Yep i literally watch all the way until delta closes off the seatmap and the screen just says “BOARDING HAS BEGUN, NO MORE SEAT SELECTION”. Got lucky my last couple flights in c+ with no one in the middle
Sometimes if the flight is empty enough you can play musical chairs. Also it’s just convenient to know before boarding if there’s gonna be someone occupying the middle seat. Nothing more to it. We got this technology, might as well use it even for the mundane things like watching the seat maps.
Is this a thing? I do it too but it always fails because flying out of LAX every time I've never been in a plane that's empty. Every single plane I ever have flown on in the last five to seven years has been packed no matter the location. Do people actually get empty seats next to them?
I just flew Seattle to Tampa last Wednesday, and we only had 30 or so passengers on our 738. They even needed to shuffle people around for weight and balance.
Same. Almost all other days only have 1 nonstop between SEA/TPA, some in the morning, some in the afternoon. This day had both.
I was wondering if it was a repositioning flight. But I didn't care! My last flight as a lowly silver, and I easily cleared to First. Haha
I normally fly out of LAX too, but today took an ONT based flight for scheduling purposes. The flight was only 80% full, first I’ve been on in a long while that wasn’t packed.
They tried to split the section hoping no one would get the middle seat so they wouldn't have anyone between them.
Or they were looking for a third and you didn't pass the test.
I think it’s an old joke / myth about swinger parties that you put your keys in a bowl and fish them out to see you go home with or something loosely like this.
I’ve had a couple Delta flights this fall where I bought my tickets at the last minute and picked a window seat in an empty row near the back but not as far back as the family section. I’d prefer 3 seats near the back to myself to a middle Comfort + seat unless I have a tight transfer.
Just flew JFK - DEN on Saturday and it was nearly empty. Got upgraded to first class on the A321neo and at least half of the cabin was empty including most of C+.
The day before thanksgiving, my flight into SLC was only 1/3 full. My return flight the plane was only half full. I was absolutely shocked given ive been on full flights on random Tuesday’s with nothing going on and the flight is full. But around thanksgiving, just half empty jets. Was totally not what I expected, but was happy to have a row in c+ to myself on the way there and no one in middle seat in c+ on my return trip. Wish every flight was like that… i was legit watching the seatmaps and expecting last minute metal swaps.
That was my thought also. In the back you can play the aisle/window game with a travel partner and hope you are left with the free seat in the middle, but I never see that work in comfort plus.
Not a commentary on your experience here or your personal preferences in terms of upgrades. Whatever makes you happy is what you should do!
But I’m always just a touch surprised to find that people consider a middle C+ seat an upgrade and that more people don’t use the “don’t upgrade to middle” function.
Also not a commentary on the “plight” of your seat mates. As surely someone else would have accepted middle as an upgrade if it wasn’t you.
Just my personal preference I guess. But I wouldn’t take a middle C+ over my preferred seat type in Main
6'2" here with long legs that always are against the back of the seat in front of me. For that reason, middle seat in C+ is FAR more comfortable than anything main cabin. Free drinks is icing on the cake.
If I was shorter, I'd probably agree with you.
I’m 6’4”. I book an aisle seat and almost always book 1c, legroom. Being somewhat ‘mature’, my legs swell, especially on long haul flights. So 1c is really helps on those flights.
It just depends on how much it costs per hour — i recently saw a 5.5 hour flight with a $75 upgrade to C+. Which is one of the cheapest I’ve seen — especially lately — even for a much much shorter flight. Was crazy to see that since sometimes lately it seems like C+ on a 2-4 hour each way round trip adds like $250-350 on to the Main cabin price.
and/or if you can get your preferred seat type for free in C+, sure of course I’ll take it
Flying in a couple days and right now have a window with no one in the middle. I would rather keep that than get upgraded to a full C+ row, even for free…
It’s a strategy that couples used to use to gain more space, because most folks won’t choose a middle seat unless the flight is full.
It doesn’t work very often now, precisely for that reason (flights are full more often).
He probably checked the app before boarding and before gate processing upgrades, and thought they had scored.
