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 American Airlines passenger was shocked to learn that nobody would be permitted to spread out into wide open exit rows on a recent flight.

Although he wound up in a bulkhead seat (he calls it an exit) and it’s not clear how. He proceeds to sully the privilege with his feet propped up on the wall.

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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.

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 something away from the airline or anyone else. The airline loses nothing. It’s even the same passenger weight carried, so no increased fuel burn.

Seven years ago American started offering free alcohol to passengers in their extra legroom coach seats.

Back then the ability to change seats took on added significance (and cost to the airline). Still, the policy allowing customers to move remained in place at the time.

That changed in 2022, with the airline telling flight attendants that they should police passengers moving from regular coach up to extra legroom seats (“Main Cabin Extra”). Not all flight attendants will enforce this, but some do.

It’s not unusual for Main Cabin (MC) customers to ask to change seats after they’ve boarded the aircraft – to sit next to a family member or get out of a middle seat, for instance. However, customers may not be familiar with our seat change policy; particularly when it comes to Main Cabin Extra (MCE) seats.

While you may allow a customer to move to an available Main Cabin seat after boarding is complete, they’re not permitted to move into an MCE seat unless they are booked in that class. So, if a customer asks to move to a seat in a different seat classification (i.e., MC ot MCE, MCE to First, etc.) politely decline their request unless there is a customer service or regulatory conflict present.

If a customer asks to change seats before the boarding door closes, work with the gate agent to accommodate the request. As always, please remain on the aircraft to avoid a minimum crew violation while assisting the customer.

The argument that works here 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 of getting the better seat free instead of paying in advance on future trips. And it’s 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.