Leaving odd seats empty on planes

[FawnFrenchieMum]

I actually didn’t think it allowed you to do this (leave a single window seat of the middle seat of three)
Am I being unreasonable to this leaving single seats like this all over the plane shouldn't be allowed?

Everyone hopes nobody sits next to them on a plane, planes are a nightmare.

want to pay extra to sit with my dc, but also so Dh and his son are close . Dh hates flying and sits isle but his son loves window, sounds more like your annoyed you either didn’t pay extra like most others or everyone else has been quicker.

Was on a flight to the US once that was very empty for some reason. The upper deck was closed. They spaced passengers around the cabins for take off and landing but once the seat belt lights went off they said you could sit where you liked. It was great, DH and I got the four middle seats of two rows so you could put the armrests up and lie down to sleep. Bet that doesn't happen very often.

It's not always the man in the aisle seat. DH likes a window and I like the aisle as I don't want to see outside. One of us always has to compromise though and if I am in the middle I ALWAYS get the obese person blocking my exit from the row. I can usually spot who I will be sitting next to in the departure lounge.

I used to have to book my boss an aisle seat for daytime flights and a window for night flights. Said it avoided people climbing over him when he was trying to sleep.

So what are single travellers meant to do? Not sit anywhere?

It's not really greedy if there'd be an empty seat elsewhere otherwise.

It increases the chances that the only empty seat on the plane is the one between you, which may or may not be greedy. If it is taken then it makes the flight less comfortable for the person between two people talking across her.

I fly with Oman Air or Saudia. Business suites (there are family suites too) are only a few hundred more than a charter truck economy. It saves the angst of getting an annoying person next you. I always seemed o get vomiters or performance parents in economy, I just attract them.

The way seat bookings work is inefficient.

My seat was advertised as it including free seat selection 24h before. Fine.

Then when I come to actually pay, it's trying to get me to pay £12 each way pp to select a seat now.we are a family of four, this adds around £100 to the booking!

No, I'm not going to pay it. Yes, there are silly people who deliberately as a couple book an aisle and a window hoping for the whole row. If that's all that's left when my family come to select our seats - you are welcome to have my 2 year old, or my travel sick 5 year old, in the middle of you, because there's no pairs of seats left.

BoredBoredBoredB We have booked a window and an aisle in the past but if a person then gets put in the middle seat we'll offer them the window so they're not stuck between us.

Btw I've regularly seen couples booking window + aisle with a gap simply get moved by the air hostess because safety wise they can't actually seat very young children away from their parents.

These days airlines have a lot of strategies to fill planes. Spare seats are quite unusual.

@JellyfishandShells

‘The only thing that isn't okay is proceeding to talk over middle person/pass things across the whole flight if you don't swap!’

Got moved to another flight across the US once, due to bad weather, so just grateful to have a seat out. I was between a couple travelling together who were on aisle and window. They didn’t just talk across me, refused to engage, they passed an endless selection of snacks across me ( as well as eating the airline meals ). Gross and messy.

I would have made it clear if they wanted to act like a couple then they needed to swap seats with me so they sat together.

Also it's not difficult really. The airline software should just pick up any passengers flying with young children or disabled passengers etc and allow them to select seats at point of booking. If they charge for this they should be taken to task by ASA as really it's essentially a higher ticket price.

@Arabellla, that was my bad punctuation, I meant it to read, that people have made good points re single travelers still wanting a choice of seats but my guess is its a couple hoping no one else sits there so they have three seats. (If I was travelling alone, an empty seat at the side of me would be bliss!), not that its two separate single travelers.

This is a very standard holiday destination flight, highly unlikely to be business travelers IMO.

@Scianel

BoredBoredBoredB We have booked a window and an aisle in the past but if a person then gets put in the middle seat we'll offer them the window so they're not stuck between us.

Yes, I thought you would. That’s why I think it shouldn’t be allowed. However, having read some comments I suppose it is just part of the airlines’ strategy to charge extra for choosing seats in advance thus making the basic flight cost look cheaper.

@Satsumaeater

When I travel alone I pick an aisle seat so I can get off the plane more quickly. I have taken a window seat and then been stuck next to someone who wanted to wait for the whole plane to get off before they moved. Fortunately they did get up and let me out.

When I travel alone I pick an aisle seat so I can get off the plane more quickly. Why?

I travel alone by plane at least 4 times a month.

Anything I can do to enhance my chances of not sitting beside a stranger I take.

I'd book a seat like that in row 33 and hope that no one would book the middle seat.

Again for those who haven't read my post, I have my seats booked, its a flight that's months away so I am not upset that I didn't get what I wanted etc. I was looking to see how full the flight looked (I know you cant really tell as there will be loads who haven't booked) and it just struck me as odd they would allow it to fill like this.

Its a Jet2 flight, we have always done TUI before, maybe they are different or maybe I am just forgetting and getting confused with the cinema.

I am definitely in the camp of if you want to be sat with your family, then pay for it like others have to, but that debate has been done time and time again!

@CounsellorTroi

If two people are travelling together but don’t want a window seat, wouldn’t it make more sense for them to sit either side of an aisle rather than leave the window seat empty? That way there would be fewer odd single seats.

That’s exactly what we do if two of us are traveling…

If it’s just one of us traveling then it’s aisle by choice.

People who live on holiday destinations fly on business too BTW... I used to fly regularly between Larnaca (Cyprus) and London.

”When I travel alone I pick an aisle seat so I can get off the plane more quickly”….why

Err can’t talk for everybody but personally work/bus/onwards connection to catch/appointment to get to…list can be endless

Not everybody getting off an aircraft is at the start or end of a holiday and has all the time in the world..

BTW I’m not suggesting trample people underfoot to get off but some folks have turned getting out of the seat, finding discarded clothes and locating hand baggage into a form of performance art.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

People who live on holiday destinations fly on business too BTW... I used to fly regularly between Larnaca (Cyprus) and London.

Absolutely!

I fly to Alicante and Prague and Rome, amongst other, on business very regularly.

@notimagain

”When I travel alone I pick an aisle seat so I can get off the plane more quickly”….why

Err can’t talk for everybody but personally work/bus/onwards connection to catch/appointment to get to…list can be endless

Not everybody getting off an aircraft is at the start or end of a holiday and has all the time in the world..

BTW I’m not suggesting trample people underfoot to get off but some folks have turned getting out of the seat, finding discarded clothes and locating hand baggage into a form of performance art.

A lot of MNers seem to associate plane travel with holidays and nothing else.

I can't recall the last time I flew away on holiday but I do many, many flights a year for work.

Getting off a plane quickly can make a big difference to how long you're queuing for immigration, taxis, etc.

@Scianel

BoredBoredBoredB We have booked a window and an aisle in the past but if a person then gets put in the middle seat we'll offer them the window so they're not stuck between us.

That’s very kind of you. I got stuck between a couple once and they talked over me a bit but to be fair, they included me in a lot of their conversation. I was about 40 years younger than they were so I felt a bit like I’d been adopted as another dear grandchild by the end of the 5 hour flight 😂

Yes, there are silly people who deliberately as a couple book an aisle and a window hoping for the whole row
What is silly about that? I prefer window, DP prefers aisle, so that's what we book.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

It happens because everyone wants to sit next to their party and that doesn't fit nicely into threes.

I get that, but if you look at the screen shot, you will see there are a few that are not families that don't fit into three's

@SofiaSoFar

Getting off a plane quickly can make a big difference to how long you're queuing for immigration, taxis, etc.

Oh yes…aisle seat, in a row as far forward as possible and hand baggage only..