This person deserves an award for making the politest seat swap request I’ve ever seen…
In this post:
Family in Emirates first class writes letter to fellow passenger
OMAAT reader Ben (great name!) was traveling in Emirates first class on EK235 from Dubai (DXB) to Chicago (ORD). The flight was operated by a Boeing 777-300ER with Emirates’ “Game Changer” first class, where the cabin has just six seats.
Upon boarding, he found a letter at his seat. Interestingly, it wasn’t from the airline or crew, but instead, was from a fellow passenger. Specifically, it was from the father of a family of four, including two parents, a kid, and a baby.
Ben was booked in seat 1A, and the way the cabin is configured, three seats open up into each aisle — 1A, 1E, and 2A, open up to the left aisle, while 1K, 2F, and 2K, open up to the right aisle. The family with three seats had reserved two seats opening up to the left aisle, and one seat opening up to the right aisle.
That’s because the only seat with a bassinet is 1E, yet Ben had selected seat 1A, across the aisle from that. So the family presented him with a letter, giving him the option of switching to seat 2K. Among other things, the letter states:
- “We are dropping this note out of respect for your flight experience.”
- “We will do our best to limit the sound of the kids, but please understand they ‘do not understand.'”
- “When they do make random sounds, we can typically get it stopped within 60 seconds.”
- “If you do not want to switch seats, this is perfectly fine. We respect your decision. If you do want to switch, just let one of us know.”
Ben says “the letter is very impressive, especially the diagram,” and “of course I swapped.”
This is the politest seat swap request I’ve ever seen
Huge kudos to this guy for his incredibly polite way of asking to switch seats. Often people take such an entitled approach to switching seats, while this person took exactly the opposite approach. He just politely explained why a seat swap might be in everyone’s best interest, and clarified that there was absolutely no pressure to make the switch.
To add even less pressure, he didn’t even directly confront the person and force him to make a decision on the spot, but instead, did it in a non-imposing way, by just leaving a note. That also brings me to my next point…
This guy put a lot of effort into this letter! He could’ve just spent 10 seconds asking, but instead he had the foresight to not only type out a letter, but also to create a diagram with the cabin layout. Was that necessary? I don’t know. But either way, he wins the award for making the politest seat swap request I’ve ever seen. That doesn’t even factor in that he was traveling with two little kids, where finding spare time is even harder.
This sort of reminds me of the mother who was traveling on a long haul Korean Air flight, who created gift bags for everyone in economy apologizing in advance for her four-month-old crying.
Bottom line
A father traveling in Emirates first class left a letter for a fellow passenger, explaining they were traveling as a family of four, with one small child and one baby. The letter apologized for any noise, and also gave the option of swapping seats.
I’ve never seen anyone submit a seat swap request in writing, so while it took some effort, talk about a nice way to go about it!
What do you make of this letter from an Emirates first class passenger?
This is kind of funny as I flew ORD-DXB in Gamechanger in July. The other 5 seats were all traveling together. I ended up switching from 2E (the middle seat with the virtual windows which opens to 2K) to 1K (window with no door across the aisle) after I asked the family if they would prefer to put their elderly family member in 2E where it would be easier for his family member to check on him from 2K. In the end, I didn't see any of them the entire flight.
What a nice way to request a seat swap. I have been asked many times way less politely. On the other hand, I use ultimate ears on planes, and I never ever hear babies crying (or anything for that matter).
"he had the foresight to not only type out a letter, but also to create a diagram with the cabin layout" - I’m pretty sure it was actually done by his personal assistant (doesn’t take away from his approach though)
I'm a creature of habit. On EK, I *always* sit in 2K, and in the rare instance I'm not able to book that, it's 1K. I would have a difficult time switching.
However if someone left me this note, I would switch in a heartbeat. It was thoughtful, not entitled, and professional. And it makes sense that a family of four can have its own mini-section.
Well played, note writer, well played indeed.
Wonder if they will be subject to the new rule (i.e. flying on upgrades or awards in first)
If they paid cash then no. Otherwise yes.
Babies cry. They dont care about your comfort. Thats what they do. Get over it.
I don't care for or about other peoples children. Not my problem, mute them or stay the heck out of my way!
Stefan - I don't care about your entitled attitude, and don't want to see it clogging up my feed. Mute yourself or stay out of my way.
In a world full of cruelty, a little kindness goes a long way.
Amen!
I think the story of the Korean mother is an unfortunate example of how much stigmatization there is of children in public (especially in Korean culture where very few people have kids). Children DO exist in society and an airplane (especially economy) is a reasonable place to expect them in your vicinity. It sucks but that's the way the dice land sometimes.
Childrearing is hard enough work without feeling that your child is such a...
I think the story of the Korean mother is an unfortunate example of how much stigmatization there is of children in public (especially in Korean culture where very few people have kids). Children DO exist in society and an airplane (especially economy) is a reasonable place to expect them in your vicinity. It sucks but that's the way the dice land sometimes.
Childrearing is hard enough work without feeling that your child is such a burden to others that you have to prepare hundreds of apology bags for strangers.
Yet people are okay with Emirates' selective age discrimination.
I’m ok with it because crying children can detract from the first class experience. And before you say adults get obnoxious too, let’s be real. You cannot ban adults from the cabin. But you can ban them later if they act out. Kids don’t understand that. Crying kids don’t bother me, and full disclosure, I have two young ones, although they are past that age. But they have done it on occasions and it’s been...
I’m ok with it because crying children can detract from the first class experience. And before you say adults get obnoxious too, let’s be real. You cannot ban adults from the cabin. But you can ban them later if they act out. Kids don’t understand that. Crying kids don’t bother me, and full disclosure, I have two young ones, although they are past that age. But they have done it on occasions and it’s been done to me. But I get that people don’t want them in first class. The mileage vs cash thing is bullshit though. Because of course wealthy Emirati would flip out if they couldn’t take their kids in F. Let’s just call it what it is.
Michael could have just written, "I'm OK with it because the rich should be able to buy the illusion that they don't live in a society," and saved himself some time and keystrokes