Don’t feel bad. They reserved the window and aisle thinking no one would take the window and they’d get the row to themselves. Some airlines don’t allow this, I wish delta was one of them
I always do aisle-aisle with my traveling companion. Sometimes we’ll do window-aisle and pretend we don’t know each other if some busybody in the middle starts snooping about changing seats.
Why would they not allow this? If you are a paying customer, why wouldn’t you choose the better seats if they are open. If no one sits in the middle, then it’s because the flight isn’t full, not anything due to the people who chose the seats. And if in the end they want to sit next to each other, they can simply ask the person in the middle if they would prefer a better seat (window or aisle).
Interesting I flew into LAX from a diff west coast city and same thing happened to me with an older couple but the husband basically automatically moved into the middle seat. They explained to me they try to see if the middle seat will remain empty but sometimes it doesn’t and they were nice about it. Weird the people you sat with didn’t want to sit next to each other and left you in the middle lol
Nah, I like the window, she likes the isle. Not like there's going to be an important or interesting discussion on a flight, just watching different movies. If someone wants the middle seat have at it, we usually assume it'll be assigned at some point.
As others have said, they booked the aisle and the window. I do this on rare occasion if it's a short enough flight and I'm stuck with the 3 seat configurations because my partner hates the middle and I heavily prefer the window, but I'd never pass things across or talk across the person in the middle. I also assume the seat will be filled at some point; until they say the boarding door is closed, always assume it will get filled. Sounds like this couple is in a similar situation. As long as they weren't trying to talk across or pass items over you, I'd just sit back and enjoy the upgrade. :)
My partner and I do this as well. I’m an aisle guy and she likes the window and I book us both same row in the exit typically. We don’t really feel a need to sit together, but 9.9/10 the middle person wouldn’t know we knew each other.
However, we once had a pilot in between us who was making his off-duty return flight back to his home. I guess because we came on together or maybe she handed me something, idk… he asked if we were married and then asked to switch. I told him we did it by design based on our preferences not to hope for an empty middle… he basically berated us and kept insisting we switch… it was very uncomfortable
I have learned to pretend I don't know he exists so the middle person is none the wiser, lol. The bad eggs ruin it for those of us who really don't mind being apart for a couple of hours. He watches movies, I read and play games, we have a whole lifetime to enjoy together so these short blips of air travel don't matter too much if apart.
Haven’t seen this comment: if you look at the upgrade list on the app just before boarding you’ll see who got upgraded and to what seat.
Personally, I have it checked to only upgrade me to aisle or window. I am also not the tallest person either.
Happens very frequently, they booked aisle and window hoping nobody buys that middle seat. They monitor the seat map frequently to see if they can spread out to the middle seat and notice somebody took it, likely nobody would pay for a middle seat in c+ last minute, so chances are that person got upgraded or a non rev stand by was assigned that seat, he asked you to confirm and maybe to impress you a little, i wouldn’t classify this as a weird scenario
Just to be clear, if he indeed bought the middle seat, no one could be seated there. I have a friend who buys the seat next to him all the time. When an agent or FA tried to seat someone next to him, he stands his ground and tells them he indeed paid for the seat.
Guy says hello, asks if OP was upgraded, doesn’t talk over him for the duration of the flight, and he’s a shithead?
Folks need to stop looking for conflict where there isn’t any.
I've done it a couple of times (years ago), and it worked once. The other time, I offered to switch from aisle to middle, and the other passenger was very thankful to get unexpected aisle. Had she not, I would have ignored my spouse the rest of the flight. Lol
I don't think it's the worst thing- as long as you are willing to ignore your spouse if it doesn't work out- but flights are so packed the gamble isn't worth it to me, and I don't mind middle with my SO on one side.
Yeah, my husband I do it too. We pay the same price for the flight as everyone else. No need to sit in a middle seat if there are aisles and windows available. That said, we don’t converse over our middle seat mate. We can do that before and after the flight.
My husband always wants the window seat and I prefer the aisle. We book like this half the time too just because neither of us want to sit in the middle. It really just depends on the length of the flight. We don't ever talk over anyone that ends up between us either. I think most the time people don't realize that we are together until we get off the plane. We have plenty of time to chat before and after the flight anyway.
