Why do so many idiots ask to switch seats on planes these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have anxiety when it comes to flying, and I have a very small bladder. I always pay more for an aisle seat for those reasons. The anxiety makes me uncomfortable asking other passengers to move for me to get up to use the restroom if I’m stuck in a middle seat or window. I’ve passed on opportunities to hop on earlier flights because there were no aisle seats available. Unless someone wants to trade me for another aisle there’s no way I’m switching.

It’s fine to decline if someone asks you to switch

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don't mind as long as it is a switch to an aisle and in the same section of the plane. Sometimes a flight gets cancelled and you have to take whatever is left and that can mean separating couples and families that bought tickets together on the previous flight.

Who cares. You'll live people. You can go a few hours apart. Good grief, where they gonna go?

Being seated away from your children is actually a safety concern you dipshits.

How? Provide citations to incidents that have actually occurred.

They don't usually let small children be seated away from their kids. The flight attendants will hold the flight until the issue is sorted out.

Why are all these people saying they've sat separated from their kids? Why didn't the flight attendants sort it out if it's so dangerous?

Well, it depends on the age of the kids, obviously.

[Anonymous]

I'll switch to an equal or better seat, but not a worse seat. Only exception I would accommodate a parent with a small (below school age) child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people aren't willing to pay the extra fees when they book to choose their seats. Families mistakenly believe the airline will seat them together. I am a parent; if I can't afford to pay the fees to select my seat so my child sits next to me, I'm not going. I don't understand why your lack of planning should become my issue. Yes, I get the argument to have a little compassion, but I have seen too many parents get upset when they didn't pay to pick seats and the airline split them up from their children.

I 100% agree.

[Anonymous]

This just isn’t happening with the kind of frequency people complain about. It just isn’t.

[Anonymous]

IMO it is fine to ask someone to switch to an equal or better seat. I’d agree to switch myself to an equal or better seat if traveling alone- why not? But if the answer is no, that should be respected immediately.

But to switch for a poor seat, just out of the goodness of your heart? Especially when I have likely paid extra for my seat assignment? Meh. I say no. Maybe I would agree to do it, if it was a short flight and it was to accommodate a very small child.

If stuck in a terrible situation (myself and little kids in middles, separated)- I’d offer $100 (or more, if a long flight) when asking people to switch. That is the least I can do. Even if it isn’t my fault, it is not their fault either- and my kids are my responsibility. Why should they have to sit in a middle seat because of MY kid?

Also my kids have been fine being separated from us on flights, if needed, from a fairly young age- 7/8? For short domestic flights anyway. They have snacks and play on their iPad, and know where I am if they need me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't mind as long as it is a switch to an aisle and in the same section of the plane. Sometimes a flight gets cancelled and you have to take whatever is left and that can mean separating couples and families that bought tickets together on the previous flight.

This has happened to us on the last 2 out of 3 flights where our flight was cancelled and our family was completely separated with one child of medical needs. I told the flight attendant of this, but they didn't give a damn when they rebook our flights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll switch to an equal or better seat, but not a worse seat. Only exception I would accommodate a parent with a small (below school age) child.

My experience has been that most people do volunteer to trade when they're actually faced with the possibility of sitting next to a solo 5-10 yo. They may want to draw a hard line, but they also don't want to deal with sitting next to (and implicitly being responsible for) a kid on a long flight. They may be unhappy about it, but the choice is forced upon them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't mind as long as it is a switch to an aisle and in the same section of the plane. Sometimes a flight gets cancelled and you have to take whatever is left and that can mean separating couples and families that bought tickets together on the previous flight.

This has happened to us on the last 2 out of 3 flights where our flight was cancelled and our family was completely separated with one child of medical needs. I told the flight attendant of this, but they didn't give a damn when they rebook our flights.

What do you expect them to do if all the other seats have been assigned to other passengers? You aren’t entitled to someone else’s seat. Traveling commercially sucks sometimes. That’s just a fact of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't mind as long as it is a switch to an aisle and in the same section of the plane. Sometimes a flight gets cancelled and you have to take whatever is left and that can mean separating couples and families that bought tickets together on the previous flight.

