Passengers requesting to change seats with other passengers

[Ausbt]

As I'm flying into Queenstown soon - would you recommend the lhs or rhs window?

So am I Andy, it's an amazing descent and incredible view coming in from either side anyway. Try and get something forward so you don't have the wing blocking it. Actually reminds me of another occasion where I was asked to move - I had a window heading out to ZQN and a lady next to me with a young child (who I believe had not paid for the spare seat inbetween) asked if I would move so "her cousin could sit next to her". I must have been tired because I agreed and move to the aisle elsewhere. It was only a bit later that I realised that this canny woman had managed to move me out of the way so her cousin could be window, with the child in the middle and her on the aisle. There was no reason why the cousin couldn't have just taken middle in any instance.

 

[Starinc]

You all have me worried now. I have booked SYD - HKG on QF next month for the family, we have a 3 year and a 11 year. As I have no status but i am a Qantas Club member and dont want to pay the $25 per seat to reserve a seat early does this mean i run the chance of our family not being seated together? Also i wouldnt like to be forcing people to move so we can once we have boarded the plane.

If so i feel sorry for the whoever gets to sit next to my 3 year that loves flying

 

[chrisb]

...........

 

[OATEK]

You all have me worried now. I have booked SYD - HKG on QF next month for the family, we have a 3 year and a 11 year. As I have no status but i am a Qantas Club member and dont want to pay the $25 per seat to reserve a seat early does this mean i run the chance of our family not being seated together? Also i wouldnt like to be forcing people to move so we can once we have boarded the plane.

If so i feel sorry for the whoever gets to sit next to my 3 year that loves flying

You could try CheckMyTrip.com and see if you have been allocated seats automatically (Click on View Details +). All you need is your booking reference. I found previously when I had 5 people on a single booking that seat numbers showed up.

 

[Starinc]

You could try CheckMyTrip.com and see if you have been allocated seats automatically (Click on View Details +). All you need is your booking reference. I found previously when I had 5 people on a single booking that seat numbers showed up.

Thanks. I have checked and it doesnt have seats. Just has the four of us listed as window which is a bit of a worry.

 

[legroom]

......I am quite paranoid - I check my bookings on a regular basis to see if something changed....

Elsewhere, you are an anomaly.

Here, on AFF, you are part of the scenery.

I think AFF has the biggest collection of OCDs in Oz.

 

[Archphoto]

Had it happen on LAX-DFW 2008. Flying AA and hadn't been allocated seats by my TA (???) so I was stuck in a middle row. Guy a couple of rows ahead of me asked if he could swap, so that he could sit next to his girlfriend, I said "Sure." Got an aisle seat out of it and I was happy - he got to sit next to his girlfriend and was happy - win/win for all.

 

[serfty]

Thanks. I have checked and it doesnt have seats. Just has the four of us listed as window which is a bit of a worry.

At worst you can wait for OLCI 24 hours before the flight.

If no 4 seats are allocated then I would then call.

 

[jamesatfish]

You all have me worried now. I have booked SYD - HKG on QF next month for the family, we have a 3 year and a 11 year. As I have no status but i am a Qantas Club member and dont want to pay the $25 per seat to reserve a seat early does this mean i run the chance of our family not being seated together? Also i wouldnt like to be forcing people to move so we can once we have boarded the plane.

If so i feel sorry for the whoever gets to sit next to my 3 year that loves flying

Personally I'd pay the required fee and select your own seats so you're all seated together.

I can only remember 3 occasions where I've flown internationally without having selected a seat prior to checkin:

1. As an 11yr old flying with my parents and 9yr old sister, HNL-SYD on Continental. Checkin staff allocated all 4 of us to seats scattered around the Economy cabin so there was a minimum of 2 rows between us all. There was no way we could be moved to even find a set of 2 seats together so that's the way we flew.

2. Flying SYD-SFO in Business (award points) on United with my wife (then girlfriend) - despite the cabin being a 2-2-2 config we were allocated seats in separate rows (i.e. 1A and 2B). Easy to swap on board - from memory I moved back a row.

