Airplane Seat Swapping, Once a Gentle Sport, Turns Rough-And-Tumble | Hacker News Reader

Airplane Seat Swapping, Once a Gentle Sport, Turns Rough-And-Tumble

nytimes.com

9 pointsrobbiet4808 comments

What a weird article. I get that airlines are sleazy and their shitty systems are causing more people to not be able to to choose a seat in advance.

But do people really commonly refuse to move out of somebody else's seat? I fly a couple times every month, and while I have found people sitting in my assigned seat from time to time, I have never had anybody actually refuse to move once I politely point this out and show them my ticket stub.

Is this really a thing?

I've had it happen to me twice in the last year. One wasn't even a refusal, instead a simple dismissive hand waving gesture. I didn't relent and eventually got my seat, but had to have flight attendants intervene.

It's kind of astonishing to experience, to be honest. To witness someone committing to a thought process that is completely unfathomable to you.

I've had that happen to me a couple of times too. One of the most entertaining times was when someone refused to move from my window seat was because they wanted to "look out from the window". After I showed her my ticket stub, she just looked at me blankly. Then I explained to her that she is sitting in the wrong seat to which she replied that she doesn't understand.

I did relent because the flight attendant asked me nicely if I mind just taking the middle seat. It was the first time I got a window seat that wasn't over the wing!

These responses are enough anecdata[1] to convince me that this is a real thing.

I would guess that it is probably gradual adaptation to flight attendants not wanting to properly step in and deal with enforcing the rules, thereby empowering the most obnoxious/rude/sociopathic passenger to "win".

Now I kind of hope it happens to me sometime... sounds like a vaguely interesting problem to deal with.

[1]: the best kind of data!!

Happened to my fiancé(wife) and I flying to our own wedding.

I never used to care much which seat I got on a plane. But now that I'm flying with my husband and children, I find it stressful that I can't usually get us seats together in advance. They've always accommodated us at the actual airport checkin so far, but it does add a big worry to the travel day.

Solo travelers prefer to choose a seat in an empty row, but the plane is going to be full anyway. It's just an inefficient system.

I'm so glad I live in an area where I almost never have to fly anywhere, I can think of no reason ever to give an airline any money except in an emergency.

(Almost) everyone lives in an area where they almost never have to fly. There are very few people who need to fire up the helicopter to pick up some milk.

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