You used to be able to take any open seat in your cabin once the doors closed. You might move closer to the front, grab an aisle seat, or head for an empty row in the back so you could stretch out.
As a kid I remember making a bee-line for an empty middle row on an American Airlines flight from Honolulu to Sydney, so I could lay down and sleep.
- Self-upgrading was never allowed. You couldn’t just move from economy to business class.
- Now, though, airlines charge for ‘premium’ seats in coach so they don’t usually let you go from regular coach to extra legroom seats for free, even if the seats are empty once the doors close.
- People might not pay if they knew they could take an extra legroom seat for free that was empty once everyone had boarded!
The norms have changed but passengers don’t always know this in advance, which makes for a stark clash of expectations. One United passenger was shocked to learn that nobody would be permitted to spread out into wide open seats on a recent flight … unless they had their “payment method handy.”
@united insisting people either pay for upgrades or stay packed in like sardines on flights with plenty of open seats is poor customer service. pic.twitter.com/MoRW9PD5US
— Ben Houg (@benhoug) November 25, 2024
They made an announcement saying “if you wanted to move seats, have your payment method handy.”
— Ben Houg (@benhoug) November 25, 2024
Years ago open seats were pretty much fair game. Now different airlines take different approaches. Southwest still has open seating, for a little while longer! And once you’re on the plane it’s Lord of the Flies complete with seat-saving and crumpled up tissues to keep people away from the middle seat they hope to save.
In the past, United has argued that passengers moving up to open seats with extra legroom is immoral; that it’s unfair to other passengers and it’s stealing from the airline.
The customers who choose to pay for Economy Plus are then afforded that extra space. If you were to purchase a Toyota, you would not be able to drive off with a Lexus, because it was empty. ^BA
— United Airlines (@united) September 7, 2019
But according to this logic United shouldn’t be able to sell cheap fares or offer MileagePlus awards because it is unfair to people that pay full fare? Of course passengers who buy Economy Plus get Economy Plus and are in no way harmed when other passengers get it free – via elite status, via luck of the draw or otherwise.
Sitting in an open seat that can never be sold (because the plane is already in the air) is not the same thing as taking a physical car off of a lot where it is waiting to be sold. In the former case United loses nothing, in the latter case the loss is real.
It seems strange to compare United slimline economy seats to a Lexus, although I once had a flight attendant compare Economy Plus to a Mercedes.
The better argument is: we do not allow passengers to move to better seats without paying extra (except under our own terms, for our operational convenience or elite perks) because that would encourage passengers to take a chance rather than paying on future trips. The actual reason: It’s not allowed because we don’t allow it, not because of some broader moral imperative. Their plane, their rules, and they can change the rules even after many decades of forming passenger expectations.
Changing to an open seat nobody else is using can’t be stealing because the airline hasn’t given up anything, and claiming it harms other passengers isn’t right either because other passengers still got exactly what they paid for. It is against the airline rules, not theft, but it is still not allowed if a flight attendant decides not to allow it.
100 % accurate !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Sitting in an open seat that can never be sold (because the plane is already in the air) is not the same thing as taking a physical car off of a lot where it is waiting to be sold. In the former case United loses nothing, in the latter case the loss is real.”
This is a really simplistic view. Just because a plane is in the air doesn’t mean the seat can’t be sold. There is ALWAYS an opportunity for ancillary sales…just look at the drink cart!
That being said, there is both a perceived and a tangible loss. Passengers who paid for the upgraded seats have a perceived loss where they paid for something that others received for free. They in turn, would be less likely to upgrade in the future leading to United’s realized loss. Likewise, if free upgrades in flight become the norm, United would recognize a decline in upgrades due to passengers waiting until on board to upgrade for free.
Not the same. People who pay for economy plus are guaranteed that seat, not so with people who are just hoping to get a better seat.
If enough cheap seat passengers try to move forward that could affect the balance of the aircraft and present a safty hazzard. One or two, probably not, 10 more definitely., especially if the passenger moves several rows forward.
Won’t someone think of the children corporations? YOU’RE TAKING FOOD FROM THE MOUTHS!
Boohoo.
You paid for a middle seat in the back of the plane, you sit in the middle seat in the back of the plane. Simple as that.
