middle and I saw open window/aisle seats, I'd offer to the middle person to move away into one of the open window/aisle seats. Why would it be expected for me to move. I guess there are all kinds of people in the world. MSRH sounds like DYKWIA |
Not sure about UA, but on AA this sort of thing is extremely common because often aisle or window seats are not free for and people don’t want to pay. Even middle near front can cost $$. |
I never thought about the middle seat booking conundrum for google flight or Expedia or even UA for BE purchases. This makes a lot more sense than whomever booked this middle seat actually choosing it for some tactical reason. |
Originally Posted by tryathlete
(Post 30786680)
I never thought about the middle seat booking conundrum for google flight or Expedia or even UA for BE purchases. This makes a lot more sense than whomever booked this middle seat actually choosing it for some tactical reason. David |
Originally Posted by tryathlete
(Post 30786235)
Why on earth with 20-30 empty rows would someone plop themselves down in a middle seat next to me towards the rear of the Y+ cabin.
Why Choose That Seat?!! |
It's stuff like this why I stopped flying WN. Where, with no assigned seating, there's no doubt when someone pulls this kind of thing it's a deliberate strategy.
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The one time that I did not understand the choice of my fellow passengers was on a 772 in Business Class. Plane was empty when I chose my seat 6J. My wife took 6H. Passenger #3 got 7J. Then passengers #4 and #5 chose 6D and 6G. No other seats were taken. I kept checking and those seats 6D and 6G never emptied. On day of travel, those passengers in 6D and 6G were a grandmother and her granddaughter. Seat 6D was a horrible seat for the grandmother as she had a hard time getting out of her seat with seat 6C occupied.
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What did the MSRH look like? Was it a beautiful woman? Perhaps she was interested in getting to know you better. It was almost Valentines day after all.
Did she have a napkin in her hand? |
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