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Holding up an entire flight because you have to go potty is included in your definition of "efficient business traveler"??
I have never held up a plane because I needed to use the bathroom. I was responding to the person who felt that no one should have to use the lav on the plane.
Well if it happens that frequently, it sounds like poor planning. At least according to all the folks here that are saying airlines never mess up. And if they do, well it's not "my problem."
Hmm...or maybe, just maybe, those "seat-switching" families are doing all they can to plan ahead, and not disturb those around them; and lo and behold: we're all at the mercy of the airlines and the kindness of our fellow travelers.
Have those "tight connections" ever caused you to ask for special treatment? ("Excuse me, I have to catch a connecting flight, mind if I hop off first?") Running through the airport (and risking injuring others) and holding up the plane so one can tinkle could certainly be viewed as "expecting special treatment."
The last time I ran to make a connection I had a two hour layover. My flight left an hour late and then was put into a holding pattern for 30 minutes, landing about 15 minutes before my next flight was to take off. Two hours for a layover is more than enough, and booking longer layovers is a ridiculous waste of time.
By the way, the airlines tell you to "run" so take it up with them.
No one ever said anything about holding a plane to use the bathroom. Actually I replied to the person who thinks people should hold it for six hours instead of using the lav on the plane.
I saw a woman having a cow last Friday in PHX. A number of flights were cancelled Thursday night (including mine) and people were rebooked onto Friday morning flights. This woman was having a hissy fit because she couldn't be seated with her 15 year old daughter. Cry me a river.
Of course I would. I seriously doubt the new seat would make that big of difference to me if I were flying alone. It's the right thing to do, and if I were traveling with my family I'd be appreciative if someone would do the same should the situation arise.
I would move, even if I ended up in a less comfortable seat. People traveling together should be able to actually travel together.
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Depending on the circumstances, I very likely would. When my kids were very small, we were fortunate to have a few kind people who switched for us. Now that they are teens, I wouldn't ask for that if the situation were to arise again. In the case where we weren't sitting with our young children, we were flying for a funeral and had to get tickets later than we usually would. We were unable to get seats together. All we needed was a parent near each small child- easy sight or next to (they were ranging in age from 1-4). We weren't asking for the 5 of us to be together; we just didn't want 4yo 6 aisles away from either of us (for the other passengers' sakes as well as ours). I don't think a last minute funeral arrangement was an example of "poor planning," and we were very appreciative of the kind folks who moved to accommodate us.
Only to one that was better, and if they offered to buy me a meal or a drink
If they for a moment started acting entitled I would shut down immediately and ignore them.
And I'm the guy who always offers to place or take down the heavy baggage to someone who looks like they might need assistance.
There was a similar thread here a way back about the agony that one might have to endure if you actually had a seat assignment not directly adjacent your spouse on a flight and how that might damage one's marriage or be a threat to the wife's safety and well being.
Give me a break! Sure it's nice to sit next to one another but to occasionally have to sit apart isn't gonna kill you.
Excellent response--especially the needy, entitled passengers.
Excellent response--especially the needy, entitled passengers.
Yup. The ones who bring on luggage they can't manage on their own and the ones who expect to exchange the crappiest seats on the plane for the best ones when trying to sit next to their traveling companions.
I saw it again last Friday. We were seated in coach because weather delays caused our connecting flight the night before to be cancelled. We had proactively rebooked onto the first flight out on Friday morning before even boarding our first flight, as we knew we would miss the connection (which ended up cancelled.)
We were seated in 6 D&E. A woman got on with a couple of kids who were probably 8 & 10, and proceeded to have a cow because they couldn't all sit together. She asked the people across the aisle to move for her and her kid who was in 6B--she and the other kid were in the back in middle seats. They said no. (These were premium seats that they would have paid extra for.) She then asked us. We said no. My husband has a number of broken bones and needs assistance--which is why we couldn't take the exit row, not to mention we had already been downgraded from the first class seats we had paid for. She then got huffy and all ticked off. Her kids were old enough to fly unaccomapanied. Does she still take them to the bathroom? Or ride the school bus with them? It was a 90 minute flight. The kids seemed fine with it, it was the mother who was freaking out.
The lady in the middle seat behind us later said she was about to offer to switch so the mother could at least be near her one kid but once she started ranting the lady behind us changed her mind.
I'm an early-middle-aged traveler who flies only on business, and exclusively alone. Occasionally, when flying coach, I'm asked to switch seats to accommodate families with children or sometimes older couples without children. And almost without fail I comply, even if the result is an inferior and uncomfortable seat. Why? It's not generosity, altruism or good citizenship. It has nothing to do with sympathy for my fellow man, or desire to offer assistance. Rather, I'm terrified of garnering opprobrium from my fellow passengers. I'm terrified of critical eyes staring at me, at this youngish-looking healthy fellow who could easily accommodate doing a kind service to the less fortunate. And I dread being so critiqued.
For the same reason, when riding buses or trains or whatnot, whenever an elderly person or a woman with young children enters the compartment, I jump out of my seat – not because I care in the least about the comfort of the new arrival, or wish to do a good deed – but because of horror at being impugned of a shameful arrogance and vanity.
In short, getting up to surrender one's seat, or to switch for an inferior seat, is the price of being [relatively] young, healthy, vigorous and alone (and, dare I say, male). I'd love to live in a genuinely first-come-first-served society, where we are entitled to receive precisely that service for which we paid. Unfortunately that is not the case.
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