LoveItaly

I cannot imagine taking a seat in an airplane that wasn't my seat. What is with those type of people? Oh wait, maybe they were raised by parents that taught them they were entitled to anything and everything their little hearts desired without any repercussions. I am being a bit sarcastic due to a thread in the Lounge, lol, which really made me disgusted but seriously..how in heavens name can a person justify taking someone elses reserved seat and then refusing to move to the seat assigned to them or getting all huffy and angry if they have to. Are these the same type of people that come home from their trips whining about how rude and cold the residents were in the country they visited per chance?

BTilke

I have seen similar things on trains as well...particularly on busy trains over holiday period where the smart travelers have seat reservations. I hate it when someone takes a clearly reserved seat, then puts up a big fuss when the rightful seat-holders show up. One couple made a huge production about it, taking nearly 15 minutes to get up and get their stuff, and kept asking the poor couple with the reservations where they were supposed to go sit not that the couple had "taken" their seats.

If someone very politely asked to switch seats with me and they had a good reason for doing so, I would probably oblige (but not always). If they were already plunked into my seat, however, and acted like they had a right to it, then I'd probably get pretty territorial and say no, not on this flight.

Wekiva

Robespierre

It's always interesting with you...never know what you are going to get...either great and helpful advice or bitter spitefulness. You do keep the threads lively though.

On a longer flight I'd have objected but for 60 minutes I didn't see the purpose in making the guy feel worse than he already plainly did.

travelgirl2

LoveItaly - I agree, who are these people that feel entitled to whatever seat they want and refuse to vacate when asked? Unbelievable. If someone tried to bully me as in some of these stories, I'd resist as hard as I could. Now, asking nicely and appealling to my good nature and being appreciative would be much more effective.

travelgirl2

refuse to vacate from a seat not assigned to them...

lyb

If someone refused to vacate my seat, I wouldn't argue with them very long. I would get the flight attendant immediately and if they were no help, well...I'm not sure what I'd do now, but I don't think it would be pretty!

LoveItaly

Wekiva, one time when I boarded a flight in Amsterdam to fly to SFO I saw my assigned aisle seat and I also saw the young overweight fellow in the seat next to my assigned seat. I thought "oh no". Long story short that dear fellow did everything he could to not intrude into my space. And he did seem to need to use the bathroom a lot and always aplogized. I felt so bad for him as I could only imagine his discomfort etc. Well actually I as a bit uncomfortable also. But anyway long story short at some point we started talking and it turned out he had been at the same university as one of my stepgrandson's and had been in the same theater group as my stepgrandson and etc. etc. It turned out that he couldn't have been a better seat partner, lol. I was always so grateful I didn't have an attitude when I sat down next to him.

Wekiva, I would imagine that your seat partner remembers your gracious handling of the situation to this day.

Apres_Londee

The thing about our situation was, these people weren't even offering to trade seats. They simply wanted to sit where they wanted to sit, mainly because the seat-stealers' designated seats were three random singles, not a block of three seats together. There really wouldn't have been problem if they had asked to trade another block of 3 seats. Instead they just took ours and figured us finding seats for ourselves was our problem. I probably had steam coming out of my ears by the time the flight attendant was able to come by.

As Sartre said, hell is other people

annw

Two weeks ago my aisle seat in Economy + on a return trip to SFO from Honolulu was occupied by a gentleman of robust stature with a tired 3 year old girl, and across the aisle were his equally robust wife and her two children under 5, one screaming, one merely sobbing.

I showed him my ticket and politely noted I believed the aisle seat was mine, but (sizing up the situation--5 of the 6 seats in the 3/3 row occupied by two robust parents and their three unhappy children, and my aisle seat in the middle of it all looking remarkably less attractive than I had hoped) I offered to see if the FA could find another aisle seat somewhere. He was extremely polite, moved immediately, and begged me not to trouble myself finding another seat (making it a bit harder for me to politely get the hell out of there).

So I kept the aisle seat, put on the headphones and prayed for nap time.

