How do people feel about even-trading plane seats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last week I flew cross country and had a middle seat. A couple came and they had the aisle and window seats on either side of me. They said they book that way in hopes the middle seat is not taken. They offered to trade me the middle for the aisle and I sure as hell took them up on the offer! But otherwise, I wouldn’t trade aisle for window, not with my bladder.

I refuse to switch with the absolute A-holes who do this. They make so much harder for people who actually want to sit together to find seats together.

F—k them. I keep my middle seat every time.

I fly Southwest, and before they started assigning seats, couples ALWAYS did this -- and almost always they stayed in their aisle/window seats. As long as they didn't try to talk over me, fine. But the first time one of them did, I would say "Would you like to switch seats so you can converse?" Either they did, or they stopped talking over me. Problem solved.

When my wife and I fly together, we almost never sit together. She likes to be as close as possible to the front of the plane and she doesn't care about middle seats. I'm usually a few rows back in the window.

Same. We don't really care about sitting together, we'd rather have the seats we each prefer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We fly a lot and have never had this happen (family of 5). People are making me worry about our upcoming trip lol.

I have had to separate from my kids because we had to change flights last minute, or were on Southwest. Only one time did I ask for someone to move because my youngest was 7, and there weren’t any seats near each other. A young adult went to sit in an exit row, so we could sit together and I hope it was win-win.

I do think this is mostly the airlines’ fault, but entitled people definitely make it worse.

It seems less likely to happen if you book everyone under the same reservation. Our worst experiences are when, for instance, my 16-year-old and I were booked together and my wife and the other children were booked together. In this scenario, that's two reservations but we executed them within minutes of each other and selected all seats together.

Well the airline in their infinite wisdom:
-moved my 16-year-old
-"upgraded" me to a different location
-kept my wife and 4 other children together

So that's 3 locations on one airplane. This is 7 people with the same last name who all booked to sit together.

It’s not realistic to expect 7 people to sit together.

Wait. Some people are saying that you should book early and pick your seats and then nothing bad can ever happen. If that's true, it shouldn't matter if you are picking 2 seats or 20. If it's not realistic to sit 7 together, it's not realistic for anyone to expect to sit together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

One time someone who would have been sitting next to my three-year old alone was refusing to switch for an equitable seat because they were already “settled in”, as several PPs have referenced. I loudly questioned why they were so eager to sit next to a three-year old by themselves and suddenly they were more than happy to switch.

You yelled at someone.

I would have left my headphones in and ignored you until the flight attendants had law enforcement forcibly remove you and your child.

I didn’t yell. Just said it loud enough so people around could hear. You sound like a pervert too, though, so I’m not surprised you wouldn’t trade.

+1 Anyone who would be sitting next to a young child alone and refuses to move has nefarious intentions. 1+1=2.

Then move the child and sit next to him/her yourself. The child can sit next to nice mom female me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

One time someone who would have been sitting next to my three-year old alone was refusing to switch for an equitable seat because they were already “settled in”, as several PPs have referenced. I loudly questioned why they were so eager to sit next to a three-year old by themselves and suddenly they were more than happy to switch.

You yelled at someone.

I would have left my headphones in and ignored you until the flight attendants had law enforcement forcibly remove you and your child.

I didn’t yell. Just said it loud enough so people around could hear. You sound like a pervert too, though, so I’m not surprised you wouldn’t trade.

+1 Anyone who would be sitting next to a young child alone and refuses to move has nefarious intentions. 1+1=2.

Then move the child and sit next to him/her yourself. The child can sit next to nice mom female me.

I used Southeast once with my two year old. There were only single seats by the time we got on. Luckily someone moved for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

One time someone who would have been sitting next to my three-year old alone was refusing to switch for an equitable seat because they were already “settled in”, as several PPs have referenced. I loudly questioned why they were so eager to sit next to a three-year old by themselves and suddenly they were more than happy to switch.

You yelled at someone.

