PJKeay

To the above post - yes it could have an effect!

You get your seat configuration and there is a seat left in the middle. Mr X, a man travelling alone turnds up and is told there are 3 seats on the plane left. The one between you and your husband, or 1 of 2 free seats in a pair. Not suprisingly he goes for the latter. I then arrive two find no pairs of seats left.

Jed

PJKeay - When Mr. X considers a row of 3 with 2 seats occupied, he is always going to choose "1 of 2 free seats in a pair," no matter which is the empty seat in the row of 3, middle, aisle, or window.

PJKeay

You're right, I'm wrong!

ndf321

Remember also that people who wait until check-in to get seat assignments are not only affected by those of us who made our seat selections in advance online, but also by all the people with connecting flights before that flight, who may well have checked in much MORE than three hours before the flight.

buckspc

Whats the latest you can switch your seats on the web seat selection before the flight leaves, anyone know? Buck

ndf321

I am curious about that, too, Buck.

For a domestic flight, you can do online check-in between twenty-four and like two hours before the scheduled departure, right? You can't do online check-in for international travel, but maybe you can log on the even that last day and select seats.

I have a feeling the current seating situation for my flight will change a lot during that last day. Here's why:

The first class seating is only half full. The front several rows of coach are reserved for Elite status frequent flyers, and those seats are less than half taken. The rest of coach is completely full, except for a few singles.

Here's what I think will happen: the Elite frequent flyers who are currently at the front of coach will spring for an upgrade to first class. Then those better coach seats towards the front will open up and it will be open season. Therefore, I have been, and will continue, to obsessively check the seating plan, all the way up until the minute we leave home.

Does anyone know if this is possible? Or am I just dreaming to think that maybe I can have a flight that isn't a complete sardine-can of misery?

MsDama

there are flights that arent sardine cans of misery.. just dont fly when you know the rest of the flock is flying.
anyway-- regarding those choice seats in the front of the aircraft.. an airlines website shows what it thinks you can have - non exit row, non bulkhead (officially designated for handicaped persons), and non-preferred seating, ie up front. pick anything then call the airline up. phone reservations agents can give you whatever seat you want (excluding the exit row). Those seats designated for Elites are simply a courtesy, not law. I gues it depends on the airline, but mine at least will let you have whatever you want, even if it is in the preferred section. its a courtest, not a rule of thumb. be friendly to your res agent, maybe theyll let you have that seat.

ive found that if a person w/o a prepreserved seat goes to check in and finds out that only middle seats are left, they will always choose a forward middle. somehow 8b is heaps better than 25b. arent you glad you chose 25c rather than 8d.... now the seat next to you is empty and the elite is crammed into his/her row without any extra space afforded to us in the back.
dama

ndf321

We're flying on Tuesdays, which is probably less crowded than the weekend, right? Maybe I'll just stay back there in Row 29.

Also, no one has bought a seat on this flight for weeks. And when you do a search for Pittsburgh to Rome, Continental tries to send you through Newark then Amsterdam. You really have to dig for the one-connection option. The price coach tickets for our itinerary is now almost double what I paid. So I don't anticipate the flight filling up for those prices.

In case it isn't completely obvious by now, I am a little OCD.

cynic

Hold on Jed, I think PJKeay has a point. When I read his little scenario I was picturing two rows of 3. One row with two empty seats that are together and one row with one empty seat. I have faced this choice many times. If the middle seat is vacant in row A but there is a window and a middle in row B. I'll take the row B window. If row A's vacant seat is an aisle and row B has a window and a middle, I'll take row A's aisle seat, because I prefer the aisle seat as do a lot of my friends. So it could have an effect. It doesn't really bother me, but it does have an effect. The only thing is if you hear that the flight is close to being full, please be courteous and sit together so that other couples or families may do the same.

Jed

"If row A's vacant seat is an aisle and row B has a window and a middle, I'll take row A's aisle seat....." This scenario requires that when a following couple (or family) reaches the ticket counter, there are only single seats left. I suspect that is possible but unlikely. If it does happen, I would imagine that the ticket agent/flight attendant would make an effort to seat the couple together.

In any case, do you follow your own advice? If "you hear that the flight is close to being full," do you choose a middle seat leaving the aisle seat empty, so as to increase the chances that a couple after you would have more of a chance to sit together? Or do you chose an aisle seat with an open middle seat?

How many other combinations/permutations/probabilities can we think of?