Like others here, I book seats months ahead. But I recall once booking seats from LAX to Dublin with our own family of four and due to an airline screw up, having seats distributed all over the plane. The FAs and some kind souls enabled us to rearrange ourselves, with at least a parent with each child.

The one that really ticked me off was about 20 years ago when I got my (prebooked) aisle seat and the man booked into the middle asked me to move to the middle seat, for no good reason other than he didn't want it.

I declined, after which he said, "They should only book women in the middle seat."

tomassocroccante

You've all realted too many peculiar stories about peculiar people to comment on them all!

Skipping over my own (very few) cases of rude sead-beggars and snatchers, I'll tell a flip-side tale.

REturning from San Juan to NYC, my friend and I arrive at the gate to find the ealier flight had been canceled, and ours was suddenly booked full plus many standing by for seats. When the offer to give up seats reached a $300 voucher (we'd get to leave on the next flight, two hours later) we accepted. They said "Hang around, if we don't need your seats you'll board etc." Finally the plane has loaded, we're sitting around waiting. We barely take note when a couple come back OUT the gate with their two little kids in tow.

Suddenly our names are called, we go up to the desk expecting to get our vouchers. "You can board now, just take any available seat and please hurry, we have to take off right away."

"We gave up our reserved seats, and now you want us to take whatever is left?!"

After getting it clear that we had taken the offer for $300, the agent said, "Look, if you'll just get on the plane and take the two empty seats, I've have $400 vouchers waiting for you at JFK when you land."

We boarded, ended up with aisle seats one in front of the other, and got home when we planned from the start.

Turns out the couple and the kids were among those standing by - but when they got on and were seated 2/2 not near one another, the 3-yr old threw an Olympic fit until the parents finally decided to deplane and take the next flight. Spoiled kids or considerate parents? We'll never know.

Although I guess it's nice for families to sit together, it's also nice for parent and children alike to be aware that other people have needs and desires as well. The overriding theme of these stories is that of individuals who believe their own issues are more important than those of others. (Like the gal who wants to be helped first in the customer service dept because she's "in a hurry" - clearly none of us waiting in the line could be in a hurry since we're not announcing it.)

I'm one of those who will do back flips in advance or politely grovel for an aisle seat on most flights: 6'3" and claustrophobic to boot. As for moving myself, as in all things I will entertain any reasonable offer! I think next time someone wants my aisle seat for her husband etc, I'll make a deal: you go find me another aisle seat, and you can have mine. Might as well let motivated hubby do the begging!

Nonconformist

I'm happy to say this hasnever happened to me, and I don't know how I would react.

But no-one seems to have noted potential child protection issues if a child is seated separately from its parents. Would the airline be liable for anything untoward which happened to a child in such a situation, I wonder?

julieah

I have travelled alone with my daughters, when they were young, and we did not have 3 seats together.
I never took someone else's seat, but kindly asked someone to switch with us, and they were always acommodating.
To just take over someone's seat is rude.

tomassocroccante

It would be a bad thing, of course, for a small child to be separated from both parents. The scenario I was in once (and the more typical it seems) is that one parent is with the child, and they want the 3rd seat for the other parent. This ought to be unnecessary IMO - in fact, a lot of parents separate themselves on a flight on the off chance that in an accident they are hedging against both of them losing their lives and leaving their children orphaned. I have friends who don't travel on the same flight for that very reason.

When I was talked out of my aisle seat I ended up in the middle of the last row (no recline) - when the FA offered a cocktail (at 9:00 AM!) and I declined, I mentioned I was sorry I had given up the seat, and I know I said it with real regret. The woman next to me - in the aisle seat - offered to switch. She said she really had no preference and that with me at 6'3" and her at about 5'3" she thought I looked pretty uncomfortable. I could have kissed her, but instead just accepted her offer, and we had a nice cross-country chat.

I don't consider this Karmic return for giving up the seat, but for all the elderly I've helped with baggage etc !

Loved the story of the two women who wanted the aisle and window and an empty seat between them, and to hell with the passenger who had the aisle seat. One would be tempted to sit between them and make them both pay for that presumption - but how many of us can pass gas on command? Then again, aggressive chatting and personal questions could move them to let you take that aisle back!

travelgirl2

Too funny, tomassocroccante. I'll have to tell DH your suggestions. His response was to pretty much just ignore them.