I would have left my headphones in and ignored you until the flight attendants had law enforcement forcibly remove you and your child.

I didn’t yell. Just said it loud enough so people around could hear. You sound like a pervert too, though, so I’m not surprised you wouldn’t trade.

+1 Anyone who would be sitting next to a young child alone and refuses to move has nefarious intentions. 1+1=2.

Then move the child and sit next to him/her yourself. The child can sit next to nice mom female me.

I used Southeast once with my two year old. There were only single seats by the time we got on. Luckily someone moved for us.

That's usually the case but pp still had a choice of switching seats himself if the guy next to his kid refused. I've flown next to a young child when her parents were seated in another row. I didn't understand that choice either but we got through the 5 hr flight with a content child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you are ridiculous. You clearly want people to switch seats with you because you did not plan appropriately. ENOUGH! You are a sanctimonious idiot. I hope we never meet on a plane.

NP. Has no one heard of the airline screwing people over? I always pay for specific seats in advance for myself and my family. I choose seats all together. More than once, when we get to the airport they have moved our seats and they are all over the plane. I’ve asked what I’m supposed to do with young children and have been told by the person at the counter my only recourse is to ask people to switch seats. It’s beyond ridiculous that this is a business policy. Luckily, most people are smarter than the PP and quickly switch when they hear young children are involved. One time someone who would have been sitting next to my three-year old alone was refusing to switch for an equitable seat because they were already “settled in”, as several PPs have referenced. I loudly questioned why they were so eager to sit next to a three-year old by themselves and suddenly they were more than happy to switch.

I have young children and I do NOT believe the above. When young children are actually involved the airline gate agents will engage to help.

This is especially true if PP has proof of the prior seating. (I use paper printouts showing the whole reservation including the seat assignments and seat purchases).

I don’t believe it either. I think people are super passive

I’ve witnessed something similar and the person said no, but the kid was a little older (maybe six?). Never underestimate how entitled and selfish some people are.

It's entitlement and selfishness to throw a pity party tantrum because other people are not beholden to you.

All of these grown adults chomping at the bit to sit alone with unaccompanied young children. Good lord.

You have a problem with black-and-white thinking, don't you?

Thinking must be so hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you are ridiculous. You clearly want people to switch seats with you because you did not plan appropriately. ENOUGH! You are a sanctimonious idiot. I hope we never meet on a plane.

NP. Has no one heard of the airline screwing people over? I always pay for specific seats in advance for myself and my family. I choose seats all together. More than once, when we get to the airport they have moved our seats and they are all over the plane. I’ve asked what I’m supposed to do with young children and have been told by the person at the counter my only recourse is to ask people to switch seats. It’s beyond ridiculous that this is a business policy. Luckily, most people are smarter than the PP and quickly switch when they hear young children are involved. One time someone who would have been sitting next to my three-year old alone was refusing to switch for an equitable seat because they were already “settled in”, as several PPs have referenced. I loudly questioned why they were so eager to sit next to a three-year old by themselves and suddenly they were more than happy to switch.

I have young children and I do NOT believe the above. When young children are actually involved the airline gate agents will engage to help.

This is especially true if PP has proof of the prior seating. (I use paper printouts showing the whole reservation including the seat assignments and seat purchases).

I’ve only asked twice to switch to sit with my kids (once aisle to aisle and once window to aisle) and both times the person said no. The first time, my kids were 9 and 6 and the 9 year old started throwing up. Karma. The last time, they were older and married couple wanted to sit across from each other in the aisle. I totally get it but figured it was worth the ask. No one threw up and all was good.

It's not "karma" at all. Nobody is under obligation to accommodate you, other than the airline itself.
Such entitlement.

We had seats together. The airline moved me and the gate agent told me to ask the person next to them to switch. She refused. I was glad my kid threw up next to her. A very nice mom who was sitting in front of my kid passed a ziplock bag back to him.

