tracon

Do consenting adults really need permission to swap?
Sorry couldn't resist.

richee

All the the other passengers may not be so open minded, so it's just good etiquette to ask to make sure others don't mind before doing so on the plane

canuck_in_pa

On CO it's in the FA manual that one swap is allowable, as long as the integrity of the cabin is preserved (or something like that).

SanDiego1K

Welcome to FlyerTalk, sfofly98. From your post, I take it that you are a UA FA. We are very happy to have you with us, and hope you will stick around and post more.

Thunderroad

I just wanted to second SanDiego1K's sentiments, sfofly98. It's always good to have an FA's knowledge and perspectives added to the discussions. Welcome to FT!

united-guy ewr

Thanks for the responses, gang. I agree with a lot that was said, but must say that if UA released more seats none of this would even be an issue (continues to show F9 C9 for every flight I would consider). I simply refuse to do the standard award seat thing in C for 90k miles. Ultimatley, maybe I should just suck it up and fly all of us in coach (although at a glance, there are not even 2 coach seats available in Saver at this point).

as219

Sorry, I don't buy this. There are many kinds of behavior with the potential to bother or offend others, but they don't have to if people act respectfully. Why is repeated switching of seats, if done quietly and with a minimum of fuss, inherently more disturbing than repeated bathroom trips or having a conversation with one's seatmate? Geez.

HDflyer

And this is the bottom line. You refuse to PAY for the premium product. Same old story, if you want to fly in a premium class, pay for a premium class. Why should UA have to move high value seats into the saver bucket?

kuroneko

Saver awards aren't available, but is it not possible to simply purchase a cheap seat and upgrade either with 2 more CR-1s or miles?

lucky9876coins

It sure is, but that also requires there to be upgrade space, which there does not seem to be...

mbflyflyaway

Not quite the same situation as the OP, but I'll relate our recent experience on a long flight. Flew with my wife, 17month old (lap child), mother and stepfather from DEN-LAX-KOA. To get us all on the same plane using miles, I could only do 2 XY and 2 XF (that after waitlisting myself for XF but having it clear a month or so prior to the trip). While we never switched actual seat occupants on our LAX-KOA flight (5.5 hours scheduled and it took almost that long to get there) I made the trek several times back to coach to hand off the kiddo or retrieve him (parents were only a few rows back thanks to a paid upgrade to E+). For dinner this was especially helpful and thankfully our kiddo is pretty small still so comfort in E+ wasn't really an issue. No one complained and even got asked once during dinner what we did with him The return flight was a red-eye so fortunately he slept the whole time so no need to shuffle back to coach.

Now, as to the issue of babies on planes. I vowed to my wife before our son was born that he would not be on an airplane before we could "control" him...of course my will to travel is just too strong, although his first flight was sans me and on an RJ for 2+ hours (we did pay for a seat for that first flight, however quickly learned he doesn't last long in a seat and does much better in one of our laps). He now has had 6 roundtrip airline flights (only this last one had a connection) and I'm quite proud to say that he's a perfect traveller. Maybe more lucky than proud On several of the flights we've been on, we've received great comments about our kiddo or our parenting skills at keeping entertained (I think the latter is key to easier flying for kids) so now I have no fear of travelling with my son. Of course with #2 on the way soon, things will be even more interesting on planes.

Oh, and one side note - we had a great Purser on our LAX-KOA flight who would randomly entertain our son. I have a few of those little commendation cards for good employees, so I filled it out and near the end of the flight my son was playing with the flight attendent in the aisle (I know, safety could be an issue) so I gave him the card and told him to give it to the Flight Attendant. He did....it was very cute and she was very touched along with most of the rest of the FC cabin who witnessed it - although a minute or so later he went back and grabbed it and then gave it to a different Flight Attendant She ended up giving us a bottle of wine (which isn't the greatest for a pregnant woman but the parents enjoyed it.

Point is, it can be a pleasure to travel with small children if you're lucky enough to have one that can handle it, and know how to deal with him/her when things go awry.

-Mike

GPS123

Last year I was on a SQ flight HKG-SFO first class, one American family (parents and two little girls probably around 4 or 5 years old) all in first class. The two girls talked/fought loudly, kept switching window/isle seats, and switching seats next to mom and dad. Their parents seemed not interested in calming the girls down. (Dad wore shorts/ furry legs and a T-shirt in first class cabin). SQ FA tried their best to entertain the girls just to keep them occupied.
Shame on these American parents.

psoftJohn

A similar situation occured to me last year on a red eye. I was upgraded and my wife was not. There were no more first class seats available, so, I gave mine to her and I sat next to the heavy breathing fat guy who kept using my shoulder for a pillow. Wouldn't want to share that with her now would I?

Boraxo

In the past 16 months, our infant has flown 15 times. In every instance he was better behaved than many of the obnoxious overbearing clientele I see in F on UA.

I think the seat issue is a bit of a red herring. We often bring his car seat aboard (you can do this without charge on WN if there are empty seats) but like all children he gets fidgity so it is only a matter of time before we have to pick him up and hold him. No question the car seat is safer - but be careful what you with for as you will end up with a lot more screaming babies if they are confined for the entire journey.

PVDProf

Sometimes this is unavoidable... On a recent trip with Mrs. PVDProf and PVDProf Lap Infant, I overheard myself being paged as I approached the gate: the elusive op-up from Y to C on a 763 DEN-ORD, for me (1P) and Mrs. PVDProf (GM) (with a reprinted infant boarding pass) on a really cheap ticket. I was ambivalent, but from the tone of the gate agent, it was clear that declining this wasn't going to be welcome, and Mrs. PVDProf might have killed me.

While an experienced and usually good flyer, PVDProf Lap Infant (9 mos) melted down on the flight. We had been stuck for two days in airports on the outbound due to weather, followed by a couple days of being handed around among unfamilar family members. Further, he was just figuring out how to crawl, and wanted to practice (those few feet of room in front of the C seats looked like a great place and he wanted down; also the red tabs attached to the life vests demanded pulling ). I spent much of my op-up standing behind the galley with a very squirmy baby, darting back to my seat periodically to take a bite of fruit and hit of wine.

Following this experience, it was decided decided 1) PVDProf Lap Infant could have his own seat on our future trips (with my luck, he'll get upgraded) 2) we would evaluate the Benadryl solution for PVDProf Lap Infant and 3) my EQM MRs aren't totally irrational because it turns out status helps things break your way when things go wrong (a premise Mrs. PVDProf hadn't previously accepted)^ .

The OP is lucky...Mrs. PVDProf would never let me sit anywhere other than next to her (in the middle seat, naturally) when traveling with PVDProf Lap Infant. PVDProf Lap Infant's generally been a good flyer (including one transcons without me); Mrs. PVDProf has found the Maya Wrap is a good solution for small babies on the plane since it contains all the limbs and allows for discrete feeding.