To not book a seat on a longhaul flight?

[DecemberPlusFebruary]

I'm travelling alone. Flight is 10 hours. Adding seats to the (economy cheapest) booking raises the price by about £70 - £85/flight and it's round trip. Economy cheapest means I am allocated a seat randomly - no choice even at check-in. Price without a seat: £425. With seats: £602!

I have a half hour drive on arrival at destination, but a route I know well, and even if I don't sleep at all, timings mean I will be okay to drive. No driving on return.

But... I like an aisle seat. I stand up and move like once/hour. Crawling over people is pretty unpleasant, for everyone involved - though I would do it anyway.

Hmm. Aibu to just hope for the best on allocation?? How bad can it be? £175 seems insane to pay for seats.

I get that KrisAkabusi - and I'm very used to it on short haul but like most I am used to long haul being expensive and the 'extras' - food, entertainment, seat selection priced in. So an extra £1000 comes as a shock! However talking about it caused me to check and they've slashed the prices on one of the legs to £13.90 each so I'm definitely booking that!

At this rate, obstinate aisle blockers will say I'm getting up every 5 minutes for 10 whole hours.

Fyi, it was roughly once an hour.

That is a good deal!

But still too much for any unfortunate person who's booked the aisle seat because of mobility issues. When you're trapped in a limited space 35,000 feet in the air for hours, you have to be considerate of other people and not just think about your own comfort or the whole thing would deteriorate very rapidly.

Anyone body-blocking on the aisle seat is not thinking of the comfort of others. If you struggle to move, the aisle is a poor choice as you will be asked to move, or crawled over.

The aisle seat is the only option for people with restricted mobility. My dad physically can't get in and out of middle or window seats so he has to sit in the aisle. Of course he'll get up and move to let people out to the toilet but he would really struggle to get up and down twenty times in ten hours so you can wander around. He's not body-blocking to inconvenience others; it's the only way he can fly. Do you consider disabled people to be 'not thinking of the comfort of others'?

What !

I always pay and always book aisle seat. It’s a no brainier especially on a long haul flight.

If you literally get up every hour and intend to ' crawl over people' regardless, then it would be pretty shitty of you not to book an aisle seat. People will be trying to sleep and you will be causing people near youto basically be awake for much of the flight.

This. I remember suffering through a 14 hour flight in an aisle seat trying to sleep as I had meetings when I arrived, and the man next to me kept waking me up to walk in the aisle because he "had a bad back." In the end I asked him to swap seats because I couldn't keep being woken up.

If you know you need to get up every hour on an overnight flight (is it red eye back from East coast USA?) then it is v selfish not to book an aisle seat.

Thank god I fly business nowadays.

I’m a nervous flyer which manifests as claustrophobia. So I book an aisle seat. If I was expected to move 20 times to facilitate you being a selfish prat, you’d know about it.

Your poor husband’s response speaks volumes.

Now you’re just being a goady twat. Nobody can be this selfish 😂

I wouldn’t pay. If it’s BA you can check in 24hrs before, and book a seat then. I did this recently and it worked out well.

I like dh, too. A solidly good 'un.

I love you all sitting on aisle seats near each other! Dh is a window person - asleep before takeoff.

Just pay for the seat. For a 10 hour flight those plane tickets wouldn’t have been cheap - is your comfort (and that of others if you’re a PITA that gets up every hour..) really not worth an extra £80?

I booked Virgin for long haul and had to pay for allocated seating.

This. The op hasn't once acknowledged her selfishness with this. People who book aisle seats do it for a myriad of reasons and do not expect to be disturbed so often. Quite frankly I am astonished at the 'I will be crawling all over people anyways' stance. Utterly self absorbed.

When we flew to the US last time, I had a window seat and DH the middle seat in premium economy. And the aisle seat was taken by a woman who got on board then reclined her seat as soon as she was able telling the crew that she didn't want meals and just wanted to sleep I looked over in horror and offered her my window seat even though we'd paid extra for it but she didn't want to.

End result. New York City for 5 days with a UTI. I'd never book a window seat again on a long flight.

Your call, OP, but I would definitely pay extra for the aisle. Can't bear to be blocked in. I don't mind letting others out but I really hate being stuck in the middle or by the window.

Booking an aisle seat is not body blocking ffs.

It says in the very first paragraph of the post that this isn’t an option

If you are going to stand up and move around every hour, despite acknowledging how annoying this would be for the people who you'll have to make move to let you get past, then yes, of course you should book the aisle seat.

Hopefully once you've done so the other people in the row are more considerate than you and are able to sit like adults for a few hours at the time so you can get your precious sleep rather than being prodded awake every hour (or half hour if they don't move at the same time) so they can get up and move.

Ugh, people like you is why I fly business. Bet you recline when people are eating too.

I think you have to really think through how belligerent you’re actually prepared to be when it isn’t just bravado and words on MN. I doubt you’re going to be brave enough to get into an argument with somebody forthright and fiercer than you who has made it clear after your forth disruption in as many hours that they aren’t going to be moving again to let you stroll; nor can I imagine you’ll aggressively be climbing over a sleeping passenger, a disabled passenger, or somebody holding a sleeping baby. Just take your DH’s good advice and book the aisle.

I always book seats - it's just part of the cost of the trip, but it's broken down into separate chunks in the calculation. That's all. If you can afford to fly long-haul, you can afford to pay the proper price. If you want an aisle seat, then pay for it..... just as everyone else does.

If you're getting up every hour please book an aisle seat. Even more so if it's a night flight.