General Discussion

Ms. Toad

(38,634 posts)

45. Airlines have gone to specialized seat pricing.

Tue May 12, 2015, 07:12 PM

May 2015

If you want to book in advance and have adjacent seats, you often have to pay (unless you are willing to accept middle seats - as in middle seats in different rows).

And - even if the plane is empty, when you arrive at check-in they will deliberately assign you middle seats in different rows (expecting that quite a few people will pay to sit next to each other . . . even though there are 20 people on a plane that holds 50).

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dad doesn't book adjacent seats and whines cuz he has to pay $88 to sit next to daughter [View all] Liberal_in_LA May 2015 OP

I feel bad for him. dawg May 2015 #1

I agree with him. Why is his request such a big issue when Ultra Orthodox Jews can throw a stevenleser May 2015 #2

It wasn't a big issue. He could have waited until he got on the plane to see if anybody would LisaL May 2015 #5

By the time people get on the plane and settled in, they may be less willing to move. Tommy_Carcetti May 2015 #12

That's what he did, so it was his decision to pay up. LisaL May 2015 #14

Being offered only fee-based seat reassignment, when they knew damn well the flight had empty seats Gormy Cuss May 2015 #35

But he needed two seats next to each other. LisaL May 2015 #36

No, but there were probably middles back to back if the plane had plenty of empty seats. Gormy Cuss May 2015 #37

It's very likely that the only adjacent seats open were for sale at an extra fee discntnt_irny_srcsm May 2015 #38

There obviously WERE seats next to each other - Ms. Toad May 2015 #43

bingo TeamPooka May 2015 #44

There were, but they were more expensive. LisaL May 2015 #52

First, I was responding to the post which suggested that there might not be two adjacent seats. Ms. Toad May 2015 #56

thank you, exactly and so have I (moved). He didn't want to risk not having seats together, but was uppityperson May 2015 #57

I was on a flight where that happened DFW May 2015 #26

Jewish, sounds better than Jews there. I always figure out a way to do that because randys1 May 2015 #29

He used it correctly REP May 2015 #39

NOt according to several of my friends who are Jewish. I will defer to them, if it wasnt randys1 May 2015 #40

Jews can throw fits. So can Muslims and Christians. REP May 2015 #41

I'm Jewish. I said it correctly. Nt stevenleser May 2015 #48

Disagree totally doxyluv13 May 2015 #55

As others have pointed out, there's nothing wrong with referring to Jews as Jews. Gormy Cuss May 2015 #58

I don't know. It does sort of suck. Tommy_Carcetti May 2015 #3

yep. me too. d_r May 2015 #46

If there were "numerous empty seats", it seems easy enough to put them together. Even so, kids and uppityperson May 2015 #4

If there were numerous empty seats, why couldn't he find to adjacent seats at booking? LisaL May 2015 #6

He wanted a free upgrade REP May 2015 #8

Airlines have gone to specialized seat pricing. Ms. Toad May 2015 #45

maybe there were not 2 seats together. I often see that. uppityperson May 2015 #17

There's a third option--asking another passenger to switch. geek tragedy May 2015 #7

If one of his or his kid's seats was an aisle or window one, he'd have takers, no problem. MADem May 2015 #28

That's right. I've flown many masny miles, and i've never napi21 May 2015 #53

anybody who flys commercial flights has my sympathy olddots May 2015 #9

I wonder if he booked through the airline, or through something like Orbitz petronius May 2015 #10

I'd happily switch seats so a dad could sit with his TheCowsCameHome May 2015 #11

You should read the OP. LisaL May 2015 #13

He probably presumed TheCowsCameHome May 2015 #31

I have changed seats for a family to sit together Angry Dragon May 2015 #18

I would have too. LisaL May 2015 #23

Airlines suck today Angry Dragon May 2015 #15

What doesn't? LisaL May 2015 #16

DRAGONS Angry Dragon May 2015 #19

Nice post, Daenerys. nt Tommy_Carcetti May 2015 #24

Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot approve this message... (nt) petronius May 2015 #47

my job doesn't. uppityperson May 2015 #20

Lucky you. LisaL May 2015 #22

yup, indeed uppityperson May 2015 #25

Pulitzer prize material. phil89 May 2015 #21

I think most people who fly regularly would know that its not hard to find a sympathetic soul onenote May 2015 #27

Needs more information jberryhill May 2015 #30

Always select seats when you buy the ticket discntnt_irny_srcsm May 2015 #32

If he wanted to avoid the fee Ms. Yertle May 2015 #33

i agree witht he dude. if they could do it for 88, they could do it for customer service. nt seabeyond May 2015 #34

^== This. nt IdaBriggs May 2015 #50

He didn't trust that someone would trade with him at the gate, I suppose. DawgHouse May 2015 #42

I sense a bit of poutrage philosslayer May 2015 #49

I support him totally. Shame on Delta. 840high May 2015 #51

Non-story... I have had this happen on occasion with my children on flights where seats are not JCMach1 May 2015 #54