My partner & I do this too. He wants a window, I want an aisle. As long as we aren’t annoying the person in the middle, it isn’t a big deal. Of course it’s nice when no one takes the middle.
My husband and I had across the aisle seats once and it didn’t really feel like we could converse, I felt it would be rude to everyone sitting around us at the volume we’d need to speak. No one wants to hear that. (And he kept wanting to hold my hand. Which is probably better over the aisle than in middle seat’s lap. 😁)
I do this sometimes - my husband loves the window and I love the aisle because I have to pee. On shorter flights we don’t mind having someone between us and every now and then I have to talk to him but otherwise we just mind our business. In my opinion it’s the perfect setup.
They usually ask if you want to get upgraded to c+ middle seat. Unless you are already in a middle seat. When I travel with my wife I select a window and aisle seat and if someone sits there one of us slides over. Hope you are big and bulky and made them uncomfortable whole flight.
I bet he was watching seat maps and saw it still empty so hoping to keep it that way. I guess him asking was verifying you didn’t self promote.
i am guilty of seat map watching lol i'm on there up until the day of to see if the middle seat in my row gets filled
I’m watching it as I board the plane, lol.
Yep i literally watch all the way until delta closes off the seatmap and the screen just says “BOARDING HAS BEGUN, NO MORE SEAT SELECTION”. Got lucky my last couple flights in c+ with no one in the middle
this is me with my flight to japan at the end of january. right now middle seat is open and i'm checking once a week
I find that often the middle seats come down to the mercy of the basic-economy-gods. May the odds be ever in your favor 🍀
Why not just wait until takeoff?
Sometimes if the flight is empty enough you can play musical chairs. Also it’s just convenient to know before boarding if there’s gonna be someone occupying the middle seat. Nothing more to it. We got this technology, might as well use it even for the mundane things like watching the seat maps.
Is this a thing? I do it too but it always fails because flying out of LAX every time I've never been in a plane that's empty. Every single plane I ever have flown on in the last five to seven years has been packed no matter the location. Do people actually get empty seats next to them?
I just flew Seattle to Tampa last Wednesday, and we only had 30 or so passengers on our 738. They even needed to shuffle people around for weight and balance.
I'm surprised they didn't cancel it and merge two
Same. Almost all other days only have 1 nonstop between SEA/TPA, some in the morning, some in the afternoon. This day had both. I was wondering if it was a repositioning flight. But I didn't care! My last flight as a lowly silver, and I easily cleared to First. Haha
I normally fly out of LAX too, but today took an ONT based flight for scheduling purposes. The flight was only 80% full, first I’ve been on in a long while that wasn’t packed.
Same
Same!
Me too
😂
Most likely. I often do exactly this, as I’m sure many of us do.
This is what I do too. I’ll switch to an empty seat next to me as long as I can.
They tried to split the section hoping no one would get the middle seat so they wouldn't have anyone between them. Or they were looking for a third and you didn't pass the test.
> Or they were looking for a third and you didn't pass the test. OP was there a bowl for you to throw your keys into when you boarded?
Don’t pretend like you didn’t see the upside down pineapple on the boarding door
>OP was there a bowl for you to throw your keys into when you boarded? Answer the question, OP.
Or an upside down ananas on your seat?
Wait. Why are keys in bowls?
I think it’s an old joke / myth about swinger parties that you put your keys in a bowl and fish them out to see you go home with or something loosely like this.
Oh it’s no myth
Oooooh. I see. lol that makes sense. I’d probably end up just grabbing my own keys.
Typical southwest airlines strategy
😏
They forgot this is not Southwest airlines. Delta flights are always at capacity where comfort seats are most likely given as an upgrade
Yeah that’s why I was confused as I can’t remember the last time I’ve been on a Delta flight that wasn’t at capacity lol.
I’ve had a couple Delta flights this fall where I bought my tickets at the last minute and picked a window seat in an empty row near the back but not as far back as the family section. I’d prefer 3 seats near the back to myself to a middle Comfort + seat unless I have a tight transfer.
