How do people feel about even-trading plane seats?

[Anonymous]

Literally someone asked me to change to 1A from 3A in business to sit with their spouse. I don’t really like bulkhead seats but I didn’t want to sit next to someone who would be upset for a 6 hour flight so I said yes. Not a huge deal.

We usually give someone an aisle seat in our row instead of the middle seat they got so we can sit with our kids. They are usually very happy to accept.

[Anonymous]

Frequent flier here: there are no issues with asking to swap seats with someone so long as you are offering a clearly better seat: middle to aisle or window, moving closer to front of plane, ideally both. The exception is if someone has a lot of stuff and moving would act a pain. The ask has to be made respectfully and without a hint of pressure. Ask yourself: if I were on the other side of this, would I be happy or sad to get this offer. Nobody gets offended when asked, “hey, do you want my seat in first class so i can sit next to my companion back in row 42.”

Window-to-aisle exchanges on the same row are right on the line, and need to be handled tactfully. Asking someone to take a worse seat so you can be with your family group is a huge etiquette breach and should never be done, it’s obnoxious. I had someone ask me to move to a middle seat once in that situation and I was just flat-out no. If you are the one who wants me to move, you are the one taking the middle seat, its absurd to ask otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frequent flier here: there are no issues with asking to swap seats with someone so long as you are offering a clearly better seat: middle to aisle or window, moving closer to front of plane, ideally both. The exception is if someone has a lot of stuff and moving would act a pain. The ask has to be made respectfully and without a hint of pressure. Ask yourself: if I were on the other side of this, would I be happy or sad to get this offer. Nobody gets offended when asked, “hey, do you want my seat in first class so i can sit next to my companion back in row 42.”

Window-to-aisle exchanges on the same row are right on the line, and need to be handled tactfully. Asking someone to take a worse seat so you can be with your family group is a huge etiquette breach and should never be done, it’s obnoxious. I had someone ask me to move to a middle seat once in that situation and I was just flat-out no. If you are the one who wants me to move, you are the one taking the middle seat, its absurd to ask otherwise.

One addendum: you may never, ever sit in the seat you want to ask for before the seat-holder gets there and then ask the person to take another seat while you are sitting in theirs. This happened to me once on an international flight, a woman sat in my aisle seat in premium economy and asked if I would take her center seat; she pretended not to understand English to boot and just kind of pointed at the seat she wanted me to take. Umm, no. She argued with flight attendant for like five minutes about why she shouldn’t have to move. Outrageous but some people suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like aisle for aisle or window for window in a nearby row, no extra legroom, etc.

Is this taboo too?

Of course it is. If someone asked me this I would act deaf dumb, blind and mute all at once. I would literally act like I didn’t hear or see them.

Buy the seat you want to sit in.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like aisle for aisle or window for window in a nearby row, no extra legroom, etc.

Is this taboo too?

Yes. Sit in the seat you are assigned. There's no reason to bother others here.

[Anonymous]

Person being asked to trade gets the choice.

Like if you’re trying to pair yourself with your spouse, and they are sitting with someone, etc etc…

Overall, they should be presented with the choice (yes or no) and first choice of seat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like aisle for aisle or window for window in a nearby row, no extra legroom, etc.

Is this taboo too?

The person asking for the trade needs to take the aft seat and -everything- about the seats needs to be otherwise identical including overhead luggage being either at the seat or forward of it.

I paid extra for that forward seat because I have a connection. I do not want any extra delay.

[Anonymous]

Your failure to plan is not my emergency. Buy the seat you want.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Literally someone asked me to change to 1A from 3A in business to sit with their spouse. I don’t really like bulkhead seats but I didn’t want to sit next to someone who would be upset for a 6 hour flight so I said yes. Not a huge deal.

We usually give someone an aisle seat in our row instead of the middle seat they got so we can sit with our kids. They are usually very happy to accept.

This happened to me once and I said no. I pick a first class seat based on attempting to be further from the galley to avoid noise. Grown adults that want to sit together are not a compelling reason to me and people shouldn’t even ask. Ask for little kids and ask nicely with no expectations and most people will accommodate.

[Anonymous]

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’m the PP. I also always have paper printouts. What airlines have been helpful to you in this scenario? Maybe I’m picking the wrong ones. This has happened to us three times, though we travel fairly often so it could be that the more you travel the more opportunity it has to happen.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t care and would do it for a parent to sit with their kids but I wouldn’t move away from my kids.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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.