Say you’re traveling with friends or family, and you’re split between different cabins. Is it appropriate for someone in economy to visit someone in first class, for example?
Continue reading: Can Your Travel Companions Visit You In First Class?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I lived in the Middle East in Abu Dhabi and many times when flying Etihad first class to the US or Europe there would be locals in first and their helpers/ staff would be in economy. Too many times the helpers/ servants from economy would be up in the first class cabin the entire flight with their employers, basically running interference between them and the flight attendants, serving them, attending to them, etc. it was disruptive to other pax but the flight attendants didn't do a thing about it.
That sounds annoying…sitting in separate cabins is likely a choice…if you need to be together, downgrade yourself or upgrade everyone else. And being separated for hours is unlikely to hurt anybody. Time apart is good for everyone! :-p
Early in the summer, I traveled in first class on LH, BOS-MUC. There was a group of 4 in first class section of the lounge. Three ended up in First, the one woman was in economy or PE - her seat was in the lower level of the A380. She came up for an hour and hung out with the rest of the group. Given I was flying on points (as I bet they were), I didn’t give it much thought - I was just thrilled to be in First. Like me, I feel like these guys were on points too. Seeing they occupied three F seats and had one visitor for an hour - seemed ok to me. On the other hand, If I had paid full boat, I’d probably be a little miffed.
I’m in favor of banning lower class passengers from visiting upper class patrons. Much in the same way that, when dining in a restaurant with a reservation, I forbid acquaintances (—I no longer have friends—) who spot me from the bar or an unreserved table in the restaurant from approaching me at my reserved table in order to say hello. My practice has had the accumulated benefit of not needing to process as many greeting cards and invitations as I used to receive. If you wish to speak to me at a restaurant, you must either be on my reservation or reserve your own table next to mine. Otherwise, the unreserved should keep a respectable distance from all reserved tables. It’s the natural order. Sincerely yours, Archduke Feukhoff.
There is a good reason not to encourage visiting. Turbulence. Unsecured visitors are a risk to themselves and those buckled in their seats. Clear air turbulence can happen without warning. Better safe than sorry.
In 1989 I was flying in first from JFK to Frankfurt on TWA. My travel companion was in coach. He walked up to see me and the flight attendant nicely said that I could go visit him, however, he could not visit me. As he was leaving the cabin he laughed and said that he paid more for his ticket then I did. I was on miles, he was not. Decades later he and I still laugh about this!
“ If I had paid full boat, I’d probably be a little miffed.”
But you did pay “full boat,” you just used points instead of a national currency. You should not accept lower service standards because you used award points.
Don't do it.
It is such a lame game. And that is what it is.. a game.
Even "kids visiting parents" should not be allowed. If the kid needs something, they can tell a coach FA, and the FA could go and get the parent. The parent can go back to coach.
I know the FA on that flight. She booted your friend out and laughed and said nice try. Decades later she and I still laugh about this!
I swapped with my daughter in PE when on LH F from MUC on the A380 so she could work - the crew was fine with that and I had a nice time chattig with her seat mates for the flight.
We had to switch back close to landing
No names, no pack drill ….
As a regular LHR-DEN-LHR traveler, it was not uncommon to be disturbed by small people (booked into economy class) who needed mum who was travelling in J (sometimes with a male companion). Unbelievable.
Worst of all, on one occasion an FA from economy asked mummy to attend to her unruly offspring. For her trouble, the FA received a foul mouthed tirade from the most unladylike J passenger and told to go forth and multiply!
After a short while the Captain advised the passenger to apologise to the FA, attend to her monsters or face the wrath of the Denver Police. The vile mother did not return to her seat, thank you Captain.
I may be misremembering but I believe BA does have an official policy allowing F pax to invite a guest for one drink.
I rarely travel with someone in a different cabin but JAL allowed me to do this on JFK-HND (I was in F and he in Y) and they let him sit with me for around 45 min and served us drinks and snacks.
First class is such a niche product nowadays and some people book it specifically for the privacy. I suppose when you're Lionel Messi or Angela Merkel you 'll want to minimise the risk of having a constant stream of random people coming to talk to you, and reserving a seat in a very private cabin is a way of achieving that, so I can understand that both crew and passengers may feel very protective of that privacy.
When it comes to business class, I don't think that there's such a big issue with privacy (after all, some of the widebody business cabins are enough and some of the regional configurations don't even come with a curtain), but it's more to do with protecting the integrity of the product in that they don't want to be perceived as giving away something that they normally sell for a hefty premium over the average Y fare. That's still a legitimate aim, obviously, but not really a concern for fellow pax who generally aren't there for the privacy and/or aren't expecting much of it.
Whenever I have been in that situation, I made sure to visit the other person(s) in the back in order to avoid any friction - not that I had been expecting much of it in the context of what have been shortish flights without great premium seating.
Buy the seat and cabin you want--and then stay there. [Whether you use cash, points, or a combination is irrelevant.]
If you want to talk/interact with others, buy seats next to each other in the same cabin. Leave your seat when you need to use the bathroom. [Do not climb over others/ask them to move unless necessary, and try to keep the aisles clear.]
Business/First passengers should stay in their cabin. The toilets in Business/First are for their exclusive use. No using the toilets in Economy if those in Business/First are occupied. Economy is already [over-]crowded. No visiting Economy. If your children need you, buy them seats next to you in the same cabin.
Economy passengers should stay in their cabin. The toilets in Economy are for their exclusive use. No using the toilets in Business/First. No visiting Business/First. If you want to spend time there, buy a Business/First ticket.
