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.

someone pacing up and down shouting and crying for the first 4 hours of the flight

This sounds ... extreme. I doubt that passenger would ever have been unproblematic, regardless of seat bookings. How did the cabin crew handle it?

I don’t care where I sit. I’d just wait and see at check in

We are going KLM, Scoot, Finnair and JAL in the summer to Australia and back and only JAL have given free seat allocations. Unfortunately our Finnair flight was booked with JAL and they can't make seat reservations.

Good luck with Scoot. Worst long haul I've ever flown. Even Garuda in the old days wasn't as bad as Scoot. Singapore Airlines are lovely - Scoot is a sham. I won't fly Singapore any more because of being routed via a Scoot flight Sydney to CHangi.

I would refuse to get up so often. What if they’re sleeping? Don’t be so selfish.

It's fine not to book and it's fine to get up a few times. You don't need to ensure anyone else has an optimal flight, but it is unreasonable to deliberately inflict a nightmare flight on them which is what the OP was proposing by making that person get up 20 times or else 'crawling all over them'. It's possible to compromise on her desire for hourly movement for the sake of showing basic decency in a shared space. And if she can't compromise, then pay for the aisle seat. Totally different for you travelling with someone with additional needs.

I’ve got a 14 hour flight booked and have paid extra for an aisle seat . The thought of people climbing over me to get to the loo is not appealing .

I’d say needing to get up once an hour indicates OP has additional needs…

Bollocks would it. There's no mens rea.

She hasn't once said she does. But she does come across as exceedingly selfish

Going to the US with BA and they charge for luggage and seat selection now. It’s basically easyJet these days but less orange.

I always choose, unless the cost is ridiculous (and I don’t think it is here). I like to know where I’m sitting, and prefer the aisle seat as I’m quite tall. I also like the legroom seats if I can get them, near the emergency exits.

It would massively piss me off if you were up and down every 30 minutes. I’m not sure why you’d inconvenience yourself by not booking an aisle seat, if you can afford it.

DH & I once ended up in the window & aisle seat. They plonked an extremely large passenger, who couldn't get up on their own, in the aisle seat, right before take off. Space issues aside, we couldn't get up at all, and were last off the flight because aisle passenger needed to wait for special flight crew to get them off. I had to say no to drinking anything, even though I was parched, because zero chance I was getting to the toilet.

Luckily it was only a 3 hour flight, and I learned my lesson. Especially now we travel with DC. I always pay for seats & one is always an aisle!

They asked DH if he would move, he said he’d rather not because he wanted to be able to help with our autistic children if needed so they left him to it. She paced until she got bored and then slumped in her seat and glared for a while. Eventually she went to sleep and the cabin crew gave us extra wine.

That would be quite a drip feed! She could ask the airline to accommodate her if so, though I expect they would still require her to pay the booking fee. The implication from her posts is that she just likes to get up a lot though. I said upthread my parents have mobility issues that mean they require aisle seats so they always pay for them. I think most people do, if they have a particular requirement. But in the case of the pp travelling with a child who has ADHD, I think the airline would need to arrange appropriate seating if that poster doesn't book seats herself as she stated. I think children with additional needs should be accommodated. I think a fidgety adult should pay for the seat they want or compromise rather than making someone else (who may have a very legitimate need for the aisle seat they've booked and paid for) suffer for a ten hour flight.

Wow that all sounds very dramatic and unlike any flight I've ever been on in my life. Hope you're ok.

I would not pay that because it’s sneaky and underhand. £160 extra for a flight you’ve already bought is insane.

headphones on, good neck pillow, firm shove of any man spreading knees/arms shortly after takeoff, job done.

DH & I once ended up in the window & aisle seat. They plonked an extremely large passenger, who couldn't get up on their own, in the aisle seat, right before take off.

Wow. So you shared a seat? I didn't think that was even allowed.

How did it look on your boarding passes? Did you ask the airline if they required you to sit on each others laps? Where did you actually sit?

Serious question - why can’t you stand on the arms of the chair & climb over the person without waking them up? Admittedly don’t do it with turbulence but it’s not hard

I wouldn’t be thrilled, no, but it wouldn’t happen as I’d have paid to sit in the window seat. If I hadn’t been able to choose a window seat for whatever reason, I’d put up with it. My comfort doesn’t take priority over anyone else’s.

Crawl over people? Wtf ? You would try that once with me 😂

Because you'd look like a mentalist.

Seriously don't do that.

I’d hope the airline would help anyone with mobility problems to find a suitable seat.

Definitely pay and book. Dh and I book aisle seats across from each other and he sits with the 2 dc on his row. He hands out sweets, sorts drinks and snacks and supervises, I snooze. Everyone is happy!

I wouldn't want to risk a window or middle seat. I do think it's crap though that final price is effectively disguised.

I'm surprised by how many long haul flights are charging for seats. I travel long haul solo a couple of times a year and while you have to pay extra for some seats (eg those with extra leg room), I've never been charged when choosing my bog standard economy seat.

I've also never been unfortunate enough to be seated next to someone who has decided that they need to get out of their seat every hour.