Passengers requesting to change seats with other passengers

[kempvet]

Should passengers who are seated according to their BPs start asking other passengers to swap seats to be with their mates or sweethearts etc. I assume that they would have asked this at check in, but perhaps been told that this is not possible, especially if they are late to check in, then only to become proactive and take matters into their own hands and start asking the person next to them if they would mind changing seats.

Was in PE once and just wanted the window seat this trip for the scenery so checked in early to get it, but once the passenger next to me started asking if her friend who is afraid of flying could swap an aisle seat with me it creates an awkward situation when you say no.

Was more of a problem in F with AA, couples and friends upgrading their Y fares usually were in different seats, often when I went to my seat there was someone standing next to it with a cheesy grin asking if I wouldn't mind changing seats, eventually I said if you upgrade this way, you take your chances with seating. Is this being unreasonable, especially when you want the aisle or window seat that you selected when booking?

 

[mannej]

No I don't feel it is unreasonable to say no.

There are times where you will oblige, but having been on both sides of the equation, especially at the back of the bus, sometimes you just have to live with it

 

[Ewing]

I carefully pre-select my seating, and will therefore not swap with someone else.

The only time I would consider it is if a family (eg: child and parent) would otherwise be split up, and only if my new seat is equal to or better than my assigned seat.

I will also inform the crew of the change, especially if it's a flight where I'm likely to be given "extras" (eg: express card on flights into Australia).

So no, man in 4B. I will not swap my usual 4C with your wife's 23B.

 

[kempvet]

I carefully pre-select my seating, and will therefore not swap with someone else.

This is what I tend to do these days, often the asking is coming from excited infrequent flyers who want to be with their mates, and the more I fly across the oceans, the more I like to be in a seat that I have selected and works for me, especially in Y.

 

[MrJetset]

I have some upcoming flights on a AONE4. On the intra-EU sectors my partner will on the same flight in Y. I'll try for an airport cash upgrade with BA, failing that I shall ask the crew for authorisation, then ask the pax beside him if they wish to swap. I imagine the pax in question would look upon 1A favourably (even if it is just CE on BA). Personally, I consider the difference negligible.

 

[whatmeworry]

No. I always select the aisle seat so can I stretch my legs out and for easy access to walk around. If the person next to me has the middle seat needs to pee, I will happily get up, but I will not give up the seat I carefully selected.

 

[sydflyer]

and then there's the awkwardness of sitting next to someone sulking for the whole flight because you said no...

 

[Flying mermaid]

A few weeks ago we were flying F from London to New York with BA. I had many months ago selected 2 middle seats for Miss FM and I leaving Mr FM on his own. It was a daytime flight and we enjoy talking to each other. After boarding there was a bit of a kerfuffle as a young couple had been split into A and K seats - I am thinking inexperienced flyers / upgrades as they didn't seem to know they were split until in the plane. Anyway the FA asked us to change - giving them one of our middle seats and then each of us having either A or K so the two parties were sort of together. Of course I refused as I had no intention of spending the flight yelling across an aisle! However a few hours into the flight I realized they were in fact on honeymoon! Miss FM and I were totally mortified and I immediately offered to swap - in fact giving them our 2 seats and taking theirs. By this time though they had discovered the buddy seat and were having dinner together and then planned to have a sleep so they declined my offer.

So I guess on the whole, no I won't swap seats as I usually have a reason for the ones I choose and it is a benefit of being a revenue passenger/status. However there are times when it would be gracious to do it and if the FA had said it was a special flight I would have done it.

 

[tuapekastar]

General rule is no. I've taken the time and effort and done the research, and used any 'status' I may have to select my seat of preference. I'm not going to give that up for someone who has put no time and effort into it and has simply taken the seats that are assigned to them, or is a last-minute upgrade.

That doesn't mean never. I've had 2 seat swap requests I can recall and I acceded to one and rejected the other. The rejection was AKL-MEL on a QF 738. I was in a forward aisle (maybe 5C) in Y, and a couple of teen girls politely asked if one could have my seat to sit next to their friend in 5B. Apparently a last-minute decision to fly meant one of them was separated from the rest of their party. However my seat out of the deal was to be 27B or somewhere like that, so I politely declined and told them why (I always fly aisle and do not like middle, and while I fit in my seat OK I am never going to be mistaken for Twiggy). They took it in good grace. After we were airborne I did say to 5B that if she could get me an aisle seat down the back rather than a middle I would swap but she was no longer interested.

The occasion I did swap was a little odd and could have gone either way. I was in the left hand of the 2 middle seats (8D, the row behind the bulkhead row) in J on a 3-class AA 762 LAX-JFK. A family (dad, mum, 2 young kids) boarded quite late and were not seated together. The girl was next to me in 8G, the boy in 7G, the bulkhead. The parents were further back. I'm not normally a fan of bulkhead rows either (fussy cough I know ). The dad, whose first language was not English (he sounded Latin to me but the accent could have been anything) approached me and said (his exact words) "you will swap with my son". I gave him the benefit of the doubt as to whether he was asking to swap or telling me. Had I been convinced he was telling me to swap things may have become interesting. Anyway, I swapped to 7G and it was fine.

So kempvet, I think you are entirely within your rights to say no. I'm not saying there is never going to be an occasion where you would not swap, but generally a polite but firm no is just fine. You have put in the effort. Generally speaking, they have not. If someone is actually sitting in your seat when you arrive at it then a most definite no is in order. If it is not a genuine mistake by the person then it is just unforgivable arrogance on their part.

