When it comes to choosing seats on a flight, some travelers make sure to reserve the most desirable seats, while others may just stick with it.
The term “seat squatters” has been circulating on social media, with flyers calling out those who rob seats that were assigned to others.
Gary Leff, a Virginia-based travel industry expert and author of the “View From the Wing” blog, told Fox News Digital that the person holding the seat assignment on the boarding pass is entitled to that seat.
“[Flyers] may not be able to get what they want from the airline when booking seats, or the airline may want a fee for the seats they want and the passenger doesn’t want to pay – so they’ll try their luck on board,” Leff said.
A traveler shared an experience on Reddit on the forum “r/delta” with the caption “My First Class Seat Squatter.”
“After the boarding door closed, an agent approached me and informed me that someone was a no-show, so they had a first class (3A) seat available for me. The result,” the user posted.
The user went on to say: “I noticed a woman in the seat. I realized that the computer was wrong and the person originally booked for the seat had made the flight. I approached the attendant just to double check and she confirmed that 3A was now assigned to me.
The user claimed that “this lady had just seen an open seat in first class and thought she’d see if she could get away with sitting there.”
The Redditor went on to say that the woman ordered a beer while taking her seat, which was later delivered to her. [the rightful seat owner] and she “drank with pleasure.”
On the r/unitedairlines forum, another flyer shared a post of a run-in with a squatter.
“So in the middle of my flight, a bunch of FA [flight attendants] approached the woman in the seat across from me. She had apparently been hiding in the seat for several hours inside [the] The main FA had just figured it out,” said the Redditor.
Users took to the comments section, replying: “I would be so embarrassed to be caught for something like this in the confined space of a plane on a long journey,” said one.
“Ah the thought of having to face doing this gives me anxiety lol,” added another.
A post titled “Main Extra Squatter” in the subreddit “r/americanairlines” shared the story of a passenger witnessing a resident who got away while standing in the seat.
“I booked an extra prime seat near departure because I saw an empty row and thought I’d get a whole row to myself,” the person wrote.
“As soon as I boarded and just before the door closed, a person came and sat in the seat that I assumed was empty.”
The Redditor said he or she assumed the seat was booked at the last minute and didn’t suspect anything — until a flight attendant approached the fellow flight attendant.
That flyer could not find a ticket for the specified seat.
“When FA returns, she asks my neighbor her name again and calls out that they are 10 rows ahead of where they are supposed to be,” the post reads.
The user continued, “The FA pauses for a moment before telling them, ‘Ah, you can just stay there’ and just walks away. After all my neighbor’s lies and attitudes, the FA didn’t move them to their place.”
Leff suggested that instead of stealing seats, fliers could try their luck on board by simply asking others to switch seats.
“You have a compelling reason that will resonate with the person you’re asking, and you have something good to offer in return, so it’s not that difficult for the person to give you what you want,” he said.
Leff added, “You need good trade bait! Don’t offer a middle seat in the back in exchange for extra legroom.”
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