Your child is a "you" problem. It's not anyone else's responsibility. Step up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you are ridiculous. You clearly want people to switch seats with you because you did not plan appropriately. ENOUGH! You are a sanctimonious idiot. I hope we never meet on a plane.

NP. Has no one heard of the airline screwing people over? I always pay for specific seats in advance for myself and my family. I choose seats all together. More than once, when we get to the airport they have moved our seats and they are all over the plane. I’ve asked what I’m supposed to do with young children and have been told by the person at the counter my only recourse is to ask people to switch seats. It’s beyond ridiculous that this is a business policy. Luckily, most people are smarter than the PP and quickly switch when they hear young children are involved. One time someone who would have been sitting next to my three-year old alone was refusing to switch for an equitable seat because they were already “settled in”, as several PPs have referenced. I loudly questioned why they were so eager to sit next to a three-year old by themselves and suddenly they were more than happy to switch.

I have young children and I do NOT believe the above. When young children are actually involved the airline gate agents will engage to help.

This is especially true if PP has proof of the prior seating. (I use paper printouts showing the whole reservation including the seat assignments and seat purchases).

I’ve only asked twice to switch to sit with my kids (once aisle to aisle and once window to aisle) and both times the person said no. The first time, my kids were 9 and 6 and the 9 year old started throwing up. Karma. The last time, they were older and married couple wanted to sit across from each other in the aisle. I totally get it but figured it was worth the ask. No one threw up and all was good.

It's not "karma" at all. Nobody is under obligation to accommodate you, other than the airline itself.
Such entitlement.

We had seats together. The airline moved me and the gate agent told me to ask the person next to them to switch. She refused. I was glad my kid threw up next to her. A very nice mom who was sitting in front of my kid passed a ziplock bag back to him.

Your child is a "you" problem. It's not anyone else's responsibility. Step up.

The point is they planned and it didn't work. For a young child, I'd move depending on the seat but for two adults, no in less there was a good reason. I have some serious health issues and sometimes need help (and I vomit so you don't want to be that close to me). (however I only fly for medical appointments at this point)

However, with three or more kids, you have to be realistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We fly a lot and have never had this happen (family of 5). People are making me worry about our upcoming trip lol.

I have had to separate from my kids because we had to change flights last minute, or were on Southwest. Only one time did I ask for someone to move because my youngest was 7, and there weren’t any seats near each other. A young adult went to sit in an exit row, so we could sit together and I hope it was win-win.

I do think this is mostly the airlines’ fault, but entitled people definitely make it worse.

It seems less likely to happen if you book everyone under the same reservation. Our worst experiences are when, for instance, my 16-year-old and I were booked together and my wife and the other children were booked together. In this scenario, that's two reservations but we executed them within minutes of each other and selected all seats together.

Well the airline in their infinite wisdom:
-moved my 16-year-old
-"upgraded" me to a different location
-kept my wife and 4 other children together

So that's 3 locations on one airplane. This is 7 people with the same last name who all booked to sit together.

But they kept all the young children with they adult that they booked with? That doesn't seem unreasonable, or like a problem that needs to be solved, other than I'd probably at least offer to switch with my spouse.

I'm not sure how this is an issue. The 16 year old can sit alone. Younger kids were with the wife. He could have switched with the wife to be with the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last week I flew cross country and had a middle seat. A couple came and they had the aisle and window seats on either side of me. They said they book that way in hopes the middle seat is not taken. They offered to trade me the middle for the aisle and I sure as hell took them up on the offer! But otherwise, I wouldn’t trade aisle for window, not with my bladder.

I refuse to switch with the absolute A-holes who do this. They make so much harder for people who actually want to sit together to find seats together.

F—k them. I keep my middle seat every time.

My husband and I do this sometimes. If the middle person doesn't want to move, that's fine with me, we'll stick with our better seats. We book the seats we like-- I like window seats, my husband likes aisle seats. We offer to switch with the middle seat person if they want to, bit if they don't, no problem.

