<p>Or they simply hold back the window/aisle seats and push the passengers to select a center seat. Sometimes one can get it switched at the airport, but not always.</p>
<p>Be sure that you check every so often after you book if you don’t like your seat. Often other seats open up. Also, we have called and talked directly to the res. and they always have changed us if there is anything available.</p>
<p>Oh yes, I forgot-- thats what DH does. I grumble and defer to him. He can usually get the last exit row (with extra leg room and seats that recline) but I miss the normal tray tables (as opposed to the ones that you pull from the armrest.). Minor pet peeve.</p>
<p>Ugh. Middle seat, last row, sandwiched btwn 2 big guys who are all elbows.</p>
<p>jym, when you check-in online, 24 hours or less before your flight, you can magically choose a window or aisle seat for free if there are any unclaimed. At least that’s how it worked for me with USair. Since they overbook, I wouldn’t risk it if it were a popular time or destination. </p>
<p>Poor GMTplus7! If it makes you feel any better, I’m sitting in first class, comfortable and drinking wine. And everybody around me is still irritated and cranky. The lady next to me won’t even acknowledge my greeting. If you’re that annoyed sitting in first class, it’s time to take some time off!</p>
<p>Not a seat problem… but I encountered something new today on a plane that was just plain gross… the woman sitting next to me - probably around 67 years old (I overheard her saying she was going to her 50th high school reunion next year), decided to pull out her emery board and file her nails. She made no attempt to ‘catch’ the stuff she was sanding off all around her. I couldn’t believe it. </p>
<p>Greenwitch,
I’ve found that there is rarely anything decent available 24 hrs before takeoff and the seats are under ground control usually at that point. DH used to have a high status due to his constant travel but thank heavens he doesn’t travel as much anymore. And he won’t pay for the privilege of owning a credit card so we no longer have that, after the free first year. </p>
<p>^^ jym626- if you use that card, you can call and negotiate another free year. Sometimes they have you pay the fee and then they will credit it back to you. I do think though that they want to see that you have been using the card.</p>
<p>When I was waiting in line for my flight from Johannesburg to London, I was standing next to a guy who smelled HORRIBLE! I was praying I wouldn’t be seated anywhere near him, and I wasn’t. Yikes.</p>
<p>onward,
Thanks. I’d mentioned that to DH. He chose instead to cancel it :(</p>
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<p>Sometimes, you may get lucky when checking in on the web or at the kiosk, since better seats in the economy section are sometimes freed when the airline upgrades an elite frequent flyer to first, business, or premium economy class in a situation where economy is overbooked but there is space in first, business, or premium economy class.</p>
<p>I am not a big risktaker. Haven’t usually checked in on the kiosk-- just go right to the gate and sweet-talk the gate agent :)</p>
<p>OK, I can’t help myself and have to chime in. I do NOT recline my seat ever because I think it is just unfair to the person behind me. I hear all you rational people who say that I paid for that seat and if it reclines I may do so, but I just can’t do it. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I am often seated behind passengers who do recline to the extent that I literally cannot reach down to get anything from my pocketbook on the floor. I am relatively small but I am not a contortionist. We recently flew cross-country and the woman in front of me reclined her seat before technically being allowed to do so and kept it reclined for the entire 5 hours no matter where she was/what she was doing. From now on, I don’t think I am going to tolerate this. I also have been stuck in the middle seat between two guys who think that they get all the armrest room in the row. I’m not going to tolerate this either, anymore. No, I won’t throw a drink but I will “use my words,” as they say in nursery school. :D</p>
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<p>If the person in front of you is allowed to recline, I don’t think you have the right “not to tolerate it.” He or she isn’t doing anything wrong.</p>
<p>“If the person in front of you is allowed to recline, I don’t think you have the right “not to tolerate it.” He or she isn’t doing anything wrong.”</p>
<p>I think that’s where the problem lies in some of these confrontations. People think they have the right to not be reclined upon, and that others aren’t allowed to encroach upon their space. But if the seat has a button, people are going to use it. I think that instead of “not tolerating this” and getting confrontational, if that is what one is going to do, is to nicely ask the person to not recline quite so far back, or to put it up when they leave. Much better to say a little something to stop the aggravation, then to wait until you blow.</p>
<p>I should use that advice in my own home!</p>
<p>Would it be ok to ask them to put the seat up when soft drinks are being served or when one needs to get up/out?</p>
<p>@MaineLonghorn and @busdriver-I did not express myself correctly. Saying that I wasn’t going to “tolerate it” simply means that I might speak up and ask them to put their seat up during beverage service or some other time when I see that they aren’t laying back. That’s what I meant by “use my words.” I would never get confrontational on an airplane. I despise flying to begin with, so the last thing I would want to do would be to have the plane get diverted because of my actions.</p>
<p>^Yes, I agree with you about hating flying now! I took a total of eight flights in two weeks last month. Two of the flights were 7 hours each, and two were 11 hours each. I don’t know how frequent travelers do it! </p>
<p>Truthfully, I never knew that reclining was an issue before this thread. Maybe that’s because I’ve flown less in the last 10-15 years than I used to…</p>