Who actually has rights to spare seats on a plane???

[International Lady]

Funny how self important everyone thinks they are when they are PLAT - some people don't realise just how many PLAT there are these days! All these entitlements because they work in a job that involves travel and work pays for their J class seats, and work often decides who they travel with! Yet nearly everytime these PLATS are travelling for leisure purposes with their families, they only ever buy Yclasss or better still, use points. Have met a lot of people who actually feel the need to tell me they used to be 'plat' but now, because of a different job - they are back down the ladder. Big deal! A little curtesy towards fellow passengers goes a long way, no matter what tier status we are!

 

[dajop]

Funny how self important everyone thinks they are when they are PLAT

Every group of people have some bad eggs, I am sure there are just as many inconsiderate people with no status or no FF membership. You see it in every day life.

 

[JohnK]

Funny how self important everyone thinks they are when they are PLAT - some people don't realise just how many PLAT there are these days!

There may well be some people that behave this way but definitely not everyone.

All these entitlements because they work in a job that involves travel and work pays for their J class seats, and work often decides who they travel with!

Another general statement. I am a fully self funded QF Platinum and I have not worked for over 6 months. I expect to get some benefits with the status eg pre-allocating exit rows, assigned the first row in economy on domestic flights, seats next to me blocked off regularly, upgrades, NC headphones, drinks from business class that are not usually offered to WHY passengers etc etc.

The last flight that was funded by an employer, a stingy SYD-CGK return in WHY, was in Apr 2005 and I struggled to get to QF Silver that year anyway!

Yet nearly everytime these PLATS are travelling for leisure purposes with their families, they only ever buy Yclasss or better still, use points.

What should I do with the FF points I earn? Use them for RTW travel or otherwise expensive point to point airfares. Nothing wrong with this as I have earned all my FF points the hard way.

A little curtesy towards fellow passengers goes a long way, no matter what tier status we are!

I am always curteous to fellow passengers. I do not recline, note that most times I have bulkhead or exit row allocated, and I try not to take up any space of the person next to me by leaning over into the aisle and get constantly knocked on the shoulder, arm and elbow for my troubles.

Now if I was politely asked to give up my bulkhead/exit row seat for a middle seat down the back I would not do it!

 

[simongr]

Funny how self important everyone thinks they are when they are PLAT - some people don't realise just how many PLAT there are these days! All these entitlements because they work in a job that involves travel and work pays for their J class seats, and work often decides who they travel with!

Umm why is relevant who pays for their travel or who decides who they travel with when it comes to Airline status? All my travel is employer funded and the status and benefits therefrom are part of the overall package that forms part of my willingness to travel. If I was offered a job with a BFOD policy (even with J int'l travel) I wouldnt take it. I fly, earn status with airlines and expect the benefits that are associated. The fact that some people pay for their own travel and don't get status is irrelevant to me and my status should be irrelevant to them.

I am couteous to my fellow pax - in fact I barely interact with other pax as I just like to get on with my journey. Any frustration I have getting stuck in queues behind people who dont travel alot is internalised and vocalised in my trip reports I do not direct any of it to the other pax.

I am sorry that you seem to have experienced some inconsiderate Plats when you have travelled but I have experienced some inconsiderates golds, silvers, bronzes, non-status and non-fliers when I have travelled - but I don't post saying "all non-status pax should get out of my way and give up their seats for me as I have status" - well not without one of these at least.

I really am tired of the "you don't deserve status because your company pays" attitude - I don't look down my nose at people who fly on BAH-DOH F runs to get "cheap" status on BA or do the Eurocheat on BA or people who do the platinum challenge and get status for one brief year so why should I have to put up with the recurrent theme of sneering at business travellers with status.

For the record I think pax X in the original story was a tool.

 

[Alanslegal]

The seat number that is printed on your BP, that is your seat.............. the other vacant seats are just merely 'first in best dressed' once the seat belt light goes off.......

however in terms of the appropriateness, if a seat looks obviously taken or reserved like what pax X did in placing his belongings on the other vacant seats... pax y should have at least asked pax x if it was Ok to sit in that seat...... common courtesy would be that pax x says 'no problem, go for it' but only a complete moron would say 'no, its reserved, i've got status bla bla bla' - we can only assume pax X would have said this if politely asked......

 

[acampbel]

OK - 2 schools of thought here.

1. There is no way anyone over 1m tall can sleep across only 2 economy seats (even 3 is a little cramped), so sharing the spare seats between X and Y would have resulted in a little bit of extra personal space but no advantage in trying to get some kip. Better that 1 person goes horizontal and it's first in, best dressed.

2. You get the seat you were assigned, and if by chance the seat beside you is free then you can use it (or share it if there is another adjoining passenger beside it). If you want to sleep horizontally then that feature is available for purchase in another cabin.


