Reseating on a Full Flight

Let's consider a thought experiment based on my previous post. Say you're that middle-seat bulkhead row passenger who wants to change to another seat before boarding your morning flight. You might consider your options before taking action. If you have an assigned seat, how do you request a switch to a different seat on the same flight? Listing our options, we came up with:
  1. Ask a gate agent at the gate waiting area or, sometimes, at their desk on your concourse.
  2. Ask a ticketing agent or airline representative at the check-in counter.
  3. Ask an airline representative at the airline's Club Membership desk.
  4. Board the aircraft and ask a Flight Attendant.
  5. On major carriers, look on a mobile app or a check-in kiosk for an upgrade offer.
  6. Board the aircraft and ask another passenger.
  7. Do nothing and accept your situation.
Maybe we missed some in the above mutually exclusive list. We've heard of airlines responding and rebooking via Twitter during times of duress or mass flight cancellations. However, your reseating options usually fall into one of these categories:
  • Ask an airline employee for help, either prior to or after boarding (options 1-4).
  • Use technology to check for an upgrade, if available (option 5).
  • Ask another passenger at the gate, in the jetway queue, or after boarding (option 6).
These require that you first board and take your chances, often resulting in option 7, where you accept your fate. Now consider the case of full and nearly full flights, called high load factor routes. We came up with fewer options when the airline has no seat inventory for upgrade offers. The reseating options list looks sparse:
  1. Negotiate with another passenger to switch seats (same as option 6 above).
  2. Board and ask a flight attendant who negotiates with a passenger (option 6, again).
  3. Ask airline representatives to negotiate with other passenger(s). It's option 6, yet again.
You don't need a pattern recognition engine here. Notice the theme of negotiation with other passengers emerges. Full flights tie the hands of an airline in terms of possibilities. High load factor flights result in a similarly limited set of alternatives from the carrier.

Next we wondered, "Are we at the mercy of another passenger on board?". It seemed so, until we realized, "it's a negotiation, dummy!". Negotiation contains a world of possibilities, including:

I have the type of seat you value.
You have the type of seat I value.
How about an even trade?



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