hockey7711

I was just making a joke. Ever see A Clockwork Orange?

zombietooth

Oh yes, I got your reference and inferred that you thought my grandfather was trying to condition me away from alcohol, just like they were trying to condition Alex away from violence.

Polytonic

See, I'd love to do this, but you inevitably end up with some clueless flyer trying to move your bag to "make space" for their gigantically humongous oversized bag, and then your bag ends up somewhere in Narnia.

Yes, I've had people take my bag out of the overhead and leave it on the cabin floor to put their bag in my overhead space.

bocastephen

This is hysterical, my father did the same thing with me, although it wasn't a tablespoon, it was a full glass "on the rocks" because I had asked so many times. Needless to say, some 48 years later, I still can't tolerate the smell or taste of any type of grain alcohol, and basic wine appreciation was almost forced on me by my own parents.

As to the topic of this thread, some of us have been ranting about this for a very long time - I don't know what's going on, I can only assume lazy agents, but they will clear standbys into the best seats and leave empty middles in the back of the cabin. Under no circumstances, by policy, should a BE or standby passenger ever be cleared into an E+ seat, or an empty seat next to a GS/1K member until every other seat, middle or otherwise, has been assigned. Eons ago, once upon a time, United actively blocked seats beside premium customers in coach - and this policy needs to be restored and enforced.

All of this chaos means that we need to preboard as early as possible for no other reason than to defend our own seat assignments and overhead space, creating unnecessary stress. Any time a passenger poaches another customer's seat, the crew should have one option available for the offender - either give up the seat and move to their assigned seat, or off the flight they go.

All of this insanity and stress could be solved with a properly articulated policy that would take all of 30 minutes to write out, along with the necessary training and performance observations.....but since United neither trains properly nor enforces standards, the entire trip from seat assignments to boarding to inflight food service and beyond is nothing but a stress-inducing crapshoot, all unnecessary.

huey_driver

I think I posted this before, but back about a year ago, I was preboarding at Dulles. An older guy in front of me scanned his pass and got the "exit row beep". Since he was relying on a cane, the agent didnt even ask, and printed him out a new BP. She explained he couldnt take the exit row (I got the feeling he didnt even book it, it was just where he landed) and handed him the BP. He said "well, where am I now?" and she said "you are in 7A" (E+ bulkhead on E170). He moved on and I stepped up and said "I assume you have a new assignment for me, since I was in 7A"...
I was kinda irritated that she never even looked that she was bumping a 1K, but didnt really hate getting the exit row for a VERY short 50 minute flight... Still, it was a bonehead move...

evol

This. Realllllly ticks me off. 100% agree they should figure out another way. I know it would create extra work to change non BE pax seats to E+ first and possibly create confusion.

I once ran into a friend in the boarding area at HNL, "oh letʻs sit together, come on lets ask." Of course i get the one cranky gate agent (iʻve observed her behavior before) "If you want your friend to move to E+ itʻs $xx, youʻre not on the same PNR" Me: *tries to explain that we just ran into each other, and literally the seat next to me is open. I believe that this should be allowed as a Plat, and arenʻt you going to assign the remaining seats to BE?* Agent: "You should know better, these seats cost extra, either pay or move on I have to process all these pax"

The HNL team is on the whole pretty stellar, but this individual (and maybe one other) is an outlier IMO. Granted, it was a 777HD and she had ~all those BE pax to assign E+ seat to~ I felt it would have been so easy and kind to just say "Sure why not, just this once." Maybe there is a system prompt that would block her from doing so, but I assume that GA can do most anything at their discretion to get the flight sorted and out the gate.

Praise Jesus! These were the days, Canʻt even remember when this was eliminated.

JALsnipe

​​​I desperately miss this on CR2s. I feel like I'm constantly watching the seatmap and moving around every time someone takes the seat next to me. So frustrating.

This is the most frustrating because we all know you can do this off-PNR. Adds insult to injury that BE got Y+ and your friend didn't, especially since you took the time to ask nicely.

WineCountryUA

And a new version of "UA changed my seat" thread unless your are suggesting the gate agent reach out to each of those first and interview them. The two step changes are impractical to do at the gate on a large scale.

mahasamatman

Teaching the kid some choice words for his parents is another good one.

Aussienarelle

I kept thinking about this post after I read it. I am just astounded that anyone would leave their 6 year old on a flight that long next to a complete stranger. My child flew from the time he was a 5 month old baby and TPAC once or twice a year and UM from a young age. But if I were on the flight no way would he be with anyone but me. 6 years old!

UMs are watched by the FAs and sat somewhere where they can be seen on the flights.

6 years old!

beachmouse

Any big over the ear headphones discourage attempts by other passengers to interact with you.

squeakr

I understood it that mom had a lap child in the middle seat and her toddler was in a different room in the middle seat unless I’m mistaken.

evol

what? yea i donʻt have the solution and apparently UA doesn't either since Iʻm sure this has crossed their minds once or twice.

nycflyer222

That is correct - two kids. An infant and a 3-year-old.

United is raking in the money and genuinely doesn’t care about its customers.

WineCountryUA

Seen similar reports for DL, AA and various LCCs. Perhaps WN has few issues