Agreeing to swap seats at 30,000 feet might seem like the generous thing to do — but there’s an excellent reason you should always say no, according to airline insiders.
A lot of folks refuse the request for various reasons — which can frequently lead to dramatic, unscheduled in-flight entertainment.
But a flight attendant is now warning big-hearted travelers who usually don’t mind making the change of the potential chaos that can ensue as a result of the seat switcheroo.
“Just beware!” Leanna Coy, a cabin crew member based in Connecticut, advised in the caption of her cautionary clip.
The title? “Why you shouldn’t switch seats on the plane.”
“If the person you switch with does anything to act up on the plane, that can now come back on you,” Coy told a TikTok audience of more than 19,700 viewers.
The skyway savant explained she was recently a passenger on a United Airlines flight to Jordan, when a woman asked her to forfeit an aisle seat for the same accommodations in a different row.
“Normally, I am absolutely 100% against changing seats,” said Coy. “Your lack of planning should not constitute me having to move.”
However, in effort to “not be a bitch, for once” she kindly made the trade — only to be thunderstruck with fear that she’d made a terrible mistake seconds later.
“If this lady decides to go smoke in the bathroom or something, that could come back on me because my name is gonna be on the manifest,” Coy carped, adding that the worry made her “anxious” as the flight took off.
“Then I realized, I’m flying United,” she said. “If you know anything about United’s service, if you want to buy drinks or anything, you have to put your card onto the app ahead of time, which I’ve done before.”
Uploading debit or credit card information onto an airline’s app typically grants customers the option to buy in-flight goodies through contactless payment. Rather than having to whip out the piece of plastic, the purchases are charged to the card connected to the name and seat number of the passenger.
“So, I [said to] the flight attendant, ‘Hey, I just switched seats with somebody, but my card is connected to my account. Does that mean that they now have access to my card?”
She was stunned to hear, “Oh, yeah. Technically, they do.”
Coy explained that passengers ordering food or beverages are supposed to verify their seat number prior to completing a transaction. But, more often than not, she said air trippers mindlessly make mid-flight snack and soda purchases without realizing they come at a cost.
“Now, do I think this lady was trying to scam me out of money on my card? No,” Coy conceded. “But that’s just something to be aware of.”
“I fully support you if you don’t want to switch seats,” she added. “You are entitled to the seat that you chose.”
Mitra Amirzadeh, a flight attendant based in Orlando, agrees — unless, of course, a child is involved.
“The next time you feel yourself getting angry or getting frustrated that you’re not getting the seat you want, you need to remind yourself that you didn’t pay to pick your seat. Otherwise, you’d be in it,” Amirzadeh previously ranted to WSJ, scolding jet-setters who try bullying others into seat swapping.
However, grumps who refuse to give up their chairs to parents with small children can expect to feel her wrath.
“I have said before, ‘OK, so you’re going to watch the toddler?’” she admitted. “You’ll want their snacks and their coloring books then, because they’re going to need that.”
The mere suggestion that the curmudgeon might have to provide child care often triggers an immediate change of heart regarding the seat switch.
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