BTW, if you ever find yourself between an older couple, ask him if his name is Jed. He will be glad to give you the aisle seat.

cynic

Jed, You sound a little hostile. I don't know why. I didn't have any problem with what the OP was doing. I really just wanted to comment on the logic of PJKeay's scenario. Your post indicated that his reasoning was flawed. I just wanted to point out that his argument was correct in certain instances. Until I got to this thread, the morality of this tactic has never occured to me one way or another. Upon reflection, I decided it probably would be more courteous to not try this tactic on a flight that you know is nearly full. As for myself, I'm normally one of the first people on the plane so it's never really been an issue, but I have given up a aisle seat to sit in the middle somewhere else for a couple who didn't have the sense to get there early enough to get seats together.

ndf321

I suppose this could become an ethical issue, but since we are willing to tke the middle seat to accomodate the poor person that might possibly get seated between us, I think I am off the hook. I am confused about how this could affect any other couples on the plane, though.

Also, just because my husband and I are a couple traveling together doesn't mean we count as one consumer. We are two consumers, each with a right to the same things every other consumer is entitled to, including selecting our seats on a first-come first-served basis.

Jed

cynic - Hostility is not one of my failings, which you can see from my other posts. I was just trying to apply reasoning to the discussion.

Didn't you get a chuckle out of my last two paragraphs?

Let's call a truce.

cynic

I wasn't trying to start a fight with you Jed honestly. I'm a fan of reason, which is why I took an interest in your debate with PJKeay. I was just a little taken aback by the tone of your post and your choice of words. Asking someone if they take their own advice and discounting sound reasoning by asking how many permutations we can think of is not exactly adding reason to the discussion, but it is hard to judge someone's tone on a message board, so if you say you didn't mean it in a hostile manner then I'll take your word for it.

cynic

BTW, I don't really see this as a moral choice or anything. Sure, it would be more courteous to not employ little tricks like this, but as long as you are prepared to be gracious to the person you are asking to trade with, I don't see anything really wrong with it. For example, my boyfriend doesn't like the aisle seat in some rows on SW because there is a bar under there or something so he can't stretch his foot under there. He probably wouldn't switch with you if only offered the one choice like the woman who wrote above. Just don't get huffy in the rare circumstance that someone chooses to remain between you when you choose to sit apart. It would be rude to decide to punish the person by constantly reaching or talking over him when you chose to sit apart.

RufusTFirefly

Every paying traveler has the right to pick whatever seat is available at the time he/she buys a ticket. Doesn't matter if she/he is traveling alone, or one of a couple, or a family of 8. There's no moral or ethical issue here at all. I prefer aisle seats, Mrs. Fly likes windows. If the plane is configured with window and aisle together, that's what we take. If not, we sit apart for a few hours. We're not children, so it's not like we're toddlers being kept apart from mommy or daddy. Mrs. Fly always sleeps through 90% of a flight anyway, so it's not as if we're missing any scintillating conversation.

BudgetQueen

Just another seating fact. Nonrevenue passengers- airline employees and family get any unassigned seat. So even if it is still showing open- the seat can disappear at the gate. I have a few times- been asked "how" I got "their row", when I showed up last boarding- waiting to clear on a full plane. (employees board by seniority).

PJKeay

I'm considering funding a research post at either Oxford or Cambridge to study the mathematical permutations involved in seat selection on aircraft. This will answer this most taxying (sic) of issues once and for all.

Don't laugh - in England people get research grants to study things like "the best way to pour tea from a teapot".

Cassandra

PJKeay, you may find this drastically overdetermined! ;-)

You must factor in all those strange but important bits of information you find on websites such as seatguru.com -- the planes with no window at certain rows, the planes with obscured view of overhead screens, the planes with curved floors that make windowseat footroom cramped. And then there's eastbound vs. westbound with respect to morning sun vs. setting sun. Then there's whether it's an odd or even numbered flight, which determines whether food service starts at the back or the front (there's a mnemonic for that which I've now forgotten).

I look forward to publication of your results -- what journals would be interested in this?

ndf321

A fascinating project! I will have to take careful notes on the flight!

When you consider the combinations and permutations when additional family members travel with us, the possibilities are endless! And just think of the potential applications of this research! It could be modified to apply to:

Movie theaters - what's the best way to not have to sit next to a stranger and have a spare seat for you coat?

Conferences and seminars - what's the best seat to be able to sneak out of the session if it is dull and hit the casinos instead?

Adolescent social disorders - what's the best seat on the school bus to avoid having to sit with the bully five stops down the road who gives you a terrible wedgie everyday and steals your lunch money.

But really, I am doubtful that our devious plan will work. That's life!