Couples & Voluntary Cabin Separation

[Cruiser Elite]

I have noticed recently a number of references on AFF to couples flying in different cabins and as there has been no reference to forced separation then I am assuming these have been totally voluntary separations. I see this regularly on flts to / fro China where in ALL cases I see the male in F or J and wife / female companion in Y with or without kids in tow.

This concept never ceases to intrigue me. Cruiserette and myself are way past the 'handholding' stage as we have been together for yonks now - and we both do a lot of solo travel with our own businesses - but whenever we do fly on the same flight there is absolutely zero chance we would not sit in the same cabin and preferably side by side but that is impossible in the likes of QF F. We do not always fly F or J - short hops we regularly fly Y - and indeed when we do fly Y if one or the other were offered upgrade to J on a short hop we would decline and let someone else have it.

I would love to hear the thoughts of other AFF members on this very subject - do you think it reasonable for one half of a couple to fly voluntarily in higher class than their partner? Do you in fact do this?

 

[Denali]

re: Couples & Voluntary Cabin Separation

If only one of us gets offered an upgrade, the rule is to take it and we can argue about who sits in it later... knowing my husband, he would let me. Knowing me, I would tell him to go sit in it and he would be off running before I finish the sentence.

The only time I could imagine we would be happy in separate classes is if he is in F and Im in J... which might happen as he just found out about The Apartments and The Suites last night and said, "Why didn't you tell me about this!".

My office has a PE policy but I cant imagine he would sit in Y, he would expect the point fairy to fix up his seat so we both turn left.

 

[wandering_fred]

re: Couples & Voluntary Cabin Separation

When one family member flies to retain the status and points and those points are used for "the better half" to only remember long haul economy as a distant memory, there are times when they fly in separate cabins... Especially when PEY/Y+ is not an award option.

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[SponsorSFC]

If I took F or J while my wife was in Y I don't think there would be a second time.

But I would probably let her take it if we were offered one seat at the gate/check in.

In reality I do most of our leisure travel planning based around what awards are available so it is unlikely to ever happen, not to mention that after her first VA transcon J flight she said "I don't care what you have to do I am never flying in economy again". I make sure to remind her of this every time she complains about me telling her what new CC to get or which card to use at a particular shop.

 

[BillytheFIsh]

I expect that in my case, such a "voluntary" separation would lead to a not-so-voluntary separation of a different kind in short order.

Fortunately the issue hasn't actually arisen yet, but the discussion we have had without conclusion is "What would you prefer: business with toddler or economy without toddler?" Tough choice that one.

[Off topic, but the best one I saw was the women checking herself into J and her two boys, probably 8 and 10, into Y as unaccompanied minors.]

 

[SuzieQ68]

Great question Cruiser Elite. I cannot imagine in any way, shape or form that one of us would fly in Y and the other in J or above. It would definitely be in the same class, and I would go so far as to say that either one of us would decline an upgrade if the other didn't receive it also. Have been together almost 30 years and still enjoy each others company (most days.....lol), so would feel really weird being in different cabins on the same metal.

 

[Skyring]

My wife and I fly in the same cabin. There was one trip where for two legs (end of a DONE4) I had J and we then continued in Y and PE. We split the legs, I took CBR-SYD in J, and then she took SYD-JHB in J.

I was once seated beside a chap in J LAX-SYD. We chatted before takeoff, he looked around the half-full cabin and then spoke to a FA after we took off, saying that his wife was seated in Economy and could he join her?

As it turned out, she was invited forward into one of two seats together in J, the husband went to join her and I had a shadow for a long flight.

 

[blackcat20]

Except for upgrades, we're always in the same cabin. But we were in different cabins on the day we met

 

[RooFlyer]

This in today's on-line media ...

 

[JohnK]

Not an easy one as a lot of women get extremely jealous and emotional. Thank God my wife is not one of them although she can be easily spoilt.

We will travel in the class we can afford and that is economy. There is no way either of us would refuse an upgrade. That is not negotiable. That would be stupid.

There's another very simple rule. In economy and premium economy I sit in aisle seats. Again that is not negotiable. She then chooses where she wants to sit and 100% of the time the answer is next to me. A couple of months back we requested wheelchair at check-in on PG flight and he hands us new boarding passes in row 4 economy with her in window and me in middle. I protested to be put back into my cosy aisle seat in row 22. He gave us boarding passes for business class. Flight was full and not a single business class paying customer on an economy flight.

 

[TomVexille]

Not an easy one as a lot of [-]women[/-] people get extremely jealous and emotional. Thank God my wife is not one of them although she can be easily spoilt.

We will travel in the class we can afford and that is economy. There is no way either of us would refuse an upgrade. That is not negotiable. That would be stupid.

There's another very simple rule. In economy and premium economy I sit in aisle seats. Again that is not negotiable. She then chooses where she wants to sit and 100% of the time the answer is next to me. A couple of months back we requested wheelchair at check-in on PG flight and he hands us new boarding passes in row 4 economy with her in window and me in middle. I protested to be put back into my cosy aisle seat in row 22. He gave us boarding passes for business class. Flight was full and not a single business class paying customer on an economy flight.

