153
votes
Accepted
Why are some specific seats marked as prioritized for people in need?
As well as Johns-305's excellent answer there is another good reason for designating some seats as priority seats.
It enables the operators to enforce the 'give up your seat for someone who needs it' ...
- 64.1k
88
votes
Accepted
Is it prohibited to lie down (and fall asleep) on a commercial flight?
This is not prohibited. Technically, you should do it while wearing your seat belt, but I've never seen this enforced except during takeoff and landing, or during turbulence.
Last year I was on a ...
- 20.3k
86
votes
Why are some specific seats marked as prioritized for people in need?
Here are some reasons for this. To be clear, the exact reasoning would vary by operator or agency.
The Priority seats are often next to the door allowing easier access when boarding, exiting, and in ...
- 32.6k
83
votes
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Can you sneak into Premium Economy Class?
Airlines certainly keep a passenger manifest (it looks something like this) that lists everyone on board and where they are supposed to be seated. These are either paper printouts or viewed on ...
- 86k
79
votes
Can I refuse to choose seats with additional cost at check-in time?
I got their reply on twitter:
You will be able to check in at the airport. My colleagues will assign you a seat for free
As to whether or not a check in fee will be added the answer is no: with ...
- 854
77
votes
Accepted
I have an extra legroom seat- can I resell once on board
The typical and widely expected scenario would be you offering your 'better' seat to the person sitting next to your husband as an enticement to switch.
You would essentially be paying them with the ...
- 32.6k
60
votes
Accepted
Are there any rules of thumb for the most comfortable seats on a long distance bus?
If motion sickness is a consideration
As a child suffering from motion sickness I would always try to sit between or above the wheels. In modern buses you do not see the wheels but the area between ...
- 58.9k
55
votes
Accepted
Can you reserve a seat with a free child ticket for trains in the UK?
It looks like you've discovered all the options. From the Virgin Trains site:
Kids under 5 go free
Yup, that’s right – totally free. However, as under-5s don’t need a ticket, they also won’t have a ...
- 86k
51
votes
Can you sneak into Premium Economy Class?
I've been contracting for a major Australian airline. I've seen the app the crew uses. It has a manifest of every passenger in every class, names and notes. They most certainly know which seats are ...
- 159k
51
votes
Why are seats at the rear of a plane sometimes unavailable even though many other seats are available in the plane?
I work for an airline. Let me offer a much simpler explanation:
The seats are taken by other passengers.
Seats in the rear are popular because they are close to the lavatory. Depending on the ...
- 949
50
votes
Overcrowded German trains
There is no mandatory seat reservation in Germany. The only exception are cross border tickets for some international trains and night sleeper trains. So yes, you can end up with no seat, if the train ...
- 9,029
48
votes
Accepted
Flying family of 5: is any one seating arrangement better than the alternatives?
It does indeed appear that your question is asking for opinions, but as an experienced cabin crewmember I can say that in this case there definitely is a best setup:
The best option would be 3 + 2, ...
- 96.5k
47
votes
Accepted
Can I refuse to choose seats with additional cost at check-in time?
To answer more generally:
If the flight is covered by the EU Flight Compensation Regulation (all Eurowings flights are so), the airline is not allowed to charge the passenger for an upgrade in this ...
- 54.8k
43
votes
Are there any rules of thumb for the most comfortable seats on a long distance bus?
One other thing to consider when choosing which side of the bus to sit on is where the sun will be during your trip, based on the time of day and overall direction of travel. Sitting on the sunny side ...
- 1,045
36
votes
Accepted
What does it mean when a ticket is under "airport control"?
There is a lot of shuffling at the last minute before a flight is dispatched, because a lot of problems materialize on the scene. A couple with an infant from an earlier, canceled flight might be put ...
- 42.9k
36
votes
Unbookable column of seats on 777-200
If you are lucky it means that the plane actually has a 3-3-3 configuration. United has 5 versions of the 777-200, three of which have 3-3-3 and two have 3-4-3.
The 3-4-3 is a miserable experience. ...
- 94.9k
36
votes
Accepted
How soon after takeoff can you recline your airplane seat?
If you looking for some sort of (semi)official marker, then you should use the cabin chimes.
While these vary by airline there is very often a 10,000 ft chime which indicates the 'take-off' phase is ...
- 32.6k
35
votes
Accepted
Do I really have to pay for seat selection in online check-in of Pegasus Airlines?
Yes, you do, and sitting next to your friends and family is explicitly listed as a reason to do it.
For what it's worth, this is fairly common for low-cost carriers.
- 99.4k
34
votes
Accepted
Why do airlines seat people the way they do?
The airlines study this continuously and it's turned out be a lot less 'inefficient' than it seems.
For example, American Airlines studied this and found random order is fastest. See here: Best ...
- 32.6k
34
votes
Accepted
How does overbooking work with reserved seats?
If the flight is very full, you typically can't reserve a seat. You would get a message like "Seat reservation is currently unavailable for this flight, please select a seat during check in"
This ...
- 94.9k
33
votes
Accepted
Row 60 on Lufthansa Airbus A380-800
Assuming that the image represents the flight in question I would not choose this seat for extra legroom, the reason being that there is a wall directly in front of your seat. That means, because ...
- 15.2k
32
votes
Can you reserve a seat with a free child ticket for trains in the UK?
Part of the point of the free travel is that the small child is assumed not to require a seat. You will not be able to reserve a seat for them without paying a fare. Obviously if there are spare seats ...
- 4,494
31
votes
Accepted
What high-speed intercity trains allow passengers to sit in the front cabin?
The Romancecar services by the Odakyu Railway in Japan...
The line connects Shinjuku in Tokyo with various tourist areas towards Mt. Fuji to the southwest. The trains with passengers seats at the ...
- 1,438
30
votes
Do gate agents really seat young children away from their parents in United Basic Economy?
There's no guarantee that will happen, as the new low fare, Basic Economy, is explicit that, for price, you relinquish some options that other, higher priced fares have, including seat selection.
...
- 35.3k
29
votes
I have an extra legroom seat- can I resell once on board
This would, indeed, be in bad taste. I'm not sure there's a specific rule for the situation, but airlines generally frown upon soliciting their passengers, and they view seats as something they assign ...
- 86k
29
votes
How to seat family of seven together on long-haul flight?
Your best bet is to try to phone in and get a sympathetic agent to waive the fees and seat you. But it's entirely discretionary, you have no right to claim these seats, it's just if they're feeling ...
- 16k
28
votes
How soon after takeoff can you recline your airplane seat?
A senior cabin crewmember here...
The "critical" times for flights is 3 minutes after take-off and 8 minutes before landing. This is the time in which the chance of having an emergency is relatively ...
- 96.5k
28
votes
Why are seats at the rear of a plane sometimes unavailable even though many other seats are available in the plane?
In long flights, in airplanes that has no crew rest area (bunks) such as A330, airlines reserve the seats at the rear of the airplane for the crew to take rests (shifts).
In case the flight was a ...
- 96.5k
27
votes
Which airlines (if any) offer vertical seating seats on their journeys from the UK?
This was a publicity stunt by Ryanair. No such product exists and it is dubious it would be approved as safe by the Civil Aviation Authority.
It's worth noting that Ryanair and Easyjet are already ...
- 37.1k
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