Would you swap seats on a flight if asked by another person?

The Flight Detective
a row of monitors in an airplane

You are finally on board your flight and settling in when someone asks you to swap seats. Some people would be happy to do so, while others are not going to entertain the notion.

Considering the fact everyone can select seats from the time they book through to check-in, you would think being asked for a swap on board would be a rare occurrence. It is, but it still happens.

Seat Swap Stories

One time I was travelling on standby on a staff ticket. We were finally cleared, but as the flight was quite full my travel companion and I were seated separately. He asked the girl beside him if she’d swap with me and she happily did so, which was really nice.

There are stories online such as the one where a father and daughter arrived at the end of boarding. The person beside the daughter in business class was asked if he would swap and it ended up that the swap was into the father’s first class seat. Now that’s a swap I’d like!

Of course, other people have shared stories of couples being seated apart in the same cabin and trying to get people to move into less salubrious seats. While all seats in a cabin are the same, they’re not all created equally.

Seats on the upper deck of the Boeing 747 are more coveted than those on the main deck. Having one half of a couple wanting to move upstairs to sit with the other and displacing the real occupant downstairs is likely to get a negative answer.

Overall Thoughts

What’s your opinion on a seat swap? I would do it if it was like for like. For example, if I had a window seat and it was another window in the same cabin, I’d be pretty fine with moving. For something like a window or aisle to a middle seat, I’d probably say no.

I’d certainly be more inclined to move if I was asked nicely. Being blatantly lied to or commanded to move by another passenger would make me dig in and stick to my guns. Considering how much thought I put into selecting my seats, I’m usually quite glad not to be asked.

What do you think? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Franklin

Happened to me only once. I was connecting in Sydney on a Qantas flight to LAX. But because I was on Westjet flight, Qantas would not let me select a seat ahead of time and pay the fee. When I arrived in Sydney Airport and checked the seats available….only 3 left….all middle seats. Went to the service counter and they showed the same 3 seats…and they assigned me one of them. The only benefit was that I did not have to pay the $50 fee. It turns out my seat was not only in the middle seat in the center… Read more »

derek

People should be smarter when asking to switch seats. For example, try to get a rear aisle and a front middle. You will likely find someone in the middle seat next to the rear aisle who gladly wants a front middle. The old Virgin America planes flying for Alaska have chat. So does Jet Blue, I think. People traveling together can chat with each other even if seated far apart. Some people have free text messaging on certain airlines and phone companies. I think Alaska + T-Mobile is one of them. Sit apart and chat. With texts, they can talk… Read more »

John M.

I’ve swapped seats many times. It is a function of who is asking and the length of the flight. If it is a younger kid trying to sit with a family member (parent – child, young siblings, etc) I will almost always switch. Granted, i haven’t been asked on a really, really long haul, but if looked like it would really help a family I probably still be willing to swap.

dotti

I will usually move if reasonable !!

747always

At the risk of sounding like a selfish curmudgeon, I would only swap seats for those who :

1. Are either kids with parents or older couples
2. Someone with a disability.
3. They ask nicely

If you dont ask nicely, you can go cry

doreen sheinman

I’ve switched more than once. Sometimes to sit next to child, which I truly enjoy!

James

I have never been asked to switch in business class. If I was asked, it would depend on the airline and the seat. BA’s club world can be a disaster if you get the wrong seat. I would decline on bA.

Waid

Nope. I have actually offered better seats to people so I don’t need to bother them by stepping over them or if a person annoys me but I book way in advance and anyone who needs a whole row or seats together needs to plan ahead. Or ask at the gate so the mover can be conped. (Unless there aren’t assigned seats) but again they should fork out for priority boarding. I was asked to give up my window on a short flight of an hour so a whole family could have 1 row instead of having 1 member in… Read more »

Mike B.

That’s actually the type of comment I was referring to. It sometimes *is* exactly like they didn’t know they were going to be traveling.

Raymond Lin

On a recent AA domestic flight, a woman with a baby who was in a middle seat wanted to sit next to baby’s grandmother who was in a middle seat in a different row, so the two of them could take care of the baby. Any switch meant that someone in an aisle or window seat had to take the middle seat that the woman and the baby had or the one that the grandmother had. The flight attendant asked the customers in the row that the grandmother was in to switch. No one in that row was willing to… Read more »

Christian

I’ve had people offer to trade when my wife and I were seated apart. I think that any exchange that works out even or better for the person being helpful is fine.

Michal Bolek

Yes, right. I have offered few times a seat for people apparently travelling together. Once I get an answer from an older couple that they enjoy their seating apart for that short flight home after ftravelling back from Europe to US 🙂

Jinxed_K

I’ve only been asked once in all the flights I’ve taken to swap seats. It was an older couple who asked rather nicely if I wouldn’t mind switching so they could sit together and it was a short (2hr) flight so I had no issues with it. I probably wouldn’t have any problems switching in any short haul situation, long as it was a similar seat to what I’m giving up. (aisle/window, cabin class). On long haul, I pick aisle seats for ease of standing up and going to the lav so unless the new seat is an aisle too,… Read more »

Mike B.

Like for like, I really don’t mind. Sometimes, though, it’s not like for like and it’s unavoidable. Coming back from my Dad’s funeral (and therefore, short notice booking), my wife and preschooler had the middle and window seat, while I and the infant had the middle seat immediately behind them. My wife asked the guy in the aisle seat if he would switch with me. He looked decidedly unhappy, which I totally get. His alternative was having a baby passing back and forth over the seat, though. On the flight out, my son was assigned a seat a couple rows… Read more »

beth

This comment bothers me a lot. I do not have kids to travel with but being told “either you switch or you babysit my kid” annoys me. I’m not going to do either if it’s proposed that way as it was once to me. A woman had done basic economy for a party of 12 with 7 or 8 being kids under 8 and announced, “either people are going to have to move or you’ll be babysitting our children.” I found that horribly rude and it made me mad because I paid to choose a seat. She was banking on… Read more »

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