How do people feel about even-trading plane seats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to remind people that there may be reasons that parents really want to sit next to their kids and tweens. My older daughter would be totally fine sitting alone since she was like 4. My younger kid has severe anxiety and has a hard time sitting with people she doesn't know. Can she do it? Yes. But she will sit there the entire time in a nervous state and have a breakdown when we arrive at our location (and yes, she sees a therapist and is on medication).

We once got our seats switched (that we booked well in advance and paid for) and I had to beg people to switch. She was 11, so I know that most people would think she should sit by herself, but it would make it even worse for her if I had to explain to people why we needed to sit together.

Lesson of the story-- you don't know what is going on with a family, so maybe just be a decent person and switch seats if asked nicely?

You all can pile on this person, but I would rather just let a parent figure out what's best for their kid. If someone nicely asked me to switch, I would say yes. I don't need an explanation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to remind people that there may be reasons that parents really want to sit next to their kids and tweens. My older daughter would be totally fine sitting alone since she was like 4. My younger kid has severe anxiety and has a hard time sitting with people she doesn't know. Can she do it? Yes. But she will sit there the entire time in a nervous state and have a breakdown when we arrive at our location (and yes, she sees a therapist and is on medication).

We once got our seats switched (that we booked well in advance and paid for) and I had to beg people to switch. She was 11, so I know that most people would think she should sit by herself, but it would make it even worse for her if I had to explain to people why we needed to sit together.

Lesson of the story-- you don't know what is going on with a family, so maybe just be a decent person and switch seats if asked nicely?

You all can pile on this person, but I would rather just let a parent figure out what's best for their kid. If someone nicely asked me to switch, I would say yes. I don't need an explanation.

+1 If my choices were to teach some parent a lesson on what I think is the best way for her to handle her kid's illness, or to let the kid and parent have a decent flight, I'll pick option B. But I hope you all enjoy your smugness while you sit next to a child in tears.

[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.

DP here. Settling in can be a whole process. Take out my EarPods, take out my iPad, place my bottle of water in the seat back pocket. Put my phone also in the seat back pocket. Wipe down all surfaces with a cleaning wipe (if things look dirty). Pull down the window shade if it’s too sunny, pull my charger out and plug it in, pull my snacks out, ETC…!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to remind people that there may be reasons that parents really want to sit next to their kids and tweens. My older daughter would be totally fine sitting alone since she was like 4. My younger kid has severe anxiety and has a hard time sitting with people she doesn't know. Can she do it? Yes. But she will sit there the entire time in a nervous state and have a breakdown when we arrive at our location (and yes, she sees a therapist and is on medication).

We once got our seats switched (that we booked well in advance and paid for) and I had to beg people to switch. She was 11, so I know that most people would think she should sit by herself, but it would make it even worse for her if I had to explain to people why we needed to sit together.

Lesson of the story-- you don't know what is going on with a family, so maybe just be a decent person and switch seats if asked nicely?

You all can pile on this person, but I would rather just let a parent figure out what's best for their kid. If someone nicely asked me to switch, I would say yes. I don't need an explanation.

And it’s nice of you! But the pile on she’s getting is because her main character syndrome has blinded her to the fact that every other person on the plane has their own situation. Yours is flexible it seems. Others such as mine is not. “Being a decent person” doesn’t mean agreeing to trade seats and her conviction that she and her daughter are the most deserving people on the plane is shortsighted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DP here. Settling in can be a whole process. Take out my EarPods, take out my iPad, place my bottle of water in the seat back pocket. Put my phone also in the seat back pocket. Wipe down all surfaces with a cleaning wipe (if things look dirty). Pull down the window shade if it’s too sunny, pull my charger out and plug it in, pull my snacks out, ETC…!!!