Fixed it for ya

 

[dajop]

We do travel in different cabins, the usual reason would be when I or my partner are on work travel in J and the other one of us is in economy on personal travel. Otherwise it might be due to award availability, but even then we will look at different flights around the same time if that means we can both get J seats (rare but we have done this too).

 

[NZflygirl]

Ha! I've thought about this!

I put the +1 in J recently and flew PE although I would have been quite happy in Y. Short hop to MEL so I really couldn't care less and he doesn't fly much so I thought he would appreciate it more. I've put dad in J before but feel like its a bit wasted as he didn't want to ask the FA how to use the IFE as he was embarrassed. Flying J ticket for work to Europe but I'll give dad the J sector from DOH onwards and I've used RU's to get him to PE with me from AKL-PER. My brain needs to work the next day so he can't have the long haul sector on the way over but I'm giving it to him on the way back but more because I'm curious about QR's Y offering and to actually experience it.

I've flown with the +1 and been utterly scared to board the flight and he just swans on, another time freaked about the rate of descent into KL and I look over and he's fast asleep, or flying somewhere and I'm like "look at that!" and I look over and he's snoozing.... what's the point?!?! Then we fly J and I'm out for the count while he's enjoying the service so..... meh... not fussed about different cabins. Would be great to fly same cabin... I think! And he's said he's happy flying PE rather than J if we fly the ditch together so guess I'll aim for that next time. I've swapped out of first to put his sister in F and I've gone to Y. I'm not that fussed about Y on short haul. I feel spoiled with operational upgrades so if I can share that out then I'm all good. We want to fly to SYD with his dad for some whisky tasting and rugby but I suspect that we'll end up in 3 different cabins lol. If we do then so be it - short hop. His dad toots a lot so I've also thought I'd like to be in a different cabin to that carry on We're just not the sort of couple that needs to be next to each other 24/7. It's nice but then I get peeved that he dozes off!!!

If one of us has a J ticket then it's likely we'll swap on different legs so both can experience J It does work!

 

[OzEire]

I would be interested to hear if anyone had experienced this. Say work booked a J international seat, and we privately added a Y seat for +1 on the same metal... Ie. different PNRs but same surname, etc. Assuming we are unable to points upgrade so we can both travel in J (option 1) I would like to offer my +1 the J seat which is booked in my name.

Seems easy enough to swap ourselves after boarding but I don't want the FAs to get confused/put off. Also, A380 and potentially seated on different levels so even boarding or swapping after TO could be fairly obvious even if we did try to "hide" it.

Any advice? Explain the situation to check-in and / or onboard staff and ask if they would prefer we do it on boarding or after TO? Would they "refuse" to allow it ? Advice appreciated.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

As others have said - I imagine it could be quite common where work pays for premium but the partner decides to accompany for the holiday (but chooses to save money in the lower cabin).

Where I get confused is with parents flying in First but can't afford their nanny and child to be with them so send them economy.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I would be interested to hear if anyone had experienced this. Say work booked a J international seat, and we privately added a Y seat for +1 on the same metal... Ie. different PNRs but same surname, etc. Assuming we are unable to points upgrade so we can both travel in J (option 1) I would like to offer my +1 the J seat which is booked in my name.

Seems easy enough to swap ourselves after boarding but I don't want the FAs to get confused/put off. Also, A380 and potentially seated on different levels so even boarding or swapping after TO could be fairly obvious even if we did try to "hide" it.

Any advice? Explain the situation to check-in and / or onboard staff and ask if they would prefer we do it on boarding or after TO? Would they "refuse" to allow it ? Advice appreciated.

Do the swap on board and before you take your seats - you don't need to wait until after take-off. Approach the crew and advise them that you and your partner would like to swap seats for the duration of the flight.

Don't mention it at check-in - just confusing. Waiting till after take-off might be ok, but may be met with a 'no' if it is against airline policy.

 

[junbugging]

I would be interested to hear if anyone had experienced this. Say work booked a J international seat, and we privately added a Y seat for +1 on the same metal... Ie. different PNRs but same surname, etc. Assuming we are unable to points upgrade so we can both travel in J (option 1) I would like to offer my +1 the J seat which is booked in my name

I wouldn't be too impressed as the employer.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Haven't gotten into that situation myself yet. The +1 now has some status as well, and on the last flight, we were op-uped together.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

As others have said - I imagine it could be quite common where work pays for premium but the partner decides to accompany for the holiday (but chooses to save money in the lower cabin).

Where I get confused is with parents flying in First but can't afford their nanny and child to be with them so send them economy.

Sometimes it's a case of the parents being able to afford it but choosing not do as they'd rather have their child or infant scream their lungs out in a lower cabin so they're not disturbed.

 

[russ]

Perhaps couples split up for the same reason