Ever have to chase passenger out of your seat on airplane ?

[Just a civilian pilot]

I have given up my "first class" ( business ) seat for passengers a few times and sat in the back.

I don't have an entitlement mentality.

Edit: had to go back ( I don’t do it anymore ) and tell some guy who wouldn’t give up someone else’s seat that I will remove him from the flight if he doesn’t move.

 

[SC Maintenance]

One might need to define cheaper.

In the 1960s the seat pitch was often 40" in some economy seats. Many seats today have a pitch of 28". Checked luggage was free in 1960s. I often see people on a "cheap ticket" paying hundreds in unplanned checked baggage fees. Meals were provided in the 1960s on most flights, and a decent meal. Not so today in economy on many domestic flights. Seats were reserved at no charge in the 1960s. Not many flights in the 1960s departed before 7am, nor took off after 7pm. Todat flights, especially the "cheap flights", often depart at 5am, meaning one has to arrive at the airport prior to 4am.

Flying in the 1960s was a very different product and service than flying in 2025.

My first ever business flight would have been in the later 90's. Before the flight, the senior manager I was joining, likely mid 50's at the time, stopped in to tell me his rules. I was to wear a suit. Where I worked was business casual, but luckily I had a suit. I was to check my luggage so as to not look like an idiot lugging everything on the plane. A briefcase was acceptable, but I did not own a briefcase. I didn't dare ask - I left my laptop at home - it was a short trip anyway. I was to greet the flight attendants and any other person in a professional manner, and I was not to complain about anything.

I presume he has been flying since the 60's, and it was clearly a different time then.

 

[Elkins45]

Based on the YouTube freakouts I’ve seen the correct course of action is to ask politely once, then ask the FA to intervene. I’ve seen at least one video where both parties to a confrontation were kicked off for being a disruption. If you don’t want to give up your seat show the FA your ticket and then stop talking.

I’ll give up my seat for a good reason, especially on a short flight, but not if I’ve paid extra for it.

 

[y_p_w]

After researching that, I never really knew much about the 2L-4N phone system. I guess those all had to be manually switched.

 

[y_p_w]

Based on the YouTube freakouts I’ve seen the correct course of action is to ask politely once, then ask the FA to intervene. I’ve seen at least one video where both parties to a confrontation were kicked off for being a disruption. If you don’t want to give up your seat show the FA your ticket and then stop talking.

I’ll give up my seat for a good reason, especially on a short flight, but not if I’ve paid extra for it.

Oh - there's a wealth of entertainment vids featuring overall airport/airplane bad behavior. A lot of it has to do with everyone having a camera phone now, but also that police bodycam video is usually considered a public record.

I'm amazed at how some people can turn a relatively minor thing into an arrest and jail time.

 

[CarLuver]

Saw it almost happen on my flight back from HK yesterday . The middle isle right behind me had a open seat in the middle . The isle next to them was full and they decided to move to the open middle seat . The girl that had no one next to her suddenly did. She kept telling them that the seat was assigned to someone else . This was a good half hour before door closing . may have been language issue or just arrogance , they did not want to move . only when in the last 5 mins before doors close did someone showed up for that seat and they were forced to move.

 

[MRC01]

One might need to define cheaper.

In the 1960s the seat pitch was often 40" in some economy seats. Many seats today have a pitch of 28". Checked luggage was free in 1960s. I often see people on a "cheap ticket" paying hundreds in unplanned checked baggage fees. Meals were provided in the 1960s on most flights, and a decent meal. Not so today in economy on many domestic flights. Seats were reserved at no charge in the 1960s. Not many flights in the 1960s departed before 7am, nor took off after 7pm. Today flights, especially the "cheap flights", often depart at 5am, meaning one has to arrive at the airport prior to 4am.

Flying in the 1960s was a very different product and service than flying in 2025.

Back before deregulation the service was much better, but prices were higher relative to cost of living. Part of the reason it was less crowded back then was because it was more expensive. Those who prefer that can fly business class today. The service & prices will be comparable to the good old days.

 

[Leo99]

You fly enough and you'll see all kinds of crazy stuff. I haven't flown for business in a few years and almost forget how crazy it can get.

 

[GON]

Back before deregulation the service was much better, but prices were higher relative to cost of living. Part of the reason it was less crowded back then was because it was more expensive. Those who prefer that can fly business class today. The service & prices will be comparable to the good old days.

