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?

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

I guess it depends on the airport - I used to fly once a week from EMA to DUB - it made almost zero difference whether I rushed or didn't - in fact rushing to get off disadvantaged me on the rare occasions we were bussed to the terminal as fist on the bus meant I wasn't first off it. Mostly these "advantages" are just like people who push past you to get on the tube - they are largely illusory.

You’re thinking of the theatre. This is absolutely not a thing on planes

@BoredBoredBoredB

I don’t think two people travelling together should be able to book aisle and window seats leaving a gap between them. It just seems greedy to hope that nobody goes between you.

FFS - this is pathetic.

Pathetic? How so?

I thought some airlines do this and sell them as premium or business class seats

@BoredBoredBoredB

Pathetic? How so?

As I have stated numerous times, DP prefers an aisle seat and I much prefer the window - we book those, not for reasons of "greed" (fuck me people can be judgmental without any appreciation of the facts). We have offered to swap if people prefer - and we don't pass hundreds of objects across or have long conversations. (some) people have some fucking ridiculously entitled and prejudicial ideas about air travel. If you want find someone to blame - try plane manufacturers and airlines. Fucking Hell.

@Scianel would you offer them the aisle if they didn't want to sit at the window?

In my post above, I had this exact situation but they only wanted to swap the window seat so they had the aisle and middle, I hate sitting at the window as I get anxious flying as it is and don't like to see out but they would only swap the window as they wanted the aisle. It meant I then had them talking over me, passing each other food/drinks and everything else over me

I travel alone for business on a regular basis. Where should I sit?
My parents always book 2 aisle seats opposite each other. Works for them. Would that not be allowed?

As I have stated numerous times, DP prefers an aisle seat and I much prefer the window - we book those, not for reasons of "greed" (fuck me people can be judgmental without any appreciation of the facts).
We have offered to swap if people prefer - and we don't pass hundreds of objects across or have long conversations

Us too. But we don't offer to swap!

It can be about balance for the aircraft. I presume you’d rather they didn’t think of safety?

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.

This happened to me once! It was just after 9/11 and not many people were flying. I could lie down across the whole middle four and sleep.

What I mean about the man sitting by the aisle is not that it’s men that choose the aisle generally, but that couples who try to get a whole row like that tend to include a certain sort of man, who generally wants the aisle (plus all the space going). But not always of course!

@Lou98 no unfortunately not as I have claustrophobia and need the aisle seat which is why I'm pretty obsessive about advance booking.

Guys. Can we all take a moment to appreciate what is actually happening here? Right now. It's an airlines seat thread. COVID must be over. It's been at least 2 years since I've seen one.

[quote FawnFrenchieMum]@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.[/quote]
Single people go on holiday too.

Yes it happens. I always place someone in between them. Then they complain that they want to sit together and don't want someone in between. Teaches them to select practical seats next time.

@BoredBoredBoredB

I don’t think two people travelling together should be able to book aisle and window seats leaving a gap between them. It just seems greedy to hope that nobody goes between you.

But how do you know when just looking at the seat allocations that the people are travelling together? It could be solo travellers. Equally there may be different needs within the same group - I'm tall so prefer to pay extra for the extra leg room seats where possible, but some airlines charge £10/15 extra for these seats so whenever I travelled with ExDH and DD they would sit in the regular seats and I would "upgrade" on short haul flights because it wasn't worth the extra £20/30 for us all to sit in the bulkhead seats when they were perfectly comfortable two rows back

I often travel alone, if I'm booking a flight and see a row around my preferred seat area with only one seat booked then I will take the vacant window/aisle seat rather than book a seat in an empty row. I don't take the middle seat as I always think it's weird to specifically choose a seat right next to a stranger when there are options to give everyone a little space.

In my head this leaves the full rows for larger parties and if I'm lucky then nobody books the middle seat and both me and my seat mate get a bit extra room. Sometimes you can also see that a group of 4 has probably booked their seats together and decided to take A-C on one side and D across the aisle, in which case I will take F because I prefer the window seat.

Personally I think the default should be you book and get your seat(s) allocated then, by default with the people you booked with unless the aeroplane is already full, and you only pay extra if you want to sit right at the front, in an extra leg room seat or have other specifications unless it is as a result of a disability. As with trains. And the further you book in advance, the cheaper it is and easier it is to book seats.

@Sweetmotherofallthatisholyabov

Guys. Can we all take a moment to appreciate what is actually happening here? Right now. It's an airlines seat thread. COVID must be over. It's been at least 2 years since I've seen one.

That is a very fair point!

@Scianel and that's absolutely fine - as long as you don't then proceed to have conversations over the person in the middle seat and pass food/drink etc.
I booked the middle seat in that flight because I didn't want a window seat, it makes no difference to me if I'm in the aisle or middle but I have anxiety and it makes me panic sitting at the window when I can see out so I wasn't willing to swap with her for the window seat. I do think it's extremely rude to then have a conversation over me with her Partner in the aisle seat. Especially in that case it was a late night flight, I was tired and couldn't relax for them talking and passing eachother things

@Sweetmotherofallthatisholyabov

that did make me laugh on an otherwise depressingly trivial non issue

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

If I was left in the middle seat and people tried to talk across me I’d object to that immediately.

I’d want the man to vacate his aisle seat (it’s always the man in the aisle seat in these sort of couples) so I could have some peace, and that’s the seat I’d have wanted to begin with.

Hopefully the man would tell you where to get off for your arrogance, reserve your seat earlier if you're so picky. We often booked aisle and window but would manage the trip with little communication.

@FTMworrier

Literally had this argument with TUI this weekend. Family of 3, but LO is 14months so only two seats. Paying to select our seats and it wouldn’t allow us to select an aisle seat and middle seat. We tried to choose this incase LO is being a pain on the fight and we need to walk around with him etc. but the system literally blocked us and wouldn’t allow us to select. So we are having to select window and middle seat and have to pay for them even though we don’t want to sit there 🤷🏻‍♀️

We've just had the exact same with tui, seems really weird. I'm thinking maybe we can negotiate a swap with whoever is in the aisle when we get on the plane

You have no idea who has booked what - family group / solo flyers / whatever. If I'm going to pay for my seat I get on asap and book them. For four we take x2 aisle + middle on a 3x3 or we take a middle 4 on a 3x4x3. I don't want to sit in the window, my kids don't and they would definitely piss off anyone on the aisle if we had to clamber over every time they needed the toilet.

If I didn't have to pay I'd take the allocation, if I'm paying I'll pay for what I want.

@BarbaraGordon if I've paid for my seat why should I negotiate a swap?

DH and I are travelling in May with an 18 month old and a 6 week old (yes, we’re insane). We’re not allowed to both have an infant on our laps and be in the same row of 3, so we’ve booked either side of an aisle (also means he’s less likely to drive anyone mad with a wriggly 18mo). I felt really bad when we booked our seats as it meant we were leaving middle seats empty in an otherwise booked row but what can you do, it’s the airlines rule!