NY-FLA

Would like some perspectives on this. Now I've seen it happen once, I know it'll happen again, and I want to be prepared to handle it best.
Flying Ted last flight of night IAD-MCO. The four exit rows 10 and 11 left and right are populated with one person each. I'm the third last pax to board, and shoo a non-rev out of my well-chosen 11D seat to her assigned 11C. One POS is sitting alone in the left side of row 10 in the middle seat 10B. Another Ted MCO regular boards last and tries to take his assigned seat 10C adjacent to the POS. After about a minute, a dispute erupts and the Ted regular asks if he can sit in the window in my row. Of course, this is no problem at all.

Turns out
1) The Ted MCO regular had checked with the GA just prior to boarding and confirmed that row 10 left was occupied only by himself
2) When he sat down the POS who was unexpectedly located in 10B deliberately kept his elbow well over the other side of the armrest into the 10C space.
3) When asked to move to the window or remove his elbow the POS point-blank refused, saying he needed the room.

This is odd, recently Ted FA's at least, have been aggressive about keeping people in assigned sets, and such a pax positioning would typically warrant FA questions. (Why would I immediately think non-rev? Oh wait, it's UA that's why )

Now, if I personally were faced with that situation it is unlikely I'd have advanced knowledge that there were no other occupants of my row.
I also believe that expecting an empty row is unreasonable no matter whose expectation that is, but expecting an empty middle, where PAX loads permit, is part of what United offers as an E+ experience. I also know there's no way in he11 I would get bullied from my pre-assigned seat in such circumstances, and woiuld make an issue and ensure resolution long before the elbow tactic was feasible.

So, if I saw an occupant in any exit row occupying the middle seat adjacent to my pre-reserved seat, I think I would:

1) Provide one chance to the occupant to voluntarily slink back to whence they were originally assigned (99% sure to be E-) by politely asking if they're sure they're in the right seat.

2) If unsuccessful by (1) above call for the FA/purser/GA to check the validity of the occupants seat assignment and have them involuntarily slink back to their original assignment (A little less likely to be E-).

Any better thoughts or tactics from the wealth of experience here?

United737522

I always stand up like I am going to the restroom and make a complaint. If I am meant to have a whole row and that person is in the aisle, you bet I will boot them. There is not much else nicer than a whole row to spread out across.

jan_az

Kinda hard to spread out in the exit row when the armrests dont go up

AllanJ

If a POS is somewhere, anywhere, and your assigned seat is next to him and there is a comparable seat somewhere else, there is no reason why you can't move to said comparable seat.

Meanwhile before you expect the POS to slink back to E-, better make sure he doesn't land on top of a seatmate there.

Was the (middle) seat between you and the relocated Ted regular empty?

I guess your tactics are perfectly OK, too, assuming United's philosophy dealing with empty middle seats, but the other Ted regular didn't want to be bothered.

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exbayern

Why would I care? I have earned the right to E+ and United makes substantial revenue from E+ upsells.

Anyone who self upgrades to E+ from E- is stealing revenue, just as anyone who self upgrades from Y to F is stealing revenue.

If I have recognized you correctly, you are not a UA FF, so I understand your desire to champion ones 'rights' to E+, but we are not as lenient a crowd over here.

I have and will continue to turn in self upgraders to FAs on my flights.

jason8612

I would also see if that his assigned seat, cause chances are its not.

itsme

I don't understand your responses to the OP.

It is one thing if the "POS" is sitting in his/her assigned seat next to the OP in his/her assigned seat, but quite another if the "POS" is in other than his/her assigned seat. In the former case, the OP may elect to a move to a comparable seat, if there is one; in the latter case, the OP ought not be obliged to move anywhere, it is the "POS" who should be required to sit in his/her assigned seat.