I flew DOH to HEL on Finnair once. We were stranded at the gate for nearly 3 hours, with no AC in the Middle East in August. Most of us were coming off short red eyes. I just wanted to eat and go to sleep and that wasn’t happening - so I had zero patience for what happened. The FAs made the mistake of letting someone from coach sit near their friend/family in biz while we were at the gate. The group seemed to think they owned the front cabin after that. I was awakened by the biz passenger yelling at the FAs when they wanted to throw out the main cabin passenger who was sleeping in biz. My biggest concern was that the FAs didn’t have control of the cabin. What would this group have done in an emergency? Rush to the front to all be together? Should NOT be allowed.
On couple occasions, people have made us stink about not being allowed to have your guests have extended stays in the premium cabin. One of those happen on an overnight flight from Denver to FRA.
It really ends up, destroying the peace of people who paid to be in that cabin.
That alone should be a reason why I should not be allowed
I guess it’s a personal thing but when I travel with my husband (or anyone) we seldom talk on the plane. It’s nice to sit together and all, but I would see no need to “visit” someone if they were in a different cabin.
It can be equally annoying when people are traveling together in the same cabin but split up. I flew BA J LHR-LAX last month and there was a party of 6 - all adults I might add, spread across cabin. They were constantly wandering and chatting with each other, blocking the aisle, etc. It was a daytime flight, but still a bit irritating.
I flew from ZRH to YUL in Swiss First as I was upgraded at the gate due to overbooking (probably because I am LH SEN). Rest of my family was travelling in Business Class. During the flight just after the pre-arrival meal I kindly ask if one of my family members can join me for a quick coffee. Crew said it was no problem, she got the family member and some coffee for us and we had a coffee time for about 5 minutes.
I realize this is a unique situation but Inhad a flight years ago on Delta ATL to Aruba for spring break w my wife and kids. We barely made the connection in AtL and I was told at the gate I had been upgraded. My wife said go for it and she would stay w the kids. Well when I walked back to see them I ran into my former college roommate and his family. First was half empty (lots of mis connections due to weather). I asked if he could come up and take the empty seat next to me. The FA was fine with it and talked to us throughout the flight. They served him the meal and we drank a number of cocktails.
Obviously don’t assume it will happen (and I did ask) but at least Delta in that case allowed it
Yes, but it's one thing if you live together with the other person and quite another if they're a colleague, or even a favourite cousin, that you only see every couple of years and want to make the most of the limited in-person time you have with them.
Oh...,. it is ever so tedious & taxing even just in speaking about the unwashed & untouchable castes ...
... lol
But could you at least allow a one time exception for my social media selfie with you ?
Look there goes your point! Straight out the window!!
Next time, focus on the topic and avoid verbal rambling, if you can manage that?
You seem the sort of person whose 'acquaintances' would look the other way rather than approach you. Your self-awarded 'upperclass' schtick sounds tedious.
The problem is that everyone has a situation that the rules should not cover so it is just easier not to allow it at all.
I asked once at TK J to have my god child, who was flying with his parents in Y, visit me. The request was escaped to the purser and he approved it. They were also very nice and explicitly asked him for any drink wishes.
I would only ask this if I feel this will not disturb anyone, in my case J was only 30% occupied and I had two seats to myself.
There's really no need to, it's very much not an interesting or funny story.
In fact, it's a poorly disguised humblebrag about something that happened when seatback screens hadn't been invented yet.
Not if you're American.
Then the people without access to premium credit cards paid your ticket while you got points back for buying toilet paper at Costco.
Your outrageous credit card fees are simply a wealth transfer from the poor to the loud-mouthed Whole Foods wh*res ruining our cities in Europe.
Heads up: yoga pants aren't appropriate attire and no, you can't pull it off.
Don't do this. Buy a J seat if you want whatever spawn sitting there. I would have been all over this had I been in that cabin.
Or maybe you can fly in Y where you belong, trash.
So you thought the rest of the First cabin would love to listen to god-awful boring yapping from two old geezers instead of having a quiet flight.
This comment thread is full of people with zero manners. My god, you don't belong in premium cabins.
And you couldn't go to business class because ... what? You had to disturb the First cabin which you didn't pay for and didn't deserve (LH SEN, lol) while flying on credit card points in business in the first place.
You and your trashy family can go back to Y.
If I am in intercontinental first I have paid a lot of money to buy peace and space and I don't want it debased by visitors. Why cannot people grasp the basic idea that if you want to be in First or Business just BUY A TICKET FOR THAT CABIN...and show some respect to the people who are likely subsidizing your cheap seat in the back. KEEP OUT and yes use the bathroom in your own cabin!!
I think it is hard to justify that when several airlines have bar areas for socializing. Meeting at the Emirates A380 bar and meeting at the first class seat are fairly similar in terms of danger.
If a first class cabin has two seats (eg: JALs A350), I believe that is tacit approval from the airline to allow a guest into the cabin.
I was flying Etihad First about 8-9 years ago and the flight attendant from business class came up and asked if I wanted my friend from Biz class to come up to visit and I initially said no. Later in the flight she came back and asked again, my friend came up and we had drinks and some snacks together for about an hour. The first class flight attendant even allowed him a shot or two off the first class menu. it was pretty cool.
I upgrade to 1st to Hawaii with my son. My sister and son were riding in econ and the boys wanted to hangout for a bit so my son and sister swapped seats. The flight attendant said it wasn't allowed and amounted to stealing. My sister was disappointed as they said it would be ok if my kid sat in the open seat next to my nephew.