I flew on a commercial airliner once before age of 18 years of age. It was in the 1970s, and a very special treat. One of the highlights of my youth.

My two Grandsons ages seven and four, have flown I suspect over 20 flights each. As you implied, flying was a very special experience for the vast majority of Americans in the 1970s. Today the opportunity to fly is arguably very affordable for most everyone.

On a funny note, showing my age, in 2002 I worked with a guy in Afganistan, that for his very first flight he took off on, he didn't land on that flight. He was in airborne school, his first flight ever was at airborne school, he took off on the flight, but exited the airplane at 1800 feet AGL, with a parachute.

 

[ecotourist]

When I was 16 years old I went on an all expense paid cross country train trip - for 3 days each way. Three days on a train is a long time. All of us recommended that for the next year at least one way should be by air. The train station was right across the road from my parent's home.

Today a 3 day train trip with sleeping accommodations and meals in the restaurant car would be luxury travel, and more expensive than flying. Passenger trains no longer pass through that station, if there even is a station there.

Times change.

 

[Lubener]

Ever have to chase passenger out of your seat on airplane ?
It happened to me today and I politely told woman this was my seat (first class, widow seat).

She promptly got up and moved to her correct seat as if she was hoping the seat would be empty and not booked.

I try to board as early as possible so this doesn’t happen.

That's a job for a flight attendant to deal with.

 

[Astro14]

Back before deregulation the service was much better, but prices were higher relative to cost of living. Part of the reason it was less crowded back then was because it was more expensive. Those who prefer that can fly business class today. The service & prices will be comparable to the good old days.

My dad flew over half a million miles on United airlines in the 1960s. I still have the bronze medallion that they sent him. Some of my earliest memories are of the old Winnipeg airport, going to meet him when he came home, often on Air Canada, often on United.

Back then, he was a VP, sales director for a Canadian firm and he covered the entire USA, but he flew economy, even though his company would have paid for first class, he thought that was wasteful.

His 1968 Ford Country Squire, bought new, was $3,800. His usual ticket price, in economy, was between $500 and $1,000 round trip.

Very few on this forum, and very few of the current population, would be flying anywhere if an economy ticket was 1/4 the price of a new car.

If it was $7,500 to fly NYC to LAX, none of you guys would be flying, and none of you would be complaining about the behavior of your fellow passengers because people dressed up, they wore a suit for the big occasion of flying, and they absolutely did not take it for granted.

The dramatic improvement in accessibility, affordability, because of the dramatic lowering of costs for air travel is truly remarkable. Roughly speaking air travel costs a 10th of what it used to.

So, where it used to be for the elite, and the wealthy, who would dress up, behave appropriately, and be served a roast, carved by a flight attendant, on actual china with metal cutlery, now, air travel is a low cost commodity, in which the costs have been squeezed out. Just about anyone can afford it.

I actually had this conversation sitting next to a businesswoman on a United flight several years ago. She was complaining about what had happened to air travel, how the product was so much cheaper, and she talked about the advertisement with Jennifer Aniston, who was flying in first class, and, in the ad, had a “horrible dream” that she was back in economy.

The businesswoman lamented that her United accommodation, on which she had paid $1,800 to fly round trip across the country, and connect to Hong Kong, was nowhere near as luxurious as the Emirates flight depicted in the ad.

So, I pulled up the Emirates flight from New York to Hong Kong, and got her a price for that luxury.

$75,000 round trip. Not a typo, more than an E Class Mercedes at the time.

So, her $1,800 round trip ticket half way around the globe was an incredible bargain.

 

[Capt W]

Back before deregulation the service was much better, but prices were higher relative to cost of living. Part of the reason it was less crowded back then was because it was more expensive. Those who prefer that can fly business class today. The service & prices will be comparable to the good old days.

Absolutely. The Deregulation Act of 1978 changed everything...for better or worse. In my opinion it was a net positive to remove government influence from fares, routes, etc.; however, the steep competition that ensued has mostly destroyed what once was a wonderful experience. As a child in the mid-70s our family flew from MKE to MCO on Northwest Orient. I remember it like it was yesterday. The airline subbed the scheduled 727 from MKE to MSP with a 707, and we rode an almost new DC-10-40 from MSP to MCO. The experience was almost magical for a 6-year-old kid. My parents made us dress like we were going to church, as there was a certain level of decorum expected while flying. Today, not so much.

