Couples & Voluntary Cabin Separation

[Cruiser Elite]

6hrs DPS-MEL Xmas 2014 on J* in Y - outbound Cruiserette and her gf left a few days before I went - their original J* flt was cancelled - rebooked and upgraded to J next day on J* - on ret we flew the J* red eye dep DPS about 23:30 I think. Long haul would be many many years together.

Yes we are lucky in that with $s or pts we can always get up front - always self funded so total control over flt acquisition - ZERO chance we are going to fly in diff cabins - our preference.

 

[straitman]

If we are both in economy, and the flight has empty seats, we will always choose to have empty space between us or go and find separate rows if available!

I spent quality time with my husband at home. Cant he how being squashed next to each other in a plane is at all a good way to spend it if more comfortable options are available !

My thoughts exactly.

Yesterday we had selected centre section aisle seats with the empty seat between us. Unfortunately the a/c was 100% full and we had an interloper who got the stay in the middle seat.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yep spare seat bw the 2 of you big + to us also - but at least you are in same cabin.

straitman we experienced same scenario last month LGW-VLC on easyJet - we selected 1A and 1C hoping for spare bw - but along comes a spider and sits down beside her - he did prefer window seat so Cruiserette swapped with him 1A>1B.

 

[Rebekkap]

Not an easy one as a lot of women get extremely jealous and emotional.

Seriously, is the casual sexism really necessary?

 

[sinophile888]

Yep spare seat bw the 2 of you big + to us also - but at least you are in same cabin.

I booked a third seat for my +1 and myself when flying for the first time after 18 months of me not being allowed to fly. It worked well for all 4 legs. It was especially good for the last three legs which were completely sold out with the only spare seat in the plane between the two of us.

I have done the same for travel later in the year with my daughter for the legs from SIN to DOH to AMS and back from DXB to DOH to SIN. The Y choice was $A875x3 or Y/J was A$4550+A$875. I tried very hard to choose the Y/J option but in the end I went with the 3xY option.

 

[Rebekkap]

I probably wouldn't book separate cabins for me and my plus one, and I think the story about the men flying up front and only paying for their wives to fly economy is shocking, but I would never turn down an upgrade, nor would I expect him to! I can do without sitting next to him for how ever many hours it is (in fact last time we flew economy back from Europe on the first leg the cabin was half empty and we were assigned a separate row each, and on the second leg we got upgraded to Y+ but they couldn't seat us together - I was in the front row and he was three rows back. Frankly after three weeks spent together on holidays I was glad to be seated somewhere else!

 

[Quickstatus]

Seriously, is the casual sexism really necessary?

I probably wouldn't book separate cabins for me and my plus one, and I think the story about the men flying up front and only paying for their wives to fly economy is shocking,

Quote 2 appears to be a bit sexist?
However in many cases in Quote 2, the separate cabins is not voluntary for the person in Y, just voluntary for the person in J.


Though Im with AusBT on this one.

 

[Denali]

.....Frankly after three weeks spent together on holidays I was glad to be seated somewhere else!

I agree. This why for approx 70hrs of flying I recently booked, only approx 28hrs are sitting together and thats because of plane configuration, otherwise by choice it would only be 14hrs.

I think of it this way, I love my spouse SO MUCH that he deserves a break from me. We both need alone time by that point.

 

[JohnK]

I can think of no reason outside of an emergency that cannot wait 16hrs.
There is seat to seat SMS and of course the inflight bars(though not a good place to air dirty laundry.) I'm sure the CSM will allow a conference at the inflight lounge in front of 11E on a QFA380)

For those romantics doesn't absence make the heart grow fonder?

Other than anxiety I can't see any reason why you would knock back an upgrade to a higher cabin.

And generally men are larger than women (in my case twice the size) so I cannot understand why any woman would want the husband to sit in middle seat while she sits in window or aisle seat. For me a middle seat is torture and know for a fact my wife wouldn't want me to endure 14 hours of torture.

Obviously YMMV.

 

[siri]

My advise is to take it and offer to your wife..
My past experience is mainly that we were offered Bus. to 1st class and once Tom Jones and his Son were behind us. Lovely guy to have a chat.
Most offeres came from United and Cathay and JA. Qantas once.
United due to my work with major US company that got United exclusive deal.

 

[medhead]

Separate from the wife? I wish. We're travelling with family of 4 and sister in law next year. On the return I can easily get 2 J and 3 Y seats - but nope we have to travel together. In fact on the outbound (with 4 J seats) we weren't even allowed to leave sister mother slumming it in PE.

