It used to be that when the doors of the aircraft closed, passengers could re-arrange themselves freely. If there were empty seats, you’d see passengers spread out for more room. That made sense.
However airlines now charge for seats, and they don’t even just charge for extra legroom seats. An aisle seat and even a window can cost more than a middle. A seat towards the front of the cabin might cost more, too.
I’ve seen United Airlines flight attendants policing this for awhile, although enforcement varies. Five years ago American Airlines had no real policy, and passengers could mostly still move freely unless a flight attendant told them not to (and of course moving to an exit row seat required being eligible to sit in one of those seats).
Four years ago American started offering free alcohol to passengers in their extra legroom coach seats.
The ability to change seats took on added significance (and cost to the airline). Still, the policy allowing customers to move remained in place.
That policy is no longer in effect, and American is telling flight attendants that they should police passengers moving from regular coach up to extra legroom seats (“Main Cabin Extra”), as shared by aviation watchdog JonNYC. Not all flight attendants will enforce this, but some may.
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.
— 🇺🇦 JonNYC 🇺🇦 (@xJonNYC) November 11, 2022
It strikes me that American specifically talking about Main Cabin Extra as a class and not merely as different coach seats, with different attributes, means they ought to be paying a higher UK Air Passenger Duty for customers in those seats on London transatlantic departures, since the charge is higher for anything other than economy. Yet Delta has been formally treating its similar Comfort+ product as a separate cabin for some time and doesn’t charge higher taxes than economy, so they seem to have figured this out.
I also wonder about flight attendants sending customers off the aircraft, back to the gate, to pay for Main Cabin Extra seats. Especially with single agent boarding this seems like a recipe for risking D0 exact on-time departures.
Regardless, don’t expect to stretch out into empty extra legroom seats on American Airlines anymore if you have a regular coach seat assignment, because the airline is asking cabin crew to serve as auxiliary revenue protection staff.
They should crack down – it is a different class of service. As you noted Delta actually treats it as an upgrade from coach. Since it has benefits that people didn’t pay for all airlines that offer this product should protect it from those trying to get if for free (or as a non-elite entitled to it). Now if they would police the overheads in both first and main cabin extra so people in the cheap seats aren’t shoving their stuff in there and taking up our space.
Another reason I will never fly Un-American Airlines…
Given that it includes free drinks, there’s a fiscal benefit to a passenger who moves but doesn’t pay. Small, but it exists.
Is there a policy that there must be someone in an Exit Row to be able to open the doors or are they allowed to remain empty if nobody purchased MCE? Asking because I don’t know.
I agree. No one is entitled to self upgrade
Agree with AA policy for reasons already well stated by Mets Fan and AC.
Hey American Airlines. Your new seating policy is like Hawaiian Airlines without the complimentary POG juice.
please enforce it, If i pay extra and a passenger in the back moves up and doesn;t pay it just isn’t fair….. if they do im due a refund for same.
JetBlue makes it as part of their announcements. People pay up to $100 for those seats so why should people feel entitled to those seats, they have the option to pay.
AC nailed it. The amount of folks sitting in row 28 who stuff their bag in the first/MCE bins is out of control. Defeats the entire purpose of having the bin reserved; I still feel the need to board early to ensure I get the space I’m supposedly paying for
You disgusting yanks sound like the worst Nazis ever. Disgusting
@305 – American’s flight attendants are explicitly not responsible for enforcing bin usage
@Gary – if they are explicitly forbidden from enforcing bin usage, then maybe don’t sell me a ticket that lists a reserved bin area as part of what I am buying
As if I needed another reason to avoid AA
Gary – maybe FAs aren’t responsible but I have had a number of them stop people from putting luggage in the first class and MCE bins. I only wish it was enforced better through the fleet.
One of the reasons I prefer AA over SW is that on AA I can nail a emergency row or another MCE seat with the possibility that no one is willing to buy the open middle seat (this happened often when planes didn’t sell out). However, on SW even if you pay early bird and secure the emergency row, there will ALWAYS be someone in the middle seat – even when the plane is not sold out. And it is usually my bad luck the person is oversized.
I’m all for enforcing passengers to remain in the type of seat booked – and to not self-upgrade to MCE when it was declined during the ticketing process.
Why can’t the flight Attendants charge people for upgraded seats, via credit cards? On the spot like they charge for alcohol? Then only those willing to pay, can stay.
@Dawn, because that is too logical for the airlines
Better yet, give each passenger a wrist band that has their name and seating assignment – if they want to act like children, treat them like children.