“No waivers, no favors” is still very much a thing.
Seems to me that you shouldn’t be able to take a seat that costs more even if it is unoccupied. You can take a first class seat mid-flight if you bought an economy ticket because that seat came with additional perks. The same is true of any seat that costs extra.
It’s not buying something, it is more like renting something like a house. I don’t get to move myself to a big house on the beach with a pool just because it is empty when I rented a small house two blocks off the beach. Though I’m sure there are people who would argue that is fine since it wasn’t rented anyway.
Do FAs know if the seat was supposed to be empty? Not sure about United, but Delta and Alaska also have free alcohol in the premium economy.
Also not uncommon to have middle premium economy seats open on Alaska and Delta, since you can choose to not upgrade to a middle.
Why should other passengers lose an open middle to some entitled basic econ passenger?
Delta fixes this by naming a separate class, Comfort +. One can only move within their class or downgrade.
I recently had a full row of 4 in Comfort + instead of Premium Select.
Flight attendants like these are a reason to check the seating charts before checking in to make sure that you have a seat that is as far away from others as possible. Most flights I have flown in the last two years have been fairly full but at least the ones that haven’t been that full haven’t had flight attendants trying to nickel and dime you on every little thing.
I’m waiting for them to start charging me for putting my stuff in the empty seat beside me while we are in flight. Or stretching out in that empty seat.
I typically ask the FA first as courtesy. Haven’t been told no so far…
Years ago as a single man I would travel frequently for work. Amongst the first to board, I would take my seat and watch the other passengers board. Frequently they would be very attractive young women and I would hope that they would take the seat next to mine. Alas, that never happened. Much later, checking in for a flight, I mentioned that to the agent, who replied “you’re a valued frequent flier, as a courtesy to you and for your comfort we try to leave the seat next to you empty.” My reply, “you call that a favor???”
The airline’s don’t allow you to jump into any seat for good reasons. You entitled flyers are the one’s that cry the most about almost anything. I don’t want to see people taking empty seats that I had to pay extra for. I guess everyone feels entitled when they fly. Or so it seems…
If you pay for premium and there is an empty middle seat next to you then you should not lose that extra width because someone who paid less wants to move up.
Following some peoples logic everyone should run to first and business class to see if there are empty seats.
I always pay for seat selection if it’s an option. And then I am done….I don’t want people asking me if they can switch seats with me, I don’t want people milling around looking for a better seat, esp if I have an open middle seat next to me. (I know, grouchy…). DD and I’ve flown multiple times on long haul flights and I was too cheap to fly biz then, but would buy the middle seat so we’d have the row of 3 econ to ourselves. Stretch out a bit, more privacy. On most of the flights I’d have someone come up and ask to sit w/ us and when I sd no, I paid for this seat, they’d bring the FA back w/ them to check on that! (and yup, I had proof of purchase ready since it happened to me so often). And I’m thinking awko taco, I would just hate having you sit next to me for the next 12-15 hours, you unpleasant piece of entitlement. So yeah, if it means that much to you, pay for the seat you want.
Depending on the flight I buy basic or F or something in between. For me PHX LAS or LAX doesn’t require an F seat, its 40 min tops. It would never occur to me to move to a different seat because it is not what I agreed to when I purchased the ticket. Quit trying to make your self a victim of the big bad Corporation and live with what you decided to purchase.
It is stealing in the sense that you are taking a higher priced seat, without paying for it. If the FA allows, that is one thing. Simply assuming you can do so is another.
So if you go to a T Swift concert are the ushers going to let you move from a cheap seat to a premium seat? If you go to a NFL game are they going to let you move from the nose bleed seats to the 50 yard line because it’s empty. I pay alot on my already expensive ticket to have a aisle seat and it pisses me off when someone who paid for a basic economy ticket moves to a premium seat. So entitled. You want something nice get off your ass and save for it!!!!
I think all seats should be premium with enough legroom to be comfortable for everyone. No business or first class. Everyone gets the same thing.
If it becomes a free for all, what are you going to do when two people want that same unoccupied ‘better’ seat while in the air? Just what we need – more reasons for people to get into it with their fellow passengers.
