It’s never okay to take someone else’s assigned seat on a plane

If you want to choose your seat, get in quick or pay for it. But whatever you do, never do this on the plane, writes CONSTANTINA DEMOS.

Debate is swirling online and social media on whether it’s ever ok to take someone’s assigned seat on a plane without asking for permission first.

Here’s the scenario that was uploaded to Reddit: A 22-year old woman was on a flight and noticed a man in his 40s sitting in her seat next to his wife and daughter. She kindly asked him to move as she had specifically booked and paid more for that seat.

He refused to move, got mad and said he was sitting next to his family and the airline had messed up his seating. The flight attendant came over and forced him to move, but the woman felt bad as the daughter looked sad that her father wasn’t sitting next to her even though she was still seated next to her mother.

Let’s address the first issue. Taking someone’s seat on a plane without first asking them to switch is never ok. We live in a world where airlines have monetised seat selection, whether you think that to be fair or not, passengers who care deeply about where they sit – for personal reasons or otherwise – pay good money to sit where they like.

You’re also able to select your seat, if you so wish. There are seats available free of charge that you can choose. If the flight is already full, that does leave you with less options, but you can always keep checking back before flying to see if a better seat has become available. If you’re not prepared enough to give yourself the best chance to get a seat that you prefer, that should not be the burden of another passenger.

Related story: Here’s what your seat selection on a plane says about you, according to our travel editor

Now onto the other issue: travelling with kids. As a parent, I know the perils of flying with a child. At times, it can defeat you. My partner and I do everything possible to pre-plan and make it as comfortable as possible for our child.

Usually that means, noise cancelling headphones, lots of busy books, snacks, activities, and always ensuring one parent is seated next to them. Some short-haul flights only have a 2-2 seating configuration, so our kids’ favourite parent of the day sits next to them while the other sits on the aisle seat of the row adjacent to help out. If there was a seating configuration of 2-3-2 we would pay for three seats next to each other if they weren’t automatically assigned.

We’d also double check when checking in whether our seat selection has maintained the same so we can prepare ourselves accordingly. We would never assume it was ok to inconvenience another passenger. And if we did feel like the seating may be an issue we’d speak to the passenger or flight attendant directly first before thinking it was ok to swap seats.

So if you care about where you sit on the plane, it’s simple pay up or plan ahead.

Related story: Is it ever ok to recline your seat on a short-haul flight

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Originally published as It’s never okay to take someone else’s assigned seat on a plane