It’s not fair if you paid extra money for a seat and a passenger moves up next to you for free basically. And to the guy that committed that’s another reason why you wouldn’t fly American Airlines he’s got no clue would he like to be paying for a seat in first class and all the sudden the flight attendants let’s sometime move up there next to them for free? And to the other guy I believe his name is a AC. When he gets down near the end of trying to find places for baggage is without taking further delay they’re going to use first class if it’s available for putting luggage in there. The flight attendants cannot monitor every thing and try to board an aircraft and get the thing out on time. And to Dawn, Who said why can’t flight attendants charge them with a credit card machine to upgrade probably because we have so much going on during boarding and after boarding to get that aircraft out on time that we possibly wouldn’t have the time to do that. Flight attendants are there for your safety and the safety of others. I see nothing wrong with moving a passenger to another seat if possible as long as it’s not a premium seat a first class seat a business class seat a main cabin or extra row seat. I sure the flight attendants will have no issues with letting passengers move two seats that aren’t those that I listed above.
@KK – the article was SPECIFICALLY about people moving from “regular” economy seats to main cabin extra seats. You appear confused since you said you don’t have a problem with people moving seats provided they don’t move to premium or extra room/exit rows. That is exactly what the FAs were told to avoid. No one cares if someone in row 22 moves from seat B to seat C if the aisle seat is open. Reread the article please.
Also, since you referenced me in your reply, my comment about people putting their stuff in first or MCE bins wasn’t finding room for the last few people to board so bags wouldn’t have to be checked. I understand that completely. Personally, I like to get on board as early as possible and get settled in – I see people boarding in early groups abusing this space. That is what I feel needs to stop. We either pay for the more premium seats or get them due to our elite status. That should count for something and I wish the airlines would make sure others don’t take advantage of the situation to intrude upon us.
Isn’t it time for the FAA to step up and standardize legroom and seat size on all commerical acft so we can stop the madness of nickel and dime’ng passengers to their crushing death? This is the real story here!
Enough is enough!
I paid for extra leg room on a flight and two passengers who did not happily helped themselves to empty seats next to me. I resented the fact that they congratulated themselves and snickered with glee at how clever they were to snag the seats at no extra cost.
I wish they’d crack down on those passengers that take up more than one seat and have to lift the armrest to make room.
@AC, I work for AA so I specifically know what the email said. Yes it was more specific on Maine cabin extra and premium economy seats. I see nothing wrong with moving people in the cheap seats to another cheap seat may be a little bit better. However I would not move any passenger to a premium economy seat nor a main cabin extra seat or a window exit seat all those people pay extra to sit in those specific areas. And as a person working for AA, I try to pay attention and keep the bins closed in first class or business class so passengers from other areas do not throw their bags into those bins. However it’s not always easy to pay attention to that and do other things all at the same time but I know the flight attendants do try to do their best at least most of them.
@ Tim Ruggiero, we know how you feel and FA’S try to do our best when it comes to that. When it comes to somebody that’s very big we have to get customer service and customer service is the one that’s allowed to make the call on that not AA FA.
The announcement about self moving seats needs to start at the gate before boarding begins. According to training, the FA’s are “Informers” not “enforcers” – they’ll inform you that you need to move, but they don’t have to enforce. As someone above said, pull out those tablets and charge for the better seat, just like an alcohol charge.
Fight back – stop being nice and polite with airline staff. They need to feel consequences of their actions. No more hello or please, call in attandent with or without reasons, make them work twice or three times more than usual.
Sounds cruel I know, but I can’t even fit in their cattleclass seat anymore
@Maxine totally agree.
Iv always believed the manifest is the manifest. I’m one of those passengers who politely declines to change seats like musical chairs. This is the primary reason I avoid SW. In the worst case scenario I don’t want to be identified as Mrs. Smith from Chicago. Just something else to argue about on board. Passengers have no shame in their scheming to get something for nothing.
I am a very tall person and always pay an extra 50.00 to 75.00 for a seat with extra leg room. Every single passenger had that choice to upgrade their seat and pay extra. If they choose not to upgrade then they need to stay in the zone for which they paid for. It’s not fair to me and other passengers who had to pay the extra money for those seats. Even if some become vacant inbetween legs or after the doors close and some are empty.
I was on an Alaska flight where a flight attendant let somebody move into a vacant seat next to me in which he didnt pay for. I complained to the airline that if flight attendants were just going to start giving those vacant seats away, they shoud refund my extra premium that I paid fir that seat, which was 79.00.
Alaskan Airlines did refund me the 79.00. Since then I have become a flight attendant for an airline that also offers extra leg room seats for additional fee. We are required to make sure nobody relocates to a premium seat they did not pay for.
Thats the way it is now. The consumer has many choices when booking a flight and had every option to pay for extra leg room. The passengers are not entitled to take an upgraded seat just because it’s vacant.
I wonder what what AFA-CWA gotta say about this?..lol
It is absurd to have to pay to sit in an airplane seat that has more space. I feel discriminated against. I’m too tall! Everyone should have a comfortable place .