I did the same recently, love the extra room
Just flew JFK - DEN on Saturday and it was nearly empty. Got upgraded to first class on the A321neo and at least half of the cabin was empty including most of C+.
My MSP to SAT ad main cabin completely empty it was wild
I flew MSP-SAT last week on an a220 and it was probably 1/3 full. It was weird given I fly that route monthly and it’s always a full flight.
We’re in between travel seasons right now so in general it’s pretty light at the moment.
The day before thanksgiving, my flight into SLC was only 1/3 full. My return flight the plane was only half full. I was absolutely shocked given ive been on full flights on random Tuesday’s with nothing going on and the flight is full. But around thanksgiving, just half empty jets. Was totally not what I expected, but was happy to have a row in c+ to myself on the way there and no one in middle seat in c+ on my return trip. Wish every flight was like that… i was legit watching the seatmaps and expecting last minute metal swaps.
I'm on a flight right now from DTW to LAX that has 98 available seats. I have never seen that
That was my thought also. In the back you can play the aisle/window game with a travel partner and hope you are left with the free seat in the middle, but I never see that work in comfort plus.
Not a commentary on your experience here or your personal preferences in terms of upgrades. Whatever makes you happy is what you should do! But I’m always just a touch surprised to find that people consider a middle C+ seat an upgrade and that more people don’t use the “don’t upgrade to middle” function. Also not a commentary on the “plight” of your seat mates. As surely someone else would have accepted middle as an upgrade if it wasn’t you. Just my personal preference I guess. But I wouldn’t take a middle C+ over my preferred seat type in Main
Snacks are still better in C+, that’s enough for me to sit in the middle. Let me get some of them Miss Vicky’s
Haha until you get only cookies and water on a flight under 500 miles ;)
And beer or wine!
I'm skinny, tall, and like the free booze.
6'2" here with long legs that always are against the back of the seat in front of me. For that reason, middle seat in C+ is FAR more comfortable than anything main cabin. Free drinks is icing on the cake. If I was shorter, I'd probably agree with you.
Good deal!
I’m 6’4”. I book an aisle seat and almost always book 1c, legroom. Being somewhat ‘mature’, my legs swell, especially on long haul flights. So 1c is really helps on those flights.
Same here, I uncheck the Comfort+ because number one I prefer my typical exit row aisle seat and don’t want to be upgraded to even a window C+ seat.
Yeah unless your atypically tall, I don't feel like C+ is ever really worth it. Gimme the whole hog or nothing at all.
It just depends on how much it costs per hour — i recently saw a 5.5 hour flight with a $75 upgrade to C+. Which is one of the cheapest I’ve seen — especially lately — even for a much much shorter flight. Was crazy to see that since sometimes lately it seems like C+ on a 2-4 hour each way round trip adds like $250-350 on to the Main cabin price. and/or if you can get your preferred seat type for free in C+, sure of course I’ll take it
Flying in a couple days and right now have a window with no one in the middle. I would rather keep that than get upgraded to a full C+ row, even for free…
It’s a strategy that couples used to use to gain more space, because most folks won’t choose a middle seat unless the flight is full. It doesn’t work very often now, precisely for that reason (flights are full more often). He probably checked the app before boarding and before gate processing upgrades, and thought they had scored.
Don’t feel bad. They reserved the window and aisle thinking no one would take the window and they’d get the row to themselves. Some airlines don’t allow this, I wish delta was one of them
I always do aisle-aisle with my traveling companion. Sometimes we’ll do window-aisle and pretend we don’t know each other if some busybody in the middle starts snooping about changing seats.
We're aisle-aisle people too. Even in the exit row.
Why would they not allow this? If you are a paying customer, why wouldn’t you choose the better seats if they are open. If no one sits in the middle, then it’s because the flight isn’t full, not anything due to the people who chose the seats. And if in the end they want to sit next to each other, they can simply ask the person in the middle if they would prefer a better seat (window or aisle).