Fear of flying - we all gotta die together...

 

[Rebekkap]

Quote 2 appears to be a bit sexist?
However in many cases in Quote 2, the separate cabins is not voluntary for the person in Y, just voluntary for the person in J.


Though Im with AusBT on this one.

Sorry, how exactly do you think that was sexist? I was referring to the article someone posted earlier in the thread entitled
[h=1]Meet the husbands who fly first class – while their wives travel in economy[/h] Meet the husbands who always fly business class – while their wives travel in economy

 

[Denali]

Separate from the wife? I wish. We're travelling with family of 4 and sister in law next year. On the return I can easier get 2 J and 3 Y seats - but nope we have to travel together. In fact on the outbound (with 4 J seats) we weren't even allowed to leave sister mother slumming it in PE.

Fear of flying - we all gotta die together...

Me reading the above: (expletive) that (expletive)!

I would be flipping tables if someone other than my husband thought they could try to dictate to me what I can and cannot do with my money/points... and then I would ignore my husband anyway

 

[medhead]

Me reading the above: (expletive) that (expletive)!

I would be flipping tables if someone other than my husband thought they could try to dictate to me what I can and cannot do with my money/points... and then I would ignore my husband anyway

It is SWMBO that is dictating. Happy wife, happy life...

Sister in law is happy with anything - she's just going to watch movies.

 

[Denali]

It is SWMBO that is dictating. Happy wife, happy life...

Sister in law is happy with anything - she's just going to watch movies.

May I suggest wife and sister in law go to PE and you and the others go to J?

If shes happy with Y then good for her, doesnt mean she gets to make everyone else miserable

 

[fairhsa]

I would be interested to hear if anyone had experienced this. Say work booked a J international seat, and we privately added a Y seat for +1 on the same metal... Ie. different PNRs but same surname, etc. Assuming we are unable to points upgrade so we can both travel in J (option 1) I would like to offer my +1 the J seat which is booked in my name.

Seems easy enough to swap ourselves after boarding but I don't want the FAs to get confused/put off. Also, A380 and potentially seated on different levels so even boarding or swapping after TO could be fairly obvious even if we did try to "hide" it.

Any advice? Explain the situation to check-in and / or onboard staff and ask if they would prefer we do it on boarding or after TO? Would they "refuse" to allow it ? Advice appreciated.

I do this all the time. I book a Y class ticket for me, (i need the paid ticket for my status credits) and I book a points J class for my husband. When we get onboard we swap boarding passes and I sit in J and he sits in Y. (After all, I paid for both tickets so it's fair). Never been stopped.

A few weeks back, I was in J on a business trip and bringing husband with me for company in Y. He had a very bad leg, and so after I got some sleep (6 hours), I went back and told him to take my J seat so he could stretch his leg and sleep for the rest of the flight (8 hours). He didn't really want to move, but did in the end. The FA came over later and said "you can only switch once, so if you stay here, you stay here for the whole of the rest of the flight, or you can swap back now". I chose to stay - it had been my plan anyway. I swapped back for landing since my luggage was up there. No problems.

 

[JessicaTam]

I do this all the time. I book a Y class ticket for me, (i need the paid ticket for my status credits) and I book a points J class for my husband. When we get onboard we swap boarding passes and I sit in J and he sits in Y. (After all, I paid for both tickets so it's fair). Never been stopped.

A few weeks back, I was in J on a business trip and bringing husband with me for company in Y. He had a very bad leg, and so after I got some sleep (6 hours), I went back and told him to take my J seat so he could stretch his leg and sleep for the rest of the flight (8 hours). He didn't really want to move, but did in the end. The FA came over later and said "you can only switch once, so if you stay here, you stay here for the whole of the rest of the flight, or you can swap back now". I chose to stay - it had been my plan anyway. I swapped back for landing since my luggage was up there. No problems.

I think that was a bit poor form from the FA. "Only one swap"! :shock:

 

[kaktusdigital]

Ah such wonderful problems. I have no status, my wife has no status. Zero chance of upgrade. no need to stress of who's getting the upgrade from ultra discount Economy to Y+.

 

[fairhsa]

I think that was a bit poor form from the FA. "Only one swap"! :shock:

I think it speaks to the "disruption" that one of the other posters was worried about. I don't think they wanted lots of back and forth.... That's fair enough. I value the peace and quiet in J too.

 

[fairhsa]

Ah such wonderful problems. I have no status, my wife has no status. Zero chance of upgrade. no need to stress of who's getting the upgrade from ultra discount Economy to Y+.

So why are you reading a forum designed for frequent flyers then?