3. Flying LHR-SIN-SYD on QF in Business (paid fare). Booked by a client's travel agency who didn't allocate seats for myself and my colleague to sit together (which was important as we had work to do on the flight). We ended up seated in the aisles of the middle set of 3 and I had to swap on board to take the middle seat.

The long and the short of it is - if you'd like to be seated together and you have the option to take matters into your own hands and select seats to make that happen I would strongly recommend doing so.

 

[OATEK]

At worst you can wait for OLCI 24 hours before the flight.

If no 4 seats are allocated then I would then call.

As far back as 1987 we were a party of 7 on a BA flight SYD-LHR that included two children under 8. We didn't leave it to chance even then, before OLCI etc. We rang BA, and requested the seats together. Got to the airport and we had a 3-4 allocation across the 747. So as Serfty says, don't leave it until you get to the airport. If you can't get seats together at T-24, then try the phone.

 

[Katie]

The "staff upgrades" thread reminded me of a semi-recent seat swap experience.

I was sitting in 80A on a QF A380 coming back to AU, maybe from LA? Long story. The sequence of events goes like this:

1. After the seat belt light goes off a woman a few rows back starts causing a bit of a ruckus in the cabin.
2. <snip>
3. Eventually they say "OK, come through" and they hold the curtain aside and lead me into F! I hadn't realised we'd been standing outside the F cabin the whole time.

Fricking excellent flight home needless to say. My first F experience. Hopefully not the last (but most probably is).

My BFF still regrets the SQ flight she was on (in Y) where there was a disruptive pax of some kind. An FA asked if she wanted to sit in a forward seat or neat the front or something. She realised later that the FA probably meant the J cabin as she was already near the front of Y. Doh!

 

[kempvet]

Having read most of these posts I think what is really missing is that at the time of an upgrade to a higher cabin, there should be written somewhere, or verbal instructions given, that out of respect to the existing booked passengers, passengers who have been upgraded, should refrain from asking other passengers to change their seats.

As for families sitting together, as far as I know, at least one parent can be with 2 minors and the other parent can sit elsewhere, is this the case? In other words, can a booked passenger who has paid more for an allocated seat simply say to the FA that dad has to sit somewhere else, the rules are being followed by mum sitting with the two minors.

 

[Pushka]

Having read most of these posts I think what is really missing is that at the time of an upgrade to a higher cabin, there should be written somewhere, or verbal instructions given, that out of respect to the existing booked passengers, passengers who have been upgraded, should refrain from asking other passengers to change their seats.

I didn't get the sense that any of these issues were caused by an upgrade but rather poor allocation of original seats, or the original seats being changed incorrectly at time of check in. That was the case in my situation. We stayed in economy class but there was an error in the allocation of the changed seats.

 

[will2rob]

I did have the situation on my honeymoon some 15 years ago travelling SYD-HKG where the airline (CX) had seated my wife and I at opposite ends of Y. The plane was almost fully booked and there seemed to be no way for the check in staff to get us seated together,so it does happen. In the end, they bumped a couple from J to F and we got to sit together in J. If we hadn't ended up seated together in J, I would have politely tried to swap in Y, but would have copped it sweet if it wasn't possible to change. I would have been grateful to sit in a lesser seat as long as I was with my wife.

I think it all depends on how you're asked and the reason why, but at the end of the day, it is entirely up to the individual being asked whether they want to swap or not.

 

[gruntfuttock]

Found myself looking for a swap on LAX-IAD leg last year on AA.

Company or client pays most of my fares; always Y, but being of generous proportions I shell out for an upgrade on international or cash in points for gruntfuttock-sized seat on domestic sectors. International is only a couple of times a year and I catch up with family over there as well, so a good investment in my sanity. Or health, I suspect the sanity was a lost cause 30 years ago.

Was far cheaper to pay for an additional seat on the US domestic leg, and ticket and BP clearly showed as 'extra seat'. I found my incredible status (barely Gold) was worth something after all and was allocated the first row of Y.

