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: the poors stay packed in the poors section.
@united flight to our mission trip to Honduras from Houston. 3 hour duration. Most of the plane is empty. The attendant told us that they won’t let anyone change seats for less than $86/each even though the plane is nearly empty.
What would you do? Pay the money or stay out in… pic.twitter.com/kKNrl3xK4z
— Stacy Ruth (@Stacy_Ruth_) September 11, 2025
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.
Won’t anyone think of the corporate profits?! The precious stock buybacks?! *clutching pearls*
The Gestapo is alive and well at the airlines. You vill NOT change seats und you vill LIKE IT!!!!
If you paid for a Basic Economy seat and did not pay for a seat assignment then why should you be allowed to jump to another seat? That’s the whole purpose of BE. Get a dirt cheap fare, one that the airline is most surely losing money on, in exchange for restrictions.
You should be allowed to jump from the bleachers to a box seat at a sporting event? A better seat at a concert?
As a pilot, I would be concerned with Weight&Balance. Maybe United doesn’t care.
However, they do care about Greed and on occasion they also Break Guitars,
Are you running mayor of New York? It is 100% the airlines right to charge for the seat. To say you can take it for free if it is available is absurd. Why not just make a cage match, last person sitting wins.
If your point is because it can’t be sold it, then taking it is not stealing. You’re wrong because it can still be sold – and it is stealing.
In the example you gave the flight attendant is literally charging for an upgrade – so yes it can still be sold – your own example defies your logic.
Does anyone care about whether it is just an airline policy or some moral imperative? No, not all airline rules are based on moral imperative.
*sigh* can we please not vilify flight crews on here for like a day… the flight attendants aren’t charging… the airline is. It’s not like the purser is taking cash bribes to switch seats. No, they’re doing their jobs, and often enforcing rules that they themselves don’t even support or agree with.
A “mission” to Honduras…..this ought to tell you what kind of people they are. I’m sure they haggled the bag fee at the ticket counter too. You know, the whole “God’s work” thing.
Professional grifters.
That empty a flight, I would be in a row in the center section across all the seats sound asleep. Not paying $86 to sleep in the prone position. I’d make them wake me up!!
Your headline places blame on the flight attendant. The FA is simply doing their job. This is airline policy not some FA on a power trip.
Welp, I knew the day would finally come. I agree with @George Romney.
Their airlines are selling a product at different price points with different levels of service and amenities. If you didn’t pay for it and they don’t offer a complimentary upgrade you have no right to it.
That like saying “well, I ordered ground chuck, but since there’s wagyu left in the kitchen I’m entitled to that.”
You are NOT entitled to anything you are unwilling to pay for when dealing with for-profit businesses that make their money off of what you pay.
If I’m in Y+, I am well aware every seat around me may be taken. If the last BE (or regular Y) pax checks in and the only unassigned seat is next to me, we’ll OK, I lost that lottery. But, if there is also a middle seat near the lavs, put them there. If the BE pax tries to upgrade and take the empty seat next to me, I want the FA to intervene.
Why should airlines care about it? First, people would be more likely not to pay the extra $ for Y+ if they think they can get it for free. Second, my flight is less enjoyable if the BE pax sits next to me. I expect the airline to care more about me, as I paid more. Part of the deal they (should) offer me is they won’t move Y pax to Y+ unless they pay or Y is full. I might get an empty seat next to me. I probably won’t, but that shouldn’t be because of a moving pax.
I paid for a charity event. Unbeknownst to me, there were door prizes, and I won $100. A person with this mentality, who didn’t attend the event, steals the money. That’s OK, they reason, as I had no expectation of winning the money, so I have no reason to object if it’s taken from me.
Bottom line: it costs the airline $ if moving is allowed. Any game theorist worth their salt will tell you that, in a single-period world, a mover costs the airline nothing. But, we live in a multi-period world where allowing the mover to upgrade can affect the subsequent behavior of the mover (I got a free upgrade today, why buy one next time?). And it costs me. Will I pay for Y+ in an airline that allows self upgrades or one that doesn’t. Letting pax move makes your airline less likely to get my business.
It is fair that people who buy Basic Economy that does not include seat selection have to sit in whatever seat the airline assigns them. There are Economy Plus and Preferred seats that other people pay for because they think it is worth it. So if you did’t choose to pay, why should you be able to self upgrade for free? When I have paid and there is an empty seat beside me, I have hated it when airlines allow someone to self upgrade into that empty seat.
first,
it says volumes about UA’s pricing if they can fill the very back of the plane but not the front half of coach.
Sure, not every market supports full fares and a full cabin but there is something that simply does not look right when a plane is not somewhat evenly loaded.
second, it is reasonable for customers to be able to stretch out. If you price discriminate so much that everyone is in one cabin all squashed up, the airline is doing it wrong.
and third, Gary is absolutely right that UA’s hypocrisy is on full display given that they have huge business class cabins (compared to AA and DL) and show their upgrade list on their public website (not just for passengers on the flight).
If UA wants to make a deal about controlling the upgrades, then they need automation (which they are supposed so good at) to have the gate agent moved people that are not in the same record to take advantage of more space EVEN IF IT MEANS UPGRADING someone else to those empty extra legroom economy seats.
Yes, changing seats does impact weight and balance but if UA wants to spend time upgrading people, then their gate agents should be given the power to look at a seat map and move people around if 1/3 of the plane is empty
“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.”
So if a First Class seat is open, can I just take it? I won’t eat or drink anything. The airline hasn’t given anything up. This logic is ridiculous.