Like working in the coal mine. JFC, listen to yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DP here. Settling in can be a whole process. Take out my EarPods, take out my iPad, place my bottle of water in the seat back pocket. Put my phone also in the seat back pocket. Wipe down all surfaces with a cleaning wipe (if things look dirty). Pull down the window shade if it’s too sunny, pull my charger out and plug it in, pull my snacks out, ETC…!!!

Like working in the coal mine. JFC, listen to yourself.

People are allowed to be as fussy as they want. They don't need to switch seats to accommodate someone who doesn't want to deal with their own kid who apparently is perfectly fine on the plane anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to remind people that there may be reasons that parents really want to sit next to their kids and tweens. My older daughter would be totally fine sitting alone since she was like 4. My younger kid has severe anxiety and has a hard time sitting with people she doesn't know. Can she do it? Yes. But she will sit there the entire time in a nervous state and have a breakdown when we arrive at our location (and yes, she sees a therapist and is on medication).

We once got our seats switched (that we booked well in advance and paid for) and I had to beg people to switch. She was 11, so I know that most people would think she should sit by herself, but it would make it even worse for her if I had to explain to people why we needed to sit together.

Lesson of the story-- you don't know what is going on with a family, so maybe just be a decent person and switch seats if asked nicely?

You all can pile on this person, but I would rather just let a parent figure out what's best for their kid. If someone nicely asked me to switch, I would say yes. I don't need an explanation.

And it’s nice of you! But the pile on she’s getting is because her main character syndrome has blinded her to the fact that every other person on the plane has their own situation. Yours is flexible it seems. Others such as mine is not. “Being a decent person” doesn’t mean agreeing to trade seats and her conviction that she and her daughter are the most deserving people on the plane is shortsighted.

It’s also fine to say no. But this thread is full of people who feel personally victimized/attacked/put-upon by someone merely ASKING.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to remind people that there may be reasons that parents really want to sit next to their kids and tweens. My older daughter would be totally fine sitting alone since she was like 4. My younger kid has severe anxiety and has a hard time sitting with people she doesn't know. Can she do it? Yes. But she will sit there the entire time in a nervous state and have a breakdown when we arrive at our location (and yes, she sees a therapist and is on medication).

We once got our seats switched (that we booked well in advance and paid for) and I had to beg people to switch. She was 11, so I know that most people would think she should sit by herself, but it would make it even worse for her if I had to explain to people why we needed to sit together.

Lesson of the story-- you don't know what is going on with a family, so maybe just be a decent person and switch seats if asked nicely?

You all can pile on this person, but I would rather just let a parent figure out what's best for their kid. If someone nicely asked me to switch, I would say yes. I don't need an explanation.

And it’s nice of you! But the pile on she’s getting is because her main character syndrome has blinded her to the fact that every other person on the plane has their own situation. Yours is flexible it seems. Others such as mine is not. “Being a decent person” doesn’t mean agreeing to trade seats and her conviction that she and her daughter are the most deserving people on the plane is shortsighted.

It’s also fine to say no. But this thread is full of people who feel personally victimized/attacked/put-upon by someone merely ASKING.

It’s not fine to say no. The rejected passenger will get huffy and glare at you the rest of the flight. They won’t take a no well.

[Anonymous]

It’s also fine to say no. But this thread is full of people who feel personally victimized/attacked/put-upon by someone merely ASKING

This thread has several "You politely declined to move; therefore, you're a child rapist" respondents

And the "personally put-upon" posters are the ones upsetting you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

First, "reasonable to you" means nothing, if the majority of the seats are already booked. But that's beside the point.

In the scenario you are describing, it doesn't matter *which* two seats the earlier bookers took - there still won't be any seats together for your family. Let's say that no couple traveling together did what you are complaining about, and all took either the middle and window or middle and aisle seats. It's no easier for you to find seats together, because there's still only one seats available in the row.

How is this not obvious?

Because singletons in windows/aisles could still sit next to couples in window/middle or aisle/middle you freaking dumb@$$.

How is THAT not obvious?

