Two United passengers complain about empty economy seats for opposite reasons — one wants to move for free, the other wants it stopped entirely.
making this a safety issue is indeed ridiculous, but it is exactly the culture that US airlines have bred by proclaiming that FAs are "primarily here for your safety" and making every FA whim a safety issue.
it really should not have been hard to predict that passengers will take their cue from the airlines accordingly, and decide that their whims are all safety issues too!
You’re giving the first passenger too much benefit of the doubt. This isn’t a case of them not understanding, they clearly stated why they couldn’t move. They understand perfectly well; they just don’t like the answer. Happens all the time.....
The second passenger is correct. Depending on the aircraft, Some airlines limit how many upgrades can be accommodated due to weight and balance constraints. That said, the crew isn’t responsible for policing the cabin to ensure every single person is in their exact assigned seat.
Then whose job is it? Clearly it IS their job because your absolutely be booted from F. Why is an extra legroom seat not treated as the same. W&B aside, if airlines are going to monetize EVERYTHING, they need to be held accountable for that monetization and ensuring that people get ONLY what they paid for. Isn’t that their whole shtick now anyway with breaking down the fare classes even more. Instead of a W&B issue, passenger 2 should make this a bait and switch issue; they paid for a service that was implicitly “exclusive” but then UAa failed to maintain that exclusivity.
Is there a United policy that allow or disallows seat changes, e.g. within the same paid seat category? I am not referring to moving to an extra legroom seat, simply moving into a less busy row or moving from a middle to an aisle seat if such is available.
The first commenter pretty much meets every definition of the term "entitlement whore". Too cheap to pay for a preferential seat? Too bad. Suffer. The second commenter? Go for it, girlfriend. Whatever floats your boat and causes trouble for someone.
I would like to know what flights on UA have that many empty seats in Economy Plus, though.
I was on a UA flight from MIA to SFO. I got the exit row to myself due to Ua silver status. The exit row ahead of me only had 1 guy in the aisle. But we each had entire rows.
There was a few behind us that moved when the door closed. It was across from me and ahead of me. Still empty beside each of us. Then a few more went to the aisle across from him and then behind him. So 4 people moved. Including all thier stuff.
Now i wasn’t going to do or say anything because i still had my space and lets just say i could be accused of baseless identity politics if i did. So i let it be. I got it for free.
The other guy though turned them all in. The FA marched everyone of them back to thier middle seats. They protected and the FA was clear that they could pay the few to sit there (she even had the payment machine) …around 150 for the flight or move back.
Protests and insults to the FA about being cheap and nasty. But they all marched back to thier middle seats.
Im happy we didn’t have to get police involved.
Mads Campbell is entirely right. If I buy VIP access to an event and the area is half empty, I would feel entirely entitled to a refund if the organizers started allowing general admission ticket holders into the VIP.
You may feel entitled but it's the organizers event and if they felt like moving general admission into your 'VIP' section that is their choice. Same goes for an airline.
Both sound like Karen's. At the end of the day you should expect to be seated in the seat you chose or were assigned with another passenger right next to you. If open seats are available then ask the cabin crew if it's ok to move.
A while back I was flying SFO to Tokyo in United economy and I was mentally prepared for a rough ten hours. I boarded in group two and took my window seat with the hope that my seatmate would be of reasonable size and clean. Amazingly nobody sat in my three seat block so I was delighted to have poor man's business. Before takeoff two women asked to move to the empty seats next to me. It was a little disappointing but I didn't feel like I had any right to complain or get bent out of shape. It ended up being a pretty pleasant flight
It's bizarre. Being able to move into an empty seat within the same cabin has always been normal apart from the likes of Ryanair etc (for obvious reasons). I consider it a default, except when crew makes an announcement that we should keep our assigned seats for weight and balance. There's a reason why those announcements are only made on select flight where pax distribution impacts performance and not on all flights. Never had a problem with that. But then again, my main and only requirement is as much privacy as possible so I only move if that gets me further away from other pax, not closer.
Moderately frequent United flier here, flying a lot of basic economy (unless I find a cheap cash upgrade):
I review the seatmap on the United app for empty rows (but not exit rows) immediately prior to boarding. If there is an empty row that I fancy, I board in group 2 (brandishing my Explorer Card, having already used my two United Club passes and two $50 hotel credits for rando positioning airport hotels [shout out Charlotte Red Roof Inn for $49]), and firmly and quietly sit down in my chosen empty row. I have done this dozens of times, and not been called out in it. I then relax, deploy my laptop on one tray table, my mouse on another tray table, and observe the jammed domestic first class cabin featuring bad food and free-flowing poison while I complete remunerative tasks.
Don't be a loudmouth and enjoy the friendly skies.