This has happened to us on the last 2 out of 3 flights where our flight was cancelled and our family was completely separated with one child of medical needs. I told the flight attendant of this, but they didn't give a damn when they rebook our flights.

What do you expect them to do if all the other seats have been assigned to other passengers? You aren’t entitled to someone else’s seat. Traveling commercially sucks sometimes. That’s just a fact of life.

I'd generally expect them to reassign someone in the lowest ticket tier who hasn't paid to reserve their seat. They got a discount because they agreed to sit anywhere. I paid for a reserved seat next to my kids but lost that seat because of a last minute rebooking, most often due to weather or mechanical issues. I shouldn't get less than I paid for, which included a seat next to my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are what’s wrong with the human race.
I flew Iceland Air with my spouse and our 4yo. They assigned us 2 seats in the emergency row and one in the back. Then when I sat with the 4yo they said she wasn’t allowed in the emergency row. I’m certainly not having my 4yo sit alone that far away from us. Luckily some complete strangers said they would switch with us.

I’ve switched a row with someone and ordered a vegetarian meal. When they brought the meal to my original seat the person said, “ she’s in the seat behind me” they gave it to me. Took 5 extra seconds if that.

I don’t think you should give up a window or aisle seat for a middle if you paid for it. But any other scenario. Just be kind.

Did you opt to not pay to pick your seats or forced onto that flight and couldn't pick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't mind as long as it is a switch to an aisle and in the same section of the plane. Sometimes a flight gets cancelled and you have to take whatever is left and that can mean separating couples and families that bought tickets together on the previous flight.

This has happened to us on the last 2 out of 3 flights where our flight was cancelled and our family was completely separated with one child of medical needs. I told the flight attendant of this, but they didn't give a damn when they rebook our flights.

What do you expect them to do if all the other seats have been assigned to other passengers? You aren’t entitled to someone else’s seat. Traveling commercially sucks sometimes. That’s just a fact of life.

DP. the other passengers need to get bumped from their seat and compensated if they paid for it. It’s a passenger safety issue for small children to be separated from their parents, both in terms of sitting next to strangers and in the event of an accident where the child would be unassisted and the parent would move heaven and earth to get to the child to evacuate etc. DOT should do a regulation on this. kids under a certain age or anyone with special needs need to be seated next to caregiver.

[Anonymous]

Congress needs to pass legislation that airlines may not assign a solo seat to child under 10 who has an adult traveling on the same flight. Something like that. Then the airlines will suddenly figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD was placed in the last row of the plane/middle seat. She did not pay extra for seat selection so she had no options and headed to her seat (overseas flight). Turns out the aisle and window people were married and offered her the aisle. Since they were literally right at the rest room DD did not want to sit any closer to the people waiting or restroom smells than needed. She declined. They were annoyed. They gambles that they might end up with an empty seat between them and lost!

So your daughter thought the maybe 12" would save her from the smell of bathroom? LOL What a peach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congress needs to pass legislation that airlines may not assign a solo seat to child under 10 who has an adult traveling on the same flight. Something like that. Then the airlines will suddenly figure it out.

The Biden administration was actually working on this. There was a proposed rule entitling families with kids under 13 to sit together. DOT had horrible stories/complaints about airlines telling passengers to suck it up, that they should’ve purchased more expensive tickets if they needed to sit next to their 2 year old so badly, or that it was on them the find other passengers to switch. (Often families had been separated through no fault of their own— cancelled flights, getting bumped, etc.) DOT also noted it’s hard on other passengers who probably don’t want to sit next to an unknown 4 year old or switch their seats. So everyone loses.

This is entirely on the airlines but they put it on passengers to fight it out like crabs in a bucket. And it looks like other passengers are blaming the families instead of realizing that the airlines are creating this horrible situation, while making record profits.

Highly doubt anything will happen under the new administration, obviously.