I heard from my friends flying less than 1/3 full long haul UA B789 in economy that everyone was allowed to move anywhere, including E+…well because when everyone’s able to take 3 seats, the E+ extra legroom becomes irrelevant.
All the convoluted logic people are going through to justify this policy is amazing.
Apparently many consumers will bend over backwards to side with corporations even when it is against their own interests and when the corporation is obviously being disingenuous, not to mention openly contemptuous of their customers.
This story is the perfect embodiment of a general lack of agency and blind submission to “authority” (even when the stakes are incredibly low) that exemplifies much of the American public.
I am all for better seats or window seat, but how do you manage 5 open seats and everyone wants to get in those empty seats?
How would one manage that or maybe there is reasonable price to upgrade in flight?
If you don’t want to pay for a better seat than you should stick to your free seat. I hate when people jump into an empty seat next to me after taking off. You are stealing my benefit for getting extra comfort which I paid for it. (I paid for a main cabin seat and alway chose the one that has middle seat open because I know people won’t pay extra for middle seat)
Unfortunately, we are now overrun with people who believe just because they want something, they are entitled to it. While flying, they buy one premium ticket and one (or more) cheaper tickets, then insist on switching the person sitting in the cheap seat with a passenger who paid for their premium seat because they *have* to sit with a child/spouse/friend.
Like most ‘hacks’, it’s about getting something without paying for it.
Imagine the essentially free money an airline could make if every seat had a QR code that could be scanned at any time to present upgrade or seat reassignment offers.
Don’t like your seat mate for any reason, just scan, pay, anymore without hassling any FA.
Tons would do this who would never have even considered it before.
Wow…looking at the comments seems like there are a lot of corporate bots OR a lot of people are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome,
Empty seats have been so few and far between on any recent flights. But in the past, I’ve always been allowed to move within the same class. Whether to just spread out in general (empty row) or get an exit seat (but never the middle, with the aisle and window occupied).
But, I don’t generally fly united? Probably continue to avoid reading this.
Delta has actually upgraded me on the plane, snow day in Seattle, half the seats were empty from people who couldn’t get to the airport. I was in the row right behind premium economy, FA probably just assumed I had some status on the mileage plan (I did…) and offered the empty row right in front of me. And stiffed my coworker a row behind me (no status…). Was kinda funny, five of us on the flight, same company going to the same conference, different jobs requiring different amount of travel, spread out over the plane from upgrades, etc., cause corporate policy wouldn’t pay extra for seats, but allowed you to choose airline.
If I’m flying back to Germany midweek in off-season on Delta, I doubt they’ll get excited if I grab an open row when there’s two people per row in regular economy. Been there, done that. They’re hauling enough paying cargo they may not have weight allowance to book more pax. Back then it was medical supplies. Got that from a career FA on my last pre-COVID trip, Feb 2020 -DTW-FRA (could’ve been DUS, or MUC, I forget). D1 was fully booked, btw.
One of the things I pay for with my upgraded ticket is less crowding.
I don’t want freeloaders to steal that from me.
Being pious about corporations is not the answer here. Two wrongs don’t make a right. If you didn’t pay for something (or upgrade or whatever), it isn’t yours. Didn’t your parents teach you that as a child? If you want the comfier seat, then spend the bucks.
So many broke envious freeloaders in this thread like BBT and James Hudson. I can afford first but on domestic flights I don’t consider the price worth it. I stay in the seat I purchased without complaint.
As I said previously, if you paid for a better seat then you are GUARANTEED that seat. Not so if you are just hoping to get a better seat. As far as more than one person wanting the same better, seat goes, the first person to claim it gets it. Duh! How many times have you done to a restaurant and ordered dessert and the restaurant for whatever reason says that it’s on the house. Do the people sitting at the next table complain that they paid for theirs so you shouldn’t get a free one?
You got what you paid for.
It’s like saying it’s ok to steal food from the grocery store because some of it will go stale and be thrown out. If one wants an E+ seat or a premium seat there’s a solution. Pay for it. If one wants an economy seat in the first few rows of coach, same solution pay for it.
Lots of airlines now charge extra for an aisle or window seat over a center seat for basic economy flights. Am I allowed to move out of my center seat if I have an empty row to my self, or do I have to stay in the seat I paid for? I hope I’m not hurting the poor corporation if I take the empty seat next me!
