Seat poacher

[bussyboy]

Strange, no stories of row 1 passengers boarding from rear doors and just sitting at the back of the plane...

 

[anat0l]

Didn't there used to be lots of anecdotes of Y pax scurrying to sit in unoccupied J seats when VA first introduced Business Class?

Not exactly seat poaching, as it hasn't come at the expense of someone who has a pass for the seat, but close.

 

[fly2earth]

Strange, no stories of row 1 passengers boarding from rear doors and just sitting at the back of the plane...

that would be called e coli poacher
why i hate sitting at the very back of the plane

 

[Justinf]

Back when Virgin Blue did the first row of economy as a kind of a poor excuse for a premium economy.
i was on a flight from Perth to melbourne.
it was back when they had live to air TV. Foxtel.
economy had to pay for it but if you were booked in the Y+ it was free. To pay, you just swiped your credit card.
I was on the window with nobody in the two seats next to me.
it was a Saturday night in footy season which meant you could watch the whole game live on the seat back screen, or in my case it was embedded into the bulkhead.
30 minutes into the flight, happily watching the AFL footy for free and with a cold beverage and some young bloke plonks himself next to me and starts watching the rugby league.
at first I thought he was just waiting for the bathroom and sat there until it was empty.
but nope. Stayed there for a good.
obviously his team wasn’t doing too well and he started swearing at the screen. Hey, I’ve been there with my TV many times.
by now it really started to annoy me so I beckoned the FA subtlety and he was sent back to where he came from.
an hour later he came back and said to me he had to watch the last 10 minutes of the game and to not say anything.
I didn’t need to. he was banished once again.
I left the screen on to what he was watching and was quite amused when his side lost in golden point. I resisted the urge to walk back to him and tell him the result.

 

[drron]

Seat poachers can be found on Japanese trains as well. We had to eject a couple from our seats on the Fuji Excursion express last Friday. They actually sell standing only tickets. The impulse to just sit somewhere is strong.

 

[fly2earth]

Seat poachers can be found on Japanese trains as well. We had to eject a couple from our seats on the Fuji Excursion express last Friday. They actually sell standing only tickets. The impulse to just sit somewhere is strong.

I've done it once or twice on the Narita Express but the cabin manager always have a way of finding out if your seat was supposed to be empty. Only because the entire cabin was half empty. But still good experience overall (although not enough to warrant paying for it). I don't think they're strict enough near the terminal stations to care so you have a few minutes to experience what the seats are like in case you're wondering.

 

[Quickstatus]

When I was in Denmark, the trains had lights above each seat. Green means available and red means reserved. A seat may be green for a sector but red for another sector indicating a passenger has booked that seat for the indicated sector. Easy to evict seat poachers.


Edit : Denmark London, the trains to Bath...

 

[fly2earth]

When I was in Denmark, the trains had lights above each seat. Green means available and red means reserved. A seat may be green for a sector but red for another sector indicating a passenger has booked that seat for the indicated sector. Easy to evict seat poachers.

One time from Mt Fuji to Tokyo (Kawaguchiko to SJK station I had the privilege to snag a unreserved seat and my seat light remained green throughout the entire journey). Mind you it was the weekend and on a Staruday weekend before New Year's Eve and the train was packed from head to toe as packed as the Tokyo MRT during rush hour and everyone around me who boarded from Kawaguchiko were forced to stand up and give up their seat to another passenger somewhere along the journey basically everyone who boarded between the tourist stops between Kawaguchiko and Otsuki. (I was a "little" cheeky and sat on the reserved seats between Kawaguchiko to Otsuki where the JR begins, and as I bought a standby ticket for the Kawaguchiko to Otsuki segment so not sure if that is technically allowed. EDIT: Was TECHNICALLY not allowed to board that train type because I booked a slow train for the Kawaguchiko to Otsuki segment whereas I boarded an express train). Can't believe my luck! Either that or the pax who was supposed to take my seat saw my face and forfeited his ticket to the JR gods

 

[encryptededdy]

I've done it once or twice on the Narita Express

The Narita Express is one of the few trains in Japan where they don't have a separate unreserved seat car, and instead do it the European way with the lights above the seat. Therefore, those people might not be poachers per se.

 

[KSC]

Twice in one North America trip passengers sitting in my seat. Booked 2A on one domestic flight on Alaska Airlines the other was seat 1A on Hawaiian Airlines.

 

[UP4014]

I've sat in the wrong seat, I'm sure people do it all the time. If you don't fly much you wouldn't know or pay attention.

 

[DC3]

Twice in one North America trip passengers sitting in my seat. Booked 2A on one domestic flight on Alaska Airlines the other was seat 1A on Hawaiian Airlines.

Genuine poachers or just bewildered?

 

[KSC]

Genuine poachers or just bewildered?

Seems people in the states just don’t understand seat numbers even in single digits or just entitled as I’m sure it must go unchallenged.

The Hawaiian Airlines flight seemed they were a young couple I think were in the rap game. I told them the seats they were already allocated. They looked at me, apologized and got out politely.

They then got stuck in their original seats and sat next to someone the whole flight that could not stop talking to them, probably a super fan. Their new passenger friend was saying “OMG I’m like blah blah” my brain just activated noise cancelling.

 

[Forg]

The Hawaiian Airlines flight seemed they were a young couple I think were in the rap game.

Debbie Harry & Chris Stein?
They invented rap & then discarded it as inadequate, like Sony did with VHS.

 

[DC3]

Odd how the poacher tends to be found in a better seat/row than that which was allocated.

 

[Quickstatus]

tends Is always

Just cleaned up a scriveners... you're welcome

 

[Mattg]

I boarded a flight on the weekend and immediately observed when I entered the plane that someone was in my seat. I just told the flight attendant at the door and they promptly sorted it out with their colleague without a fuss.

 

[Seat0B]

I was on a run of work trips a couple of years back that involved a LOT of flights. I repeatedly selected seat 2C. Except for that one flight where it wasn’t available, so I selected seat 2D instead. After 12 days of boarding flights and sitting in Seat 2C, I rocked up to 2C and found someone sitting in it. Said it was my seat, asked them to move, and they did - to the back of the bus.

On day 14, same thing. Boarded and someone was in 2C. Ok here we go again, I thought. However, I politely enquired if they were in the right seat, and they assured me they were. Pulled out their boarding pass and showed me - 2C. Oops, this was my turn to try 2D !

I apologised profusely, and took seat 2D with my cheeks absolutely flaming. As it was quite a long flight, we had some time for a longer explanation across the aisle, and I must say he saw the funny side of my attempt to evict him from his seat. It’s made me paranoid about checking and re-checking my own boarding pass before trying to take a seat, that’s for sure.

 

[AIRwin]

I repeatedly selected seat 2C. Except for that one flight where it wasn’t available, so I selected seat 2D instead.

2C or not 2D, that is the question?

 

[ols]

2C or not 2D, that is the question?

That was punderful
Puntastic.