You’ve boarded your flight, settled in and for whatever reason, another seat is calling you. Nobody is sitting there and you have your eye on it, hoping to snag it to make your trip better. Are you actually allowed to move to a free seat once on board?
Some people are of the view that no, you need to sit where you’re sat and that’s all there is to it. Others think that any seat is fair game and if no-one is sitting there, anyone can claim it. Which is true here?
Can You Take A Free Seat?
Obviously the crew have a manifest showing which people are sitting in what seat. Moving seats could cause a little confusion, especially if you have ordered a special meal or the crew want to personalise their greeting. It also flummoxes accident investigators if people are not where they’re supposed to be.
When To Move To A Free Seat
The only time it is appropriate to move is once the cabin doors have been closed. There is often an announcement over the intercom between the crew of “Boarding Complete”. That’s your cue. Get up and move straight away.
Should You Ask For Permission?
Some people believe it is polite to ask your flight attendant for permission. You can certainly ask them, but I have never seen them refuse a request to change seats.
Overall Thoughts
With Ryanair actively seating those who don’t pay for seats in the middle seat, people tend to move around pretty quickly when there is space available on their flights. Otherwise, people tend to row jump by one row to a quieter set of seats if they see them.
It’s not often you will see someone making a big move. Where there are banks of unclaimed seats in the rear of a long haul economy class cabin, savvy travellers will snag a block of four so they have their own bed to sleep in. That’s the only time I’ve seen movement of many rows.
What do you think about changing to a free seat after boarding is complete? Have you done it? What was your reason for doing so? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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I thought that if you want to sit in a seat and someone is sitting next to that seat, you should ask them. If the seating is 3+3 and only the window seats are occupied, you can sit in the aisle seat. If only the middle seats are empty, you should ask the other two people.
Interesting, it would never have occurred to me to ask the other people in that row. I certainly haven’t been asked – I was looking forward to a row of three to myself, when someone moved from behind onto the other aisle. We still had the middle free, but my chance to lay down was gone. She certainly didn’t ask and I wouldn’t – if it’s free, it’s fair game, in my mind. Thanks for the comment – interesting perspective.
During my recent travel by Indigo, i was on the last row in the aisle while several of the seats at the front rows were empty. But when I asked the attendant to let me shift to the front, she refused permission saying something like ‘you can swap with a passenger but not shift to an empty one’ Well? wierd it is!! Those seats were not the premium but free of charge. What a waste…
Perhaps for weight and balance reasons? That is the only reason I can think of where they would say something like that. Oh well. Thanks for that, interesting!
On 50 seat regional jets such requests are usually refused due to weight/balance issues. Or so they say.
That is true, apparently – those small jets are more susceptible to weight and balance than larger aircraft. This type of plane is not as common in Europe as it is in the USA, so it didn’t spring to mind. Very good point – you should probably ask on those ones! Thanks for the comment!
Nice article! This is pretty regular practice for me I have to admit. But I usually do in after take-off. When I fly on an aircraft with a 3-3 config, I always look for that empty row of seats, so I can lay down and relax, put my feet up, or whatever it might be. If it is an early morning or late night flight, and I want to sleep, I will usually reach for my carry on and get out a jumper and perhaps some other clothing items, and then wrap it up to make a makeshift pillow:D I… Read more »
You are a man on a mission, Marc! I can see you definitely favour comfort when travelling and so you should. I usually use the extra seat belts to go loosely around me if I am lucky enough to get space to lay down in economy class. That is some routine you have there. I’m sure the readers will be taking notes from all of that. Thanks for your comment and for the kind words!
Definitely not my experience on JetBlue. I was travelling on a near empty flight and was in the aisle when the cabin attendant had to pass. I slid into a row to allow easier passing and was treated to a stern reprimand. Evidently, that row was an extra cost row and it was assumed that I would dare sneak into the row without paying the surcharge. The above experience, experiencing a JetBlue IRROPS meltdown ex-FLL one time and having my son travel in underwear to accomodate a supposed NUT CASE tree nut allergy (my son had peanut candy on his… Read more »
Sorry to hear that, sounds like to had a pretty officious crew there. I guess for them, those extra cost rows are a bit like business class on other airlines and are guarded as a result. Your other experiences sound pretty bad… fancy making a child travel in underwear due to another passenger’s allergy. That seems very over the top to me to the point of crazy. With your flight cancellation, again, doesn’t sound great. If it was part of one itinerary, the return should have been cancelled without quibble. If it was a one way on the return, I… Read more »
I fought with air asia flight attendant once who wouldn’t let me sit in the exit aisle. This was after the doors were closed.
I can understand that on airlines who might charge for those seats. Also, I am basing my experience in Europe and clearly things may vary airline to airline or crew to crew for that matter. Interesting to hear your experience, so thanks for sharing that!
I remember hearing stories of certain Congressmen in the 80’s who would book coach and then try to slide into first a few times. The FA’s would firmly but politely ask them to move back. One “alleged” culprit was the late Sen Ted Kennedy, whom many flight crew kept an eye out for, especially as he was a prime supporter of US airline deregulation. Ahh, the things you hear when you’re an airline brat.
That is pretty cheeky, but it is done! I’ve actually seen it once… I was flying bmi from Dublin to London Heathrow and I was in the second row of economy class. Someone sat in the aisle seat right behind the curtain, and after boarding was complete and the safety demonstration, did a smooth up, change and sit into the business class cabin. Nobody seemed to notice and he got his free food along with everyone else. I was pretty amazed by it at the time!