The relevant comparison might be a sporting venue. I pay for a upper bleachers sest, I don’t expect I can go sit Courtside or in a suitr just because no one else is there.
“Why should other passengers lose an open middle to some entitled basic econ passenger?”
Precusly so! Having an open middle next to you is a prime determinant in the passenger experience. If by paying extra for a seat I learn I lose all hope for an empty seat next to me (because passengers can self-improve. into any unoccupied seat toward the front) I will be much less likely to pay extra.
My last B6 flight on a 320 as soon as the door close the announcement was “Due to weight and balance no one is allowed to change their assigned seat”.
Weight and balance on 60% full flight? I don’t know about weight and balance on a 320 but B6 now charges for not only “Even More Space” seats but seats closer to the front of the plane. Hmm…
They’d be better off saying the “weight and balance” would be off than pissing people off about needing to pay to move to another coach seat, with both claims being non-sensical. The logic doesn’t even make sense – If I’m in a row with 3 occupants and move to an empty row in the same area, is that allowed? Will I be charged “full fare” price because it’s a change on the day of departure? The seats empty – it should be fair game in the same class – there aren’t that many empty seats on the vast majority of flights.
Posts like this one are useful. Because of this post, I checked my seats on Asiana flights for next week. One seat selection I had made was removed (probably from an equipment change) so I selected the same window seat one row back with a still open middle seat.
I once had an open seat next to me. The daughter of the lady in the aisle seat tried to get me to move to her middle seat further back on a fairly full flight so she could sit in the window seat and be close to her mother while having an open middle seat next to her. I said no so she moved to the open middle seat next to me instead. I was more cramped, but I did not buy the middle seat as an extra seat so I was not entitled to having it open and not entitled to whine about someone sitting there.
While I can understand charging for moving to a more expensive seat, I think it is a poor practice to not let people move into row that are completely open in the same class of seats. Forcing people to be clumped together is not a good reflection on best practices and does not reflect ell on the airline. People could change their seating selection at check in but information about how many seats will fill in a certain class is not given and changing seats at that time simply slows down check in. Having people spread out in a class of seats will even out the distribution of people and will also make it so the boiling hot coffee or tea has less likelihood of being passed over someone else. Passing out meals is also easier. I have been able to move to an unoccupied row of seats and lay down so as to get some of the kinks out of my back on a partially full Asiana flight. I even got some sleep. Many others could have done the same thing because the flight attendants didn’t have any objection to it but most stayed in cramped seats sitting mostly upright.
I think most of the whining about people moving freely to different seats is entitlement along with a bossy nature.
It’s not a free for all in the skies. Seats are assigned for balance reasons and in the worst case, identification.
A few years ago I had someone self upgraded to an exit row seat next to me – another big safety no no.
To escape the hassle I simply fly 1st on domestic now. You can do it too, just pony up the $. I fly mostly United, always top out at platinum because I don’t fly quite enough – is it wrong of me to call the 1k flyers who crowd boarding ‘gate lice’? Or to be peeved when I’m the 25th person to board when paying full fare 1st?
If they color coded the seats surface differently in addition to calling it a different class, then it is easier to enforce.
Ha. I think comparing an economy plus seat with a Mercedes is hilarious. I own a Ford Escape. It’s better equipped than the Mercedes GLC I recently rented. No adaptive cruise. No nav. No heads up display. No heated seats.
Sorry, “blind submission to “authority”” is probably a good policy on an airplane, actually.
“Changing to an open seat nobody else is using can’t be stealing because the airline hasn’t given up anything…”
This is really poor logic. By this logic, people can sneak into move theaters and take all the open seats because the movie is going to be playing anyway. Or a private club should allow non-members to enjoy their unused golf course because no one’s playing anyway.
There’s a point to limiting access to a commodity or service, even if no one else is using it. That’s how it gets value. If there’s a chance to get it for free, there’s no value to it anymore. You also cannot compare this to mileage redemptions. In those instances, miles are being redeemed. Someone is giving something up in exchange for those seats.
I guess that means that United won’t be signing the petition for flight crew to get elite night credits and free suite upgrades since that would be like driving a Lexus off the lot.