Passengers requesting to change seats with other passengers

[Kangol]

Is this because you wouldn't be able to actually sit through a domestic flight if you were seated one row back? Presumably it would mean you would be waiting up to 8 seconds longer to disembark - this will really impact your life.

I love AFF, but the absurd amount of time and energy members expel on obtaining the first few rows of economy makes me laugh - unless its the very front row each row after that is exactly the same - you may just disembark a few seconds later. I really dont see how your life will improve by sitting in row 4 rather than row 5.

Row 4 on a 738 has more space/leg room/pitch (even if the J pax in row 3 reclines), more space under the seat in front of you for your bag and (some people may like this) tray table and IFE screen in the arm rest. So it's more than just who gets to leave first.

When I'm in row 5/6/7 I usually walk past the forward Y and J pax when I've disembarked and am walking through the terminal. Maybe I'm in too much of a rush.

Back on topic, I've only had someone ask me once (in AA F) - I was in first row aisle on a 737 (3D is it?), boarded late and a lady (50s+ ?) was in my seat. She wanted to be next to her husband and asked if I wouldn't mind swapping (she was in the second row window same side - 4E? I don't remember). I said OK but then in the middle of the flight had to get up, disturb the guy next to me and waste extra time to get to my bag in the overhead locker. FWP I know, but my mistake is that I took ownership of someone else's problem. Lesson learnt. Call me extreme, but it is what it is.

 

[simongr]

My most recent request to move was when i was in 3A and pax got on with guide dog. Row behind me was empty, I was asked if I could move, which of course I did


....sent from the place closest to the airport I just arrived at.

Call me a heartless b'stard but why would the guide dog pax need to move you? This is not a DYKWIA moment - I genuinely do not understand the need to move you just because they had a guide dog.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Call me a heartless b'stard but why would the guide dog pax need to move you? This is not a DYKWIA moment - I genuinely do not understand the need to move you just because they had a guide dog.

Guide dog had woof platinum status?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using AustFreqFly

 

[bodog]

I genuinely do not understand the need to move you just because they had a guide dog.

The dog is trained to lay quietly at the owners feet - try doing that with a 30kg labrador in row 4!- Row 3 at least provides some degree of room to allow that to happen (although not sure how they get on when they ask people to make sure bags and loose objects are in the overhead lockers )

and thanks for moving and showing some consideration

Found this on the Qantsas site - http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/service-dogs/global/en - it doesn't say anything about seat allocation but you'd think they would preallocate a suitable seat if they are aware in advance of the guide dog travelling

 

[ozmille]

Only been asked once on BA in CW I was in 11E and SWMBO in 11D, guy in 11F asked if SWMBO wanted to his seat and she said yes straight away as these are our preferred seats anyway. Not sure about changing to a worse seat though...

 

[Paddy55]

Couple of years ago was on that wretched QF A332 that had 2-3-2 seating in business (hope it's gone away)

Anyway, had aisle seat D with teenage girl beside me in middle and her parents wanted me to swap for middle E seat 2 rows further back :evil: and I was made to feel a heartless pr*ck because I didn't want to & wouldn't.

Note that cabin staff were nowhere to be seen when the female head-of-family offered me her opinions

 

[bugayev]

A couple of years ago was on QF94 in PE when the split cabin was available with half Skybed and half normal seating. Got onto the plane after truly nightmarish connections, looking forward to a snooze. The older lady sitting next to me kept telling me how her friend was on the other side of the plane and they had no idea these seats were here, etc etc. Kept telling the FA that her friend needed to sit next to her, but never asked me directly. FA turned to me and said "Would you mind swapping so this lady can have what she wants?" I smiled, looked at the lady and said "Seating is just one of those things, perhaps the person sitting next to her friend would like to swap so that the two of them can be together". Lady not amused, really has no choice and swaps with a gorgeous blonde!

Sometimes good things happen if you stick to your guns!

 

[simongr]

The dog is trained to lay quietly at the owners feet - try doing that with a 30kg labrador in row 4!- Row 3 at least provides some degree of room to allow that to happen (although not sure how they get on when they ask people to make sure bags and loose objects are in the overhead lockers )

and thanks for moving and showing some consideration

Found this on the Qantsas site - Information for travel on Qantas with a service animal - it doesn't say anything about seat allocation but you'd think they would preallocate a suitable seat if they are aware in advance of the guide dog travelling

I am still not following this. Was this on a 737? Did you move from j to whY?

 

[chrisb]

Couple of years ago was on that wretched QF A332 that had 2-3-2 seating in business (hope it's gone away)

Yes they have. The middle seat was blocked and turned into a tray table some time ago.

 

[Paddy55]

Yes they have. The middle seat was blocked and turned into a tray table some time ago.

Thank goodness for that!

 

[mannej]

I am still not following this. Was this on a 737? Did you move from j to whY?

I am still trying to follow. Would make more sense if it was DJ and row 3.