I lean towards #2, as I find it somewhat distasteful when passengers lie across seats (young children being the exception .... in fact I would approve of all spare seats being allocated for this purpose).

Also the FA's have the right to move people around the cabin, though they should never advantage a moving passenger over one who is in their assigned seat.


Cheers,

Andrew

.

 

[serfty]

Funny how self important everyone thinks they are when they are PLAT - some people don't realise just how many PLAT there are these days!

IIRC, there were over 60,000 WP and CL's in late 2004, so yes not that rare, nor important.

All these entitlements because they work in a job that involves travel and work pays for their J class seats, and work often decides who they travel with!

60% of my travel is work rated -mainly domestic with a few O/S trips. My work will only pay for discount Industry airline fares or equivalent cost; I choose to travel down the back for work purposes at similar fare levels to gain SC's and FF points and also for more certainty of travel. So, yes, I am somewhat of an expert in WHY Travel, both Domestic and Internationally - I am also adept in optimizing my comfort, whether it be via Exit row seats or a block of three (on lightly loaded flights) - Status is one means of doing so.

Yet nearly everytime these PLATS are travelling for leisure purposes with their families, they only ever buy Yclasss or better still, use points.

See previous comments by me in this post.

Have met a lot of people who actually feel the need to tell me they used to be 'plat' but now, because of a different job - they are back down the ladder. Big deal!

Of course, status is generally only useful when actually flying on your carrier of choice/affiliate. I have been a Frequent Flyer since 1994, I may reach a lifetime status in the next year or so (I would have been already if the 200+ flights I took 1994-1998 had been included in my lifetime status tally).

A little curtesy towards fellow passengers goes a long way, no matter what tier status we are!

This is the only part of your post (rant) that is pertinent to this thread, courtesy does go a long way, irrespective of tier status.

FWIW, next time you have the opportunity fly down the back of a lightly loaded Qantas 747 over the pacific, watch what happens when the seat belt sign goes off ... as I posted, it's the quick or the sitting up!

And no, I don't indulge in this bun fight; at that stage I am either in my exit row seat or holding point in my aisle block of three.

 

[NM]

On a SIN-FRA flight many years ago, I was assigned the G seat and theree was a young lady sitting in the D seat. E and F were vacant. Knowing that even two seats is not going to really help with slumber, we struck a deal where she had DEF for the first half of the flight, and I have EFG for the second half. That way we both had a chance for some reasonable horizontility.

 

[kpc]

we struck a deal where she had DEF for the first half of the flight, and I have EFG for the second half.

What would you have done if she "failed to wake up" when it was your turn to have the 3 seats?

 

[NM]

What would you have done if she "failed to wake up" when it was your turn to have the 3 seats?

I would have been my usual restrained and polite self and allowed her to sleep ...
But I may have accidentally spilled my breakfast onto her feet if she continued too long .

This was the third leg of a 5 sector routing from BNE to RDU (via MEL, SIN, FRA and LGW). I met up with my UK colleague in LGW for the last sector over to RDU. He managed a paid J fare while I was doing a LLONE4. So I asked at the AA check-in if I could upgrade to J for that sector. It was going to cost more than my entire LLONE4 ticket and there was no space anyway. So she allocated me a D seat and blocked the other two in the row of the 767. My UK colleague came back several times so we could discuss the project. Each time I was horizontal and unconscious so he returned to his J seat. That was the best sleep I have had on a plane, but probably influenced by the 44 hour trip time.

 

[bambbbam2]

What would you have done if she "failed to wake up" when it was your turn to have the 3 seats?

Put her hand in a bowl of warm water? :mrgreen:

 

[straitman]

Checkin cannot BLOCK seats unless there is a valid reason eg. oversold J cabin so a downgrade is offered, they give him/her a row of 4 along with other compensation. But if this was the case, the crew would be aware and would not have put pax Y in seat G.

Are you sure :?:
Last year travelling to HKG on an A330 (and on return) we were allocated D & G seats and specifically told that the E & F seats had been blocked. Two weeks ago I asked in the MEL QP for exit row seats and we were given A & C on a 737 and there was a phone call to whoever to specify that C had been blocked.

Pax X just sounds like someone with absolute no manners whatsoever. Surely one extra seat should be a bonus. Pax Y did not need to start any confrontation, but could have politely asked Pax X to move along one seat so they too could have some extra room! If he was asleep at the time, I would have put the reading lights on and stayed up to read all night! Maybe the odd few drops of water splashed on his face - blame it on turbulence?!

By turning the lights on and splashing water on his you are just lowering yourself to the same standard :!:

Other than to say that all MOST people are doing is using the established system to maximum advantage, I'll leave it there as your other points have all been addressed adequately by everyone else.