A row with fixed armrests...

Thought I'd do the right thing and keep the manifest straight so worked it out through the cabin crew. They just tried to ignore me - didn't realise until later they probably weren't paid till wheels-up, but still... Obviously a wrinkle in their system that allocates additional seat in fixed armrest rows; didn't make me angry or even annoyed so shouldn't be any sort of issue to resolve really.

Finally attracted one FA's attention & he grudgingly arranged a swap with a gent-with-spare-seat two rows further back. Gent was really stoked to move up and I had a not-so-uncomfortable trip. The kicker was the still-grumbly FA who turned up just before landing to apologise again to Gent (ignoring me, but big deal...) and hand him a bottle or red from the pointy end.

Gent and I had a great laugh about it on the way off the bus - as we passed the FA on the way out, Gent made a point of asking if I could cause him such grief on his future trips as well...

 

[burnt]

Had a situation last month on an AA flight BOS-LAX, booked in First with wife (on same PNR) and at check in given boarding pass with seating in different rows, check in claimed they could not move us as cabin was full, one boarding I was 2A and wife was 3F, I offered to swap with pax sitting next to wife and met with a refusal from the paxl, then tried for wife to swap with the pax next to me, again met with a refusal from the pax next to me.
Not sure why this happened when we were both on the same PNR?

 

[legroom]

Had a situation last month on an AA flight BOS-LAX, booked in First with wife (on same PNR) and at check in given boarding pass with seating in different rows, check in claimed they could not move us as cabin was full, one boarding I was 2A and wife was 3F, I offered to swap with pax sitting next to wife and met with a refusal from the paxl, then tried for wife to swap with the pax next to me, again met with a refusal from the pax next to me.
Not sure why this happened when we were both on the same PNR?

Did you try to allocate seats (on AA.com) at the time of booking ?

AFAIK, same PNR does not necessarily guarantee adjacent seats.

Unallocated pax would then be given whatever is 'left over' in the same class.

I'd be very OCD about this - right at the time tickets are issued and would not take a chance at check-in.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Well I'm in a similar position regarding seat changes.

I have booked SYD>KUL>BLR return later this year. One booking is for two adults, one child and one infant. The other two bookings are for an adult each. There are three separate bookings as each of the parties is returning at different dates. I have rung MH and asked for the bookings to be linked together for the outward journey where we are all traveling together.

Now, advanced seat selection on MH would cost AUD$130 per person for all four sectors. No way I'm paying that much for fares that were sub $1000 each. Now since I have placed the infant with me, I get to select an infant seat in advance (in the first row of economy), my OWE status has no bearing in this matter.

The interesting aspect will be if and how they place the rest of us. Given that anyone who is going to pay for seat selection will generally sit forward, will this mean they will split the three linked booked passengers up? will the family get split?

Seat selection is available 48hrs before departure, so I will be onto it like a hawk to get us all seated together. But surely this whole "pay for a seat" aspect isn't helping with passengers moving about.

 

[Gremlin]

I've only once asked other PAX to swap seats. Was flying Jetstar with Mrs Gremlin, Master Gremlin (2 years od at the time) and Little Miss Gremlin (6 months at the time). We were allocated three seats several rows apart. Check in Dragon didn't care that 2 year old was seated apart from either parent. Fellow PAX saw more sense than Jetstar staff and agreed to let me sit next to my son...

 

[pauly7]

I've been asked once.

Was in 1A as per usual on a QFlink flight to Tas when the FA came up to me and apologetically asked if there was any chance I'd swap seats with a very very nervous flyer back in about row 12 or something, who really wanted to be in the front and near the FA.

I immediately said no problem and the FA was so suprised and thankful (probably thought I'd be a difficult WP about it), I passed the pax in the aisle and she was falling apart already, poor thing before the door has even closed!

Was well looked after on that flight by both FA's, even better than the normal high standard of QFLink and just before descent they handed me a wrapped up box with about 4 bottles of wine and sweets to say thank you again!

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