+1

We do this too. Sometimes we don’t even ask to switch. I don’t need to sit right next to my husband.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most of you just suck. I generally won't move to a worse seat except for little kids to sit by their parent. But if I'm by myself and someone asks me to switch to an equivalent seat, I'll do it because I just prefer to be a nice person.

Same. I also let people merge in front of me. Let people with just a few items in front of me at the grocery checkout, hold the door for people and just in general am happier being kind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most of you just suck. I generally won't move to a worse seat except for little kids to sit by their parent. But if I'm by myself and someone asks me to switch to an equivalent seat, I'll do it because I just prefer to be a nice person.

Same. I also let people merge in front of me. Let people with just a few items in front of me at the grocery checkout, hold the door for people and just in general am happier being kind.

+1 to all of this.

I suspect most of the people on this thread do the same IRL. They’re just venting their inner troglodyte emotions here. The joy of the internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last week I flew cross country and had a middle seat. A couple came and they had the aisle and window seats on either side of me. They said they book that way in hopes the middle seat is not taken. They offered to trade me the middle for the aisle and I sure as hell took them up on the offer! But otherwise, I wouldn’t trade aisle for window, not with my bladder.

I refuse to switch with the absolute A-holes who do this. They make so much harder for people who actually want to sit together to find seats together.

F—k them. I keep my middle seat every time.

Please explain? Because the math is not mathing.

Whenever i try to book a flight lately with my family, i encounter planes for which literally the only empty seats are middle seats. Therefore it is impossible for me to find even two seats together despite a willingness to pay and what (to me) is a perfectly reasonable timeline for booking flights.

Now, i understand first-come, first served and i am not complaining. It the flight happens to have been filled by a bunch of singletons or people who otherwise don’t want to sit next to someone, fine, I’ll deal.

But it makes my blood boil when people do it deliberately in effort to game the system. I repeat, F—k them. I carefully selected my middle seat out of the dozens of middle seats and I’m keeping it.

I like your attitude better than what we encountered one time: We had window-aisle and asked the middle seat occupant if they would like our aisle seat. The person said "well, I'd really prefer the window." We said no and buckled our seat belts. When we have two seats you don't get to decide which of them you're trading for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once I am seated down and settled in I generally will not want to relocate, better seat or not.

"Settled in"? What, did you have to build a nest? You freaking sat down, with one item in your hands.

Why so nasty? I understand perfectly what she said. I have bad knees and arthritis so don’t want to move. The last time I heard a son story and gave up a seat I was stuck next to a smelly man who had a terrible cold, fell asleep, bought and drooled on me. I was sick for ten days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last week I flew cross country and had a middle seat. A couple came and they had the aisle and window seats on either side of me. They said they book that way in hopes the middle seat is not taken. They offered to trade me the middle for the aisle and I sure as hell took them up on the offer! But otherwise, I wouldn’t trade aisle for window, not with my bladder.

I refuse to switch with the absolute A-holes who do this. They make so much harder for people who actually want to sit together to find seats together.

F—k them. I keep my middle seat every time.

Please explain? Because the math is not mathing.

Whenever i try to book a flight lately with my family, i encounter planes for which literally the only empty seats are middle seats. Therefore it is impossible for me to find even two seats together despite a willingness to pay and what (to me) is a perfectly reasonable timeline for booking flights.

Now, i understand first-come, first served and i am not complaining. It the flight happens to have been filled by a bunch of singletons or people who otherwise don’t want to sit next to someone, fine, I’ll deal.

But it makes my blood boil when people do it deliberately in effort to game the system. I repeat, F—k them. I carefully selected my middle seat out of the dozens of middle seats and I’m keeping it.

I like your attitude better than what we encountered one time: We had window-aisle and asked the middle seat occupant if they would like our aisle seat. The person said "well, I'd really prefer the window." We said no and buckled our seat belts. When we have two seats you don't get to decide which of them you're trading for.

You present this like you’re the hero of the story when you’re really the villain.