Homer Simpson might have put it best in one of the old flashback episodes: "The year was 1984, and People Express introduced a generation of hicks to air travel..."

I think it's great that flying is a relative bargain these days, but would like to see a return to the decorum that once existed. Today's aircraft cabins more closely resemble flying trailer parks than elegant modes of transportation. Ever fly Spirit? I did. Once. Even upgrading to the "big front seats" couldn't salvage that miserable experience.

Today we stick with one of the Big-3 airlines and almost always upgrade to Main Cabin Extra/Economy Plus, or higher. It's not always as expensive as one would think.

And for overseas travel it's hard to beat the Space-A experience on a C-5 or C-17 to Ramstein!

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

That's a job for a flight attendant to deal with.

It’s a lot easier if the passenger who notices someone sitting in their seat to politely mention it’s their seat.

In the example above, the woman was just hoping nobody was booked in that seat but promptly moved when asked.

If the passenger won’t move, let the FA know and let them handle it.

There is a breakdown in decorum everywhere, not just on airplanes today. Not sure money has as much to do with it today.

Bigger entitlement mentality today.

Class and money aren’t related.

 

[fdcg27]

I can only recall this happening once, where a guy had, probably inadvertently, taken one of our pair of seats.
I told him that he was in our seat, and he promptly got up and moved.

 

[CKN]

At least she got up. I've read of knock down drag out fights due to people being in the wrong seat.

Then the person whom the seat originally belonged to handled it incorrectly.
Here is the way-
1) If you find someone in your seat politely tell them it's your seat.
2) If they refuse to recognize it is YOUR SEAT immediately sit down in a seat nearby (there are people boarding behind you) and press the call attendant button. The flight attendant will them come-look at your ticket and make the other person move.
There is zero need for you to confront them.

 

[CKN]

We've had it happen at sporting events. No problem when flying Southwest.

No...Southwest has a whole other set of issues-that will be fixed when they go to assigned seats shortly.

 

[ecotourist]

An older, retired BOAC pilot used to volunteer at the Aviation Museum. He talked about the unreliability of piston driven aircraft engines, and that it wasn't too unusual to "lose an engine" on a transatlantic flight.

Someone else quipped that the Toronto airport staff used to make bets on which engines would be running on arriving long distance flights.

I travel a lot and have only once been on a flight that "lost an engine." That was in 1971 on a DC-6B flight from Edmonton to Fort McMurray. We had turned around in flight and returned to Edmonton. There was intermittent grinding noises and shaking by the time we landed. We heard about the details from office staff whose husband worked for the airline. A mechanic apparently forgot to tighten the oil pan plug and it had fallen out. The pilot apparently elected to keep the engine running because it had badly overheated (and there was a worry about fire) by the time the problem was noticed.

An expensive day apparently. We heard the engine rebuild cost about $30,000 which was about 3 times my annual income as a young engineer.

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

An older, retired BOAC pilot used to volunteer at the Aviation Museum. He talked about the unreliability of piston driven aircraft engines, and that it wasn't too unusual to "lose an engine" on a transatlantic flight.

Someone else quipped that the Toronto airport staff used to make bets on which engines would be running on arriving long distance flights.

I travel a lot and have only once been on a flight that "lost an engine." That was in 1971 on a DC-6B flight from Edmonton to Fort McMurray. We had turned around in flight and returned to Edmonton. There was intermittent grinding noises and shaking by the time we landed. We heard about the details from office staff whose husband worked for the airline. A mechanic apparently forgot to tighten the oil pan plug and it had fallen out. The pilot apparently elected to keep the engine running because it had badly overheated (and there was a worry about fire) by the time the problem was noticed.

An expensive day apparently. We heard the engine rebuild cost about $30,000 which was about 3 times my annual income as a young engineer.

I have never had an engine failure with a jet engine but had to shutdown a few engines flying turbo props ( hit by lightening once, engine vibration , part of propeller tip blown off ). Very loud boom.

Edit: Forgot the most important part. I never worried about engine failures, I worried when/if my current company would go bankrupt.

 

[Dave Hess]

I travel about 15-20 times a year and notice some passengers look like they just rolled out of bed and put on a pair of filthy old sneakers.

Some have no care about the way they dress or look.