 

[Justchecking]

If people think its perfectly acceptable to ask you to move for their benefit then they need to expect you to say to no as well and be happy with that. Far too many people these days get around with the expectation that t the stars and moon realign themselves for me. i've seen it loads of time people making a big fuss they are not allowed to sit together etc, but then 2mins after takeoff its no longer a big deal and they shut up about it. Notice how they never offer to give you the better seat in the exchange.

I got in a flight recently and some guy in a middle seat behind me was complaining that I had his seat (I was in seat assigned on BP) and he needed to sit there because he was claustrophobic in the middle seat (who isn't). It was a completey full flight and FAs said nothing they can do. I was expecting to listen incessant whinging for the next 1.5hrs. Surprisingly claustrophobia is actually cured with IFE. Who knew?

 

[bugayev]

Yes they have. The middle seat was blocked and turned into a tray table some time ago.

And the ones that didn't now have a fetching silver and orange paint job!

 

[redslert]

Swapped twice in my life.

Once was opup to J and then the person next me want to swap because his wife was on the upper deck of the 747.
Happy to swap to upper deck as I was already happy with the opup.

Another time was flying domestic AA and husband/wife+friend were separated.
The husband asked me to swap to the back as there were travelling as 3 and couldn't get seated together. I was okay with it... he saw me reading a golf magazine during takeoff and gave me his golf magazine not that I wanted another one...

 

[simongr]

Some would say that the switch to the upper deck was in fact a better seat...

Another time was flying domestic AA and husband/wife+friend were separated.
The husband asked me to swap to the back as there were travelling as 3 and couldn't get seated together. I was okay with it... he saw me reading a golf magazine during takeoff and gave me his golf magazine not that I wanted another one...

This is what irks me he most - why (and I know the reasons) didnt they ask the two people next to their friend to move forwards instead asking you to move backwards? Maybe some feedback to QF for their new and fairly successful customer service training "in the event of a seat swap always request the requesting pax to accept a move backwards not forwards).

 

[haggiscat]

I once refused a guy who wanted to swap from 29 f into 29 d, telling him I preferred the aisle. He spent the whole flight in tears as he was phobic about flying. By the time I realized and immediately offered my seat he was so mortified he just covered us face and shook his head.

Happily though on one of my Qantas flights in the Bronze Age I swapped to seat a mother and daughter together and was rewarded with a Club pass. It was this first foray into the Club which led to the immediate realization that Platinum was a necessity.

 

[jamesatfish]

I've asked to swap seats with other pax on a couple of occasions, though mainly a long time ago flying UA J (award bookings) when I had no status. My then-girlfriend and I were on our first overseas trip together, and our first time in anything but Y, and for some reason the airline had allocated us separate seats on all the long haul flights (upper deck 2-2). On each flight we had to ask one of our seat mates to swap - I can't remember if we asked forwards or backwards as we just assumed that whoever we asked would be flying solo so couldn't see why it would matter to them if we swapped.

Knowing what I do now about seat allocation etc, perhaps the people who had carefully allocated a specific seat on that flight might have been annoyed by our request, but we couldn't see any reason why this might have been the case at the time so therefore didn't think twice about asking. FWIW we had no problems swapping seats on all 4 sectors.

A few weeks ago I was prepared to make another seat swap request on board - flying SYD-BNE in J with a travelling companion in Y. I wanted the double status credits so wasn't willing to change my seat allocation pre-flight but thought it'd be a reasonable request once on board to ask someone in Y to take my seat in J so I could sit with my companion. Fortunately we nabbed a last minute ODU at the lounge so the situation never arose.

 

[rechoboam]

If children are involved best to swap, as far away as possible, otherwise someone else near you will swap and the kids will be sitting next to you.

If you don't want to swap, just say
"I have severe problems with flying so I'm sorry but I'm not able to do that."
And tell the passenger maybe CC can help them.

 

[kempvet]

I suppose that the issue with the infrequent flier is that they probably do not know what a bad seat is, nor understand why seat pre selection exists in the first place and that either status or a few dollars has given some passengers a seat that they desire through experience.

Often when asked to change seats, usually the friend or whoever wanting my seat, has not asked the same question where they are seated, if friends or whoever, are separated due to inexperience or being late to the airport or even worse, too lousy to pay for seat selection, then why should it be the problem of the person who have achieved the seat that they want through their status or have prepaid a few dollars to get the seat that they want.

It becomes annoying on a flight from MIA-LAX in F which can be 6 hours when I have selected a seat a few weeks ago in the middle 2 of a 2-2-2 wide bodied plane so that if I want to sleep all the way I can, only to have someone with a standby upgrade expecting me to go the the outside 2 seats where either a window seat (annoying the person next to me with loo trips) or an aisle seat (vica versa) and having a puzzled look on their faces as to why I do not want to move.

 

[kempvet]

If you don't want to swap, just say
"I have severe problems with flying so I'm sorry but I'm not able to do that."
And tell the passenger maybe CC can help them.

Or if flying in Y pre order the diabetic meal and claim your aisle seat for medical (loo) reasons as insurance to stop the whingers, when the would be seat changer sees your diabetic meal coming it should stop the most ardent whinger.