And why should it be of any concern to the OP where the "POS" will sit if forced to move from the one they have attempted to glom on to? You think the OP is somehow obliged to "make sure he doesn't land on top of a seatmate there."?! Isn't that what FAs are supposed to straighten out?

gj83

Just say something like "my associate is supposed to have been assigned that seat. May I see your boarding pass to verify that you have been assigned into his seat?"

itsme

I don't think that asking another passenger to see their boarding pass is the best way to handle it, especially if there is an FA around, and there always should be. No passenger is obliged to show another passenger their boarding pass, and what you see as a reasonable request may not be seen that way by the other party. It's up to the FAs to enforce these things, and if they won't, then there is little to do other than complain loudly to the customer service afterwards.

exbayern

I too am cautious about approaching other pax directly. I did do it once when two young 'gentlemen' self upgraded next to me and started to go on about the party they were going to have for the next several hours.

I gave them a lecture on E+ theft, offered to call the FA to have her charge their credit card, and sent them scurrying back to E-.

I wouldn't be so brave in most instances, however.

gj83

I've seen people do that all the time when there is confusion. Some girl tried to poach on another seat in my exit row one time, then tried to say she was assigned my seat when the rightful owner of the first seat came. I looked at her BP and it was for her next flight.

I wouldn't get the FA involved right off the bat. I would ask the POS if that is the proper seat assignment before just running to get someone just in case somehow the POS really is assigned that seat.

honmani2

I have a slightly different take. As long as I get my seat that I bought, I don't get too bent out of shape if someone poaches a seat that they are not entitled to. Oh, sure, I wish I had an empty row or the middle seat empty but I paid for an E+ seat, period. If I wanted the whole row, I should just buy the seats thereby ensuring it will be empty.

I guess I don't feel like I'm the E+ police and if the FAs don't enforce their own rules, that's not my job. I got what I paid for and I can't complain much more beyond that.

Otherwise, you may as well appoint yourself the unofficial FA on every flight and ensure that no free drinks, bottles of champagne, seat poaching, etc. occurs.

Because here's the rub: if you were not personally affected, you probably wouldn't do much about it. I mean, if you were sitting four rows up from the exit rows and saw someone you thought might be poaching a seat, what would you do? Probably not much. It's when someone sits next to you and you believe they are "stealing" the empty seat is when most of us get bothered. So it's not so much the "crime," it's the fact that it's happening next to you.

My two cents, FWIW.

Roger Lococco

P.O.S. cost the airlines $275M in bottom line profits last year, due to higher fuel costs. My recommendation is to have a weight limit, after which point a passenger must purchase multiple seats.

I feel very bad for most of these passengers as well ... the seats simply are not made to accomodate them.

itsme

Oh, here we go again on "POS" and "seat blocking."

How about this: if you are someone who cares not whether the seat next to you is occupied or not, ignore these threads about what to do in these situations, whether there is a "POS" involved or not. (Aside: my mother-in-law arrived for a visit 3 days ago and reported that she sat next to someone on the plane she guessed weighed 400 pounds, and they were seated next to someone she guessed weighed 300 pounds, but thankfully she had the aisle.) A "POS" ups the ante some, but it is still the same basic issue. Those who believe that UA has committed itself keeping the seat next to them empty whenever possible/practical and wish to have the seat next to them remain unoccupied, will be allowed to engage in conversation about how best to handle it when they think the person in the next seat was not assigned it, but rather poached it. And the former (those who don't care) will say nothing to the latter (those who do care) except when the latter may go out of bounds with disparagement of "POS" or crazy thoughts (e.g., grap the suspected poacher by the collar and toss them out of the disputed seat).

bschaff1

Personally, if I see obvious seat poaching going on I will mention it to the fa loudly so the poacher is called out. The simple case is I once suffered through E- and survived so I have no sympathy for poachers when you consider it plain theft. I would personally have no problem seeing E+ thieves being arrested but that would never fly. In regards to oversized passengers, I have never had to deal with one, but if I ever do I will raise a stink until my personal space is respected and I have no concern whether it is polite or not. If I am paying for a 17x34 inch piece of a plane to sit on I expect that and will demand it.