This person deserves an award for making the politest seat swap request I’ve ever seen…
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?
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