In flight seat swap?

My elderly parents booked through an agent, flying back with us soon from MCO to MAN. They are sitting in Economy, whereas myself and partner are upgraded to PE as we booked directly. It is too expensive for my parents to upgrade via their agent.

My question is....would cabin staff look favourably on us swapping seats with my parents in-flight from time time to give them a bit of room?...or are there guards and watch towers at the upper deck?

In my experience this does happen, dependent on how easy-going the crew are, but too much to-ing and fro-ing will start - quite rightly - to irritate other PE pax if you're not careful.

[Decker]

I'm guessing you want to know whether they'll allow it rather than whether they'll think you're a wonderful dutiful child . Simple answer is that it is down to the crew BUT if the seatbelt signs are off AND you don't fuss so much that you spoil the experience for other pax AND you don't play musical chairs the crew are likely to let it go. A lot of them will probably think "oh bless". Be polite to mention that it is happening to your dedicated FA and ask permission though.

Is there any legal standing in this. Surely if you book a seat and wish to swap with someone there can't be any reason why you cannot do this.

If you book 2 hotel rooms, the penthouse and the basement there would be no issue with swapping at will. If you booked 2 cinema tickets (my local has very small seats or larger but still small seats) you can swap around.

I can understand why people in the cabin might get irritated but I just wondered what the legal stuff says (and yes I know the budget tickets are 'non-transferable' but I am not referring to transferring tickets, just seats once you have boarded)

Paul

[Decker]

You booked for one person to receive the allocated service so if you swapped at board time and STAYED that way the chances are you're fine HOWEVER

You have made a contract with VS for your carriage - A VS
The other person had made a contract with VS for their carriage - B VS

You are now replacing B VS with A B and assuming that VS will assume the contractual responsibilities they originally had in A VS.

Now let's postulate a situation where you are upstairs and the second party is not fit to travel upstairs. You swap seats, they injure themselves on the stairs and sue VS. Will you accept the service of writ?

I was wondering whether you needed to be in "your" seat - certainly for take off and landing - in case of anything "going wrong" and subsequent issues of identification. That said, why is it then that your hear the "would Joe Bloggs make themselves known to the cabin crew" when I'd have thought they have a manifest that would enable them to go straight to the seat occupied by same.

Or are they coded messages like "Would Inspector Sands please go to the control room" on the Underground ? [:w]

Paul

[Decker]

I assumed the takeoff one was for weight distribution....

I think in general people won't have a problem with it however if everyone were to do it then it could be a bit of a nightmare. Also I could foresee that on a very long haul flight it may become quite cost effective to "share" a J seat allowing some sleep.

Perhaps the best way to go would be to try and request to have both PE and Y seats in the same section in the lower PE cabin? Then it would likely be much less of an issue.

Originally posted by Decker
I assumed the takeoff one was for weight distribution....

Could well be - my "wonderings" can be well off target. And well off topic is the next statement..

As to the weight distribution issue, a good few years back I flew to Newcastle with a colleague on a BA flight. A very empty BA flight. Despite having checked in together, they put me at the back of the plane on the left, and my colleague at the front on the right. When I asked why they said "weight distribution".

Paul

[Decker]

Originally posted by oxmatt
Also I could foresee that on a very long haul flight it may become quite cost effective to "share" a J seat allowing some sleep.

Could start a "Time share" business - 4 hours per tranche on a long flight - charge £200 cash for the use... sit at the bar and trouser the profit...

[Darren Wheeler]

On a flight with a small loading I have heard announcements for passengers to return to their allocated seats for landing.

As for the "if", that is down to the crew/FSM on the day. But as has been said, too much backwards and forwarding is likely to resulting complaints and the privilege being withdrawn. Simply ask as the worst they can say is "No".

My understanding on all this is as follows:

- You remain in seats until post take off for:
a. Weight Distribution.
b. In case of an emergency during take off.
c. For the ease of crew to be able to identfy you. For example a child was found lost on a recent flight with VS. They put out a call but both parents were asleep- a quick look at the manifest showed were they are seated and child was returned. Had they moved seat it would have been a lot harder.

I was once upgraded (operational) to UCS when my husband was in Economy. He came to visit me and sat on the foot stool. I offered him the remainder of my wine, as I felt I had already had too much. When he went back to his seat, the flight attendant politely asked me to not do that again, as it was a benefit of UC and not one for Economy. I would think the food and drink could become an issue with seat swapping between classes as well.

The other thing to remember is that meal service timings differing between the cabins, so that might make swapping seats slightly difficult at times. The other issue is the MCO - MAN is an overnight flight, so the changing seats might be difficult in the dark and may annoy other people around you in both cabins...

Thanks for that folks,and appreciate the pros and cons.
However on this flight, we would only change at a convenient time, and only once. The seats we have pre-allocated are at the top of the stairs, so 90% of the top deck will be none the wiser.
I will ask the FA though to keep things right. If they are like dragons tho, I`ll not bother....[}:)]

[Decker]

Originally posted by dmackay41
If they are like dragons tho, I`ll not bother....[}:)]

A great idea for the on site seat maps - at the back of upstairs PE a little cross with the legend "here there be dragons"...

Crew certainly apply some flexibility, I've seen numerous occasions when a friend / colleague / family member has been allowed to sit at the UC bar for a drink when people are distributed across the plane - but only ever at crew dispensation and only ever for a short time.

Another factor would undoubtedly be safety - not applicable in your case perhaps, but say one part of the swap was in an exit row and had agreed to the procedures only for you to swap with someone who wasn't able to perform?

Personally though, and absolutely curmudgeonly I know, if I had paid PE or UC and saw people swapping about from economy I think I'd be miffed - cause you pay more for the comfort and space so to see people moving about could be construed as an abuse of that. So if you were to, I'd definitely be very sensitive to other passengers just as you suggest and even the old sods like me would be unaffected!

As an aside my first trip in UC ( the old seats..ahhh memories ) a mother and father were sat behind us, their little cherub children were in Economy alone[V], once the plane took off they got up and marched the kids by the hand and slotted them in the footspace between theirs and the back of ours, as you can imagine it was tap tap tap every five minutes. Eventually I am not sorry to say I complained and the FSM came, the mother ranted on about the kids being on their own in another cabin, rightly so she replied that she could stand around in economy with them or put them on her knee in an economy seat and next time perhaps all fly in one class.

My opinion was why should i pay full Upper fare so someone could save oodles of cash buying a childs economy seat and then inflict them on me in Upper.

In the end they saw sense and the FSM compromised, Dad sat in Upper with one child and Mum in Economy in the other. It was kind of interesting to note that Dad wasn't moving for anyone and just winked at me later in the flight.

Almost as if that was his plan all along... genius![}:)]