NP. I'm not following. Are you saying that you think couples should only ever book window+middle or aisle+aisle, never aisle+middle or aisle+window?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to remind people that there may be reasons that parents really want to sit next to their kids and tweens. My older daughter would be totally fine sitting alone since she was like 4. My younger kid has severe anxiety and has a hard time sitting with people she doesn't know. Can she do it? Yes. But she will sit there the entire time in a nervous state and have a breakdown when we arrive at our location (and yes, she sees a therapist and is on medication).

We once got our seats switched (that we booked well in advance and paid for) and I had to beg people to switch. She was 11, so I know that most people would think she should sit by herself, but it would make it even worse for her if I had to explain to people why we needed to sit together.

Lesson of the story-- you don't know what is going on with a family, so maybe just be a decent person and switch seats if asked nicely?

You all can pile on this person, but I would rather just let a parent figure out what's best for their kid. If someone nicely asked me to switch, I would say yes. I don't need an explanation.

And it’s nice of you! But the pile on she’s getting is because her main character syndrome has blinded her to the fact that every other person on the plane has their own situation. Yours is flexible it seems. Others such as mine is not. “Being a decent person” doesn’t mean agreeing to trade seats and her conviction that she and her daughter are the most deserving people on the plane is shortsighted.

It’s also fine to say no. But this thread is full of people who feel personally victimized/attacked/put-upon by someone merely ASKING.

That isn’t what “daughter with anxiety” poster says at all. She thinks to be a decent person you must say yes, to her, even if that means abandoning an elderly relative, or ignoring your own medical needs, or heck maybe triggering your ow anxiety.

If she had the humility to understand that everybody else on the plane was equally important to her, she wouldn’t receive the pile-on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to remind people that there may be reasons that parents really want to sit next to their kids and tweens. My older daughter would be totally fine sitting alone since she was like 4. My younger kid has severe anxiety and has a hard time sitting with people she doesn't know. Can she do it? Yes. But she will sit there the entire time in a nervous state and have a breakdown when we arrive at our location (and yes, she sees a therapist and is on medication).

We once got our seats switched (that we booked well in advance and paid for) and I had to beg people to switch. She was 11, so I know that most people would think she should sit by herself, but it would make it even worse for her if I had to explain to people why we needed to sit together.

Lesson of the story-- you don't know what is going on with a family, so maybe just be a decent person and switch seats if asked nicely?

Am I missing something? Why wouldn't you just pay extra for an assigned seat to ensure your daughter sits with you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to remind people that there may be reasons that parents really want to sit next to their kids and tweens. My older daughter would be totally fine sitting alone since she was like 4. My younger kid has severe anxiety and has a hard time sitting with people she doesn't know. Can she do it? Yes. But she will sit there the entire time in a nervous state and have a breakdown when we arrive at our location (and yes, she sees a therapist and is on medication).

We once got our seats switched (that we booked well in advance and paid for) and I had to beg people to switch. She was 11, so I know that most people would think she should sit by herself, but it would make it even worse for her if I had to explain to people why we needed to sit together.

Lesson of the story-- you don't know what is going on with a family, so maybe just be a decent person and switch seats if asked nicely?

Am I missing something? Why wouldn't you just pay extra for an assigned seat to ensure your daughter sits with you?

Did you read PP's post? They *did* pay extra for assigned seats next to each other.

[Anonymous]

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.

We always do this. In fact, that might have been us. There's about a 50% success rate for the middle seat staying empty in our experience, and a 100% success rate of someone taking the window rather than sitting next to my tall husband who takes up too much space

It once happened to me after a rebook due to flight issues--I ended up between a couple who each had a "service dog" (pretty sure they weren't since I noticed them individually prior to boarding and they were studiously ignoring each other to not alert the gate agents). After boarding they said they were married and would prefer to sit together with their dogs. The one next to me then proceeded to spend the entire time looking at rescue animal websites. Anyway, OT I guess.

[Anonymous]

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