I wonder if you will get any comments about people taking separate flights so as to not leave their children orphaned. I took some heat for being pessimistic for wanting to sit next to my children in case of an emergency.

Kellye

I will have to say that when I took the train from Budapest to Novi Sad, I had a hard time figuring out what seats were reserved and what wasn't. We just chose some seats and sat down. Of course, if someone had come and said I was in their seat, I would have moved pronto. Luckily, the 1st class car was pretty empty so it didn't appear to be an issue. I haven't had to deal with the situations that many of you have had on planes and quite amazed...well, maybe not amazed, I am a high school teacher. Considering how territorial they are about seats in a classroom, I can imagine people deciding that they want to sit somewhere and that's that on a plane too, I guess! LOL I always stake out the aisle seats too since I have RLS. I can't abide being confined and unable to stretch out a little because of that condition--not my height!

Back to your original question though...it would depend on the situation and the politeness of the request I guess as to whether I would move for someone...and length of flight, just like so many others. Considering I "haunted" the NWA site waiting until they opened up seats for assignment on my trip to Europe last summer, setting my seat assignment at the strike of the hour they allowed it, I'd be pretty annoyed by others who weren't as compulsive about it as well!

LoriS

If the seat is comparable or better, I switch. I try to fly on two-seat side of the plane--so no loss to me for aisle or window (as long as it's not a bulkhead seat).

If it's a middle seat, sorry--no switch--even if they are already sitting there.

FWIW, my husband and I always book seats together, yet there have been times when we got to the airport when the airlines have changed our seats and we needed to switch with someone. If two seats aren't together and we have to seat on a 3-seat side, we book two aisles or window and aisle and then switch for a middle seat to make someone happy!

Saraho

This spring my daughter, her not quite two year old and I booked three seats on USair several months in advance. The flight was cancelled four times in five hours. Finally they put us on a rescheduled flight that was leaving in ten minutes at a different gate and told us to run to get on and just to pick out any seat row, since they could only book us in three widely separated middle seats. We were exhausted by that time, so we told the slightly annoyed rightful seat owners to get the flight attendants to straighten things out. And they did. Nobody in their right mind wants to sit next to an unaccompanied 20 month old.

Now we never fly USair again!

ShelliDawn

A slightly different variation was asked of me this year on my return flight from London. While waiting in the boarding area I was paged by the airline staff. When I got to the counter I was asked if I had specifically chosen my seat, which was a bulkhead aisle seat, and would I mind changing seats. It seems that there was a tall passenger they were trying to seat in a bulkhead seat for the extra leg room. I almost felt obligated to give up my seat due to courtesy, but decided no, I wanted to keep my seat. I had gotten up very early in the morning to do online check-in and had been able to switch my seat at that time. I figured he could have done the same thing. The staff were very pleasant and didn't try to pressure me in any way.

Turns out the gentleman and his girlfriend were able to switch because they got the middle and other aisle seat next to mine. He was at least 6'7"! I think I would have felt really bad if I had seen him scrunched up in a non-bulkhead seat, but part of me also thinks that if you are that big, you should have made more effort to get a bulkhead seat long before an hour before take-off.

cigalechanta

shelli, my husbnd is 6ft 4and half and even bulk head is not leg roomy but if it's by the toilet. (husband's health problem it works for us)

surfmom

Like everything else, there are gray (grey?) areas.

How old are the children?
- We had the airline randomly change seats on us to put my 2yo alone in the back of the plane. You want to sit with him ? Go for it! (He was coded incorrectly in the system as an adult).

Would they be alone or with one parent?
- I'll happily take the middle seat alone if I don't have to entertain children !

Is it a group of adults that want to be together ?
- nope

There can always be extinuating (sp?) circumstances... flights changed, booked too late to get seats, canceled, small children alone, etc.

Of course, a little consideration on the part of everyone would be a good thing, but our society has lost that common courtesy thing.