Where do you get your info?!
I have flown for AAL for 35 years and since introducing extra cost for Main Cabin Extra seats, exit row seats and aisle seats we do not allow passengers to move into said seats. That’s been Company policy since day one. Why should someone who didn’t pay for this ‘extra be allowed to sit in one of those seats when the pax seated ne,t to them paid for that extra? Duh.
@Lynne – Main Cabin Extra hasn’t existed for 35 years 🙂 I screenshotted old company policy, and many flight attendants don’t keep up with policies…
I wish that people who don’t prepay for a seat, stop insisting or throwing a fit when they can’t get seat paying passenger to move for whatever reason. If I pay for an isle/window seat I expect to get it. I see this happening more & more with people throwing a fit in some cases to get their way. Enough said.
If passenger’s want to move around, just scan their boarding pass and charge or refund to their account and be done with it finally..
@NeMo the flight staff did not make this rule but they’re suppose to follow it. If you have issues take that up with the company. No reason to mistreat an employee.
@Denise most all of the major airlines do this.
I think airlines need to go back to straight forward pricing. Make all seating comfortable for anyone and just simply charge what they need to instead of add on this or add on that. Good lord. It has gotten so out of control anymore. First class gets free drinks or what ever fine and maybe a little more room but every where else should all be the same size and legroom and just charge a straight forward price.
I am sick of non-enforcmeant of coach passengers putting their suitcases in first and comfort plus type of classes where those bins are reserved for those classes.
It happens on Delta and American on EVERY flight.
Something must be done to stop this NOW.
Why is every article that Gary Leff write an attempted slam against American Airlines. Did he not get a cookie in the past and don’t any other airlines make mistakes. From now on whenever I see an article by Leff I’m going to keep on scrolling. This has been five minutes of my life I can’t get back! Mr. Leff please write something positive for once. People want to hear positive things not your endless groning about what American Airlines has done wrong. Tell us what they have done right if you are capable.
They should enforce it
On a recent flight from Puerto Rico I paid $88 for an exit route window seat. I’m 6’4. The middle seat was empty until after we took off they a guy from the back of the plane came and sat in it. Proceeds to eat dinner some smelly ass food
Then goes to sleep with his legs spread wide open and leaning his head on me seat???
If you want the extra leg room
. PAY FOR IT!!!!!!?
@Dawn & @Jerry
Airlines like UA are seen charging for seat changes to EconomyPlus. AA should incorporate this practice onboard. Personally, if during boarding I am asked about a seat change from Eco to Eco Plus/Extra, ecc; I will ask the customer to go back up and coordinate the request with the gate agent (usually I’ll get a, “ah, it’s okay”, meaning that they already asked, and were advised of a surcharge. Kinda like running to Dad after Mom already said no)
This is standard for all US legacy carriers (DL, UA, AA) – Except WN and LCCs (NK, F9, B6…). For those who are complaining about this, have fun on Greyhound 🙂
I agree, I payed extra for the legroom, when you book your flight you have the same option,pay up or keep your assigned seat.
Passengers think they can do whatever they want once the MCD closes. I had a passenger try to switch from a coach seat to a First class seat, they did not upgrade too. The FA tried to get them back to their seat they bought, but they refused. I had to go onto the aircraft and explain to them, that if they didn’t return to the original seat, they would be removed and re booked. People are very ballsy and think there are not consequences!!!
@Gary they should change that policy. It’s the wild west when boarding an AA flight. You’d think an airline that’s so obsessed with D-0 would put some effort into making that happen.
I can’t help but notice on the delta flights I take, their FAs are way more proactive in the aisle during boarding. Telling pax the correct way to load their bag into the bin, fixing incorrect ones, etc. That definitely helps D-0 and avoids dreaded last minute gate checks
@Joe K
My shoulder doesn’t take well to downward pressure.. it gets twitchy.. randomly jump upwards.
Talk about seat stealing? Those seats with extra leg room near front of plane should be used for handicap folks! Airlines do NOT allow a wheelchair to be stored on the main cabin level. These seat would allow a shorter distance to use facilities (if handicap person can walk short distance) however AA does not offer this service to handicap person’s. They only want to SELL these seats for the funds. It’s sick and sad!
I think I know how most of the commenter here feel about the recent student loan forgiveness debacle…
I am a flight attendant.. And they do allow for 1 wheelchair in the front row. Its a mandated law. They have to block those seats if someone absolutely can not be without it. But wheelchairs a big and bulky and impossible to secure if there is an emergency. That’s why they go below in the belly.
Free alcohol to the people who are sitting in the exit row and tasked with opening the wing exit doors in case of an emergency…. What could go wrong?