There are a number of interesting threads on seat-swapping/poaching over on Flyertalk. The best ones are the people who get upgraded to F and want to move their spouse up from Y to sit with them. You can have the spouse's Y seat 75B or whatever. :shock:

 

[dajop]

One strategy I've used, but never had to ask to swap yet, is if travelling with someone in a 3 seat config we select A and C seats. If B is occupied the theory goes we could politely ask if they'd be interested in swapping, as I have a hunch most would prefer a window or aisle seat to a B seat (don't risk this on long hauls though, always want aisle for those)

 

[kempvet]

There are a number of interesting threads on seat-swapping/poaching over on Flyertalk. The best ones are the people who get upgraded to F and want to move their spouse up from Y to sit with them. You can have the spouse's Y seat 75B or whatever. :shock:

This is the exact problem that I discovered with other passengers last minute upgrades flying F in AA, it got to the point where I said if you didn't pay for a F at the time of booking and selecting a seat, you have to take your chances, in general, most people were a little pissed off by this attitude. If I make a decision about changing a seat these days in Y, it usually is where there are children involved, I may be getting a little old, but I don't consider seating adults together with the same priority as children being seated with their parents.

 

[SeatBackForward]

There are a number of interesting threads on seat-swapping/poaching over on Flyertalk. The best ones are the people who get upgraded to F and want to move their spouse up from Y to sit with them. You can have the spouse's Y seat 75B or whatever. :shock:

LOL. Surely the correct thing to do is to sit together in Y and give the upgrade seat to the moved Y occupant!

 

[simongr]

This is something of a personal bugbear for me. The problem is that I look like a complete d*ck if I stick to my guns. I often hear the sob stories of "oh but it is our honeymoon" and the like. Equally I only hear about people wanting to move from 21K to 11K - not moving back down the plane.

I now don't engage in the discussion and refer them to the cabin crew now. The most recent example was on CX flying HKG-JED. I was in 12K Mr was in 11K and mrs was in 17K (all in J). mrs appeared at my seat stating that her husband was in 11K and could she swap. This went on for a few minutes - I suggested that mr11K switch with mr18K so that they could be together. Mr11K wasn't keen on that and mrs17K was almost trying to force tears. I handed it off to the cabin crew and eventually mr18K became mr11K, mr and mrs 17/18K were sat next to each other and new mr11K was very pleased that he could now plug in his cpap machine...

 

[SeatBackForward]

Surely a polite "sorry I specifically requested this seat beforehand" should end any argument..right?

 

[simongr]

I tried that more than a few times. They tried to get the cabin crew to move but I equally explained to the CC that I was not moving.

I have to say that if I am moved by the cabin crew just to allow people to sit together I would comply with the request and then complain vigorously to the airline. If it was crew rather than the CSM moving me I would request a chat with the CSm also.

 

[kempvet]

If you have upgraded to a premium class or using an award flight with points for premium class then I don't think that you have any rights to ask anything of the full fare paying passengers, too bad if you got the last two award seats that are in different areas of the cabin. you can make up for the time together at your destination, just leave the full fare paying passenger in peace, after all, she or he has deserved this consideration by parting with their hard earned.

SWMBO and the apprentice SWMBO and myself are looking to fly J with AA on the 777 BOS-LHR return as an award flight. We have a few options but we want the 777 as there are three middle seats on the 777 which is what we are gunning for.

We could already have booked a flight with three seats in J, but they are not together, I think that it would be outrageous to expect to board the plane and then try to reorganise the cabin to suit our needs, but I guess there are those that would!

 

[SeatBackForward]

If you have upgraded to a premium class or using an award flight with points for premium class then I don't think that you have any rights to ask anything of the full fare paying passengers, too bad if you got the last two award seats that are in different areas of the cabin. you can make up for the time together at your destination, just leave the full fare paying passenger in peace, after all, she or he has deserved this consideration by parting with their hard earned.

Short of asking "did you pay for this seat", I'm not sure how one passenger would know whether another passenger is an upgrade, award etc..

 

[kempvet]

Short of asking "did you pay for this seat", I'm not sure how one passenger would know whether another passenger is an upgrade, award etc..

Perhaps not on International long haul, but on AA F domestic MIA-LAX I did ask, if they got a last minute upgrade, no way, explaining that this is one of the disadvantages of these upgrades compared to people who booked and assigned a seat much earlier. I have seen plenty of these flights, where on a wide bodied plane there may be anywhere up to 20 people out of the 30 seats in F on the standby screen list at check in.

 

[amaroo]

I've had a run in with a couple that wanted to sit together for the long haul flight that is BNE-SYD, I had a window seat with a shadow or just an empty seat.....he asked first - I asked where they were sitting (they were split, both middle of the middle 767) I declined. He got the dirts & then she pushed in & demanded that I move.......long story short, one of the FA's moved in & requested that they take their allocated seats.

I've also been asked to move from 1k to 5A on BA BKK-SYD.....was happy to oblige as it was a couple with baby, 5A looked like a great piece of real estate. BTW the baby was brilliant and never made a sound the whole flight.

I would move - a) for the same or better seat b) allowing a child to sit next to a parent c) directed by crew d) if my new seat buddy was better than the old one

 

[kempvet]

I would move - a) for the same or better seat b) allowing a child to sit next to a parent c) directed by crew d) if my new seat buddy was better than the old one

Agree with all of this, guess that the passengers who make the most noise are often infrequent flyers in my experience.