azfanboy

So I had a flight last week where I was in an exit row aisle seat. A rather large individual in a fur jacket with a pillow, blanket and a large handbag came to the middle seat and sat next to me with all those items. During the entire flight she and her belongings (the fur jacket and blanket) kept spilling over to my side. During atleast two distinct points during the flight, she knocked my hand off the armrest with enough force that it woke me up. During the flight she also told me that I do not own that shared armrest and I had only paid for one seat, not two. It was one of the worst flights I've had in my 5 years of flying United. I've sat in this exact same seat on all the flights I take (for the last 4 years, after I became 1K) and have never had a problem. Of course United is not at fault here for her behavior and I normally would've just moved on with life.

My primary reason for the complaint is that this passenger was a non-rev and I feel Untied is responsible for their employees or their friends and family's behavior when flying standby. Am I justified in complaining to United?

Silver Fox

Good luck. You have to sort stuff like that out in place and expecting United to do anything a week or so later is pie in the sky I'm afraid. They may toss you a few mileage crumbs but not sure that would compensate me for what sounds like a rather irritating experience. What would you hope for by complaining to them?

SAPriorityTag

I would hope for nonrev accountability!

LondonElite

Why did you not complain at the time??? What do you expect them to do now?

HNLbasedFlyer

Regardless if the person is non-rev or not, the time to address this was on the plane.

If you want to report the person - and the repercussions can be severe for that person - Is write something such as, I was on flight xxx on xx/xx from xxx-xxx. I was treated very rudely by the passenger in seat ##x whom I believe was a non-rev flyer. I believe it was a non-rev flyer as the passenger (Insert reason, such badge or whatever). This did not give me a favorable experience of United and I feel it should be addressed with the employee responsible.

A318neo

Time to complain is before departure. The individual has too many things to be sitting in an exit row. All belongings must be kept in the seat pocket, under the seat or overhead compartment during take off and landing. The aisle seat passenger should have rights to the armrest on the aisle and either sharing the other armrest or ceding it to the middle passenger. (My feeling is that the middle seat passenger is entitled to the entire armrest if they are very assertive but that sharing it is better behavior. If they are very obese, then they are entitled to 85% of the armrest but not the very back of the armrest that they cannot use because their back fat puts their shoulder position quite a bit forward of the seat).

If there is a need to complain, then consider if the non-rev is acting in a way that harms the image of United Airlines. If so, then there is grounds to complain though I probably wouldn't.

fumje

I differ from others in thinking this kind of issue may be better to address off the plane.


This seems like a good template for the complaint, stressing the motivation is accountability not compensation. I might say the person was 'using pass travel privileges' instead of 'non-rev flyer', which I understand to be more of FT jargon.

Bear96

I'm not doubting you but am curious how you know she was a nonrev?

Seems like it would be unusual for a nonrev to get an exit row seat as those are usually among the first to go to people who can select their seats in advance because they are so desirable.

azfanboy

It was an absolutely full flight. If I had complained before departure what exactly would that have achieved, except that person being even more pissed at me and leading to more unpleasantness for the duration of the flight. Changing seats was not an option and I doubt that person would have been deplaned over an armrest.

And yes I agree, the person in the middle seat is entitled to the shared armrest.

I guess what really pissed me off more than anything, apart from the discomfort, is her comment that I haven't paid for 2 seats. I thought that was especially rich coming from someone who hadn't even paid for her seat.

jsloan

I frequently get NRSA in the exit row middle. I doubt many people would give up an E+ aisle / window for an exit row middle; some might prefer an E- aisle / window, in fact. Throw in people traveling in groups, and it's not uncommon to see 20B/20E (where equipped) and 21B/21E as some of the last remaining seats on the plane. (I also sit next to BE passengers frequently).

azfanboy

It's in the standby list on the app.

jsloan

I don't know who started this, but it needs to stop. The person in the middle seat has no more right to the armrest than the person on either side. Generally, that means it should be split down the middle, to the extent practical. With UA's narrow armrests, I generally find myself resting my elbow against the inner side of the armrest.

There are many reasons someone can end up on the standby list. Non-rev space-available is but one of them. IMO, if you complain, you'd better be right.

azfanboy

Good point! I guess I just assumed based on that list. I don't know if there is any other way for me to know.

fumje

Fully agree with this. You can have confidence the person is flying NRSA if the person is around the bottom of the upgrade list and also on the standby list, or if the person is only on the standby list but below someone who fits the former criteria.

Observing standby list alone is not strong evidence.

LarryJ

Actually, it isn't that unusual.

Us non-revs get whatever's left over. Sometimes that's the best seats, sometimes it's the worst, and sometimes it's a seat in the terminal watching the airplane pushback without us.

There are a couple of reasons why non-revs might get the exit row or other desirable seats.

1. Nobody was willing to pay extra for them and not enough passengers with status to fill them up. This happens a lot of flights that aren't very full.

2. A seat that was held by a passenger with status who was upgraded at the gate.

As far as the original question, if you were unhappy with your flight then feel free to complain. A history of customer complaints is how problems get fixed. If a non-rev's behavior is inconveniencing customers then that should be reported and addressed. I would probably say that you suspect the other passenger was a non-rev and let them look it up. Just being on the standby list isn't enough to make that conclusion.