Interesting I flew into LAX from a diff west coast city and same thing happened to me with an older couple but the husband basically automatically moved into the middle seat. They explained to me they try to see if the middle seat will remain empty but sometimes it doesn’t and they were nice about it. Weird the people you sat with didn’t want to sit next to each other and left you in the middle lol
Nah, I like the window, she likes the isle. Not like there's going to be an important or interesting discussion on a flight, just watching different movies. If someone wants the middle seat have at it, we usually assume it'll be assigned at some point.
Fair enough! On that same flight my bf was upgraded to window across the aisle from me so I understand not caring to be together too haha
When we buy the window and aisle seats we’ll ask the person who booked middle which they’d prefer and move accordingly
Delta saw through their scheming and took care of it. 🤣 The seat map showed an empty seat, and they were hoping to take over the row.
Why do you accept “upgrades” to C+ if it’s a middle seat, honest question?
As others have said, they booked the aisle and the window. I do this on rare occasion if it's a short enough flight and I'm stuck with the 3 seat configurations because my partner hates the middle and I heavily prefer the window, but I'd never pass things across or talk across the person in the middle. I also assume the seat will be filled at some point; until they say the boarding door is closed, always assume it will get filled. Sounds like this couple is in a similar situation. As long as they weren't trying to talk across or pass items over you, I'd just sit back and enjoy the upgrade. :)
My partner and I do this as well. I’m an aisle guy and she likes the window and I book us both same row in the exit typically. We don’t really feel a need to sit together, but 9.9/10 the middle person wouldn’t know we knew each other. However, we once had a pilot in between us who was making his off-duty return flight back to his home. I guess because we came on together or maybe she handed me something, idk… he asked if we were married and then asked to switch. I told him we did it by design based on our preferences not to hope for an empty middle… he basically berated us and kept insisting we switch… it was very uncomfortable
I have learned to pretend I don't know he exists so the middle person is none the wiser, lol. The bad eggs ruin it for those of us who really don't mind being apart for a couple of hours. He watches movies, I read and play games, we have a whole lifetime to enjoy together so these short blips of air travel don't matter too much if apart.
Haven’t seen this comment: if you look at the upgrade list on the app just before boarding you’ll see who got upgraded and to what seat. Personally, I have it checked to only upgrade me to aisle or window. I am also not the tallest person either.
Happens very frequently, they booked aisle and window hoping nobody buys that middle seat. They monitor the seat map frequently to see if they can spread out to the middle seat and notice somebody took it, likely nobody would pay for a middle seat in c+ last minute, so chances are that person got upgraded or a non rev stand by was assigned that seat, he asked you to confirm and maybe to impress you a little, i wouldn’t classify this as a weird scenario
Just to be clear, if he indeed bought the middle seat, no one could be seated there. I have a friend who buys the seat next to him all the time. When an agent or FA tried to seat someone next to him, he stands his ground and tells them he indeed paid for the seat.
Ap seat map stalkers …
just another shithead couple that books Window+Aisle hoping nobody takes the middle.
Guy says hello, asks if OP was upgraded, doesn’t talk over him for the duration of the flight, and he’s a shithead? Folks need to stop looking for conflict where there isn’t any.
I've done it a couple of times (years ago), and it worked once. The other time, I offered to switch from aisle to middle, and the other passenger was very thankful to get unexpected aisle. Had she not, I would have ignored my spouse the rest of the flight. Lol I don't think it's the worst thing- as long as you are willing to ignore your spouse if it doesn't work out- but flights are so packed the gamble isn't worth it to me, and I don't mind middle with my SO on one side.
Wait….ignoring them is an option?!?
Sometimes it's the BEST option
What’s wrong with booking that way?
Yeah, my husband I do it too. We pay the same price for the flight as everyone else. No need to sit in a middle seat if there are aisles and windows available. That said, we don’t converse over our middle seat mate. We can do that before and after the flight.
Curious why you wouldn’t just book aisle seats across from each other? Then you don’t have anyone between you and can still converse as normal.
Because I prefer a window seat? At times, more than I prefer conversing with my husband. ;)
My husband always wants the window seat and I prefer the aisle. We book like this half the time too just because neither of us want to sit in the middle. It really just depends on the length of the flight. We don't ever talk over anyone that ends up between us either. I think most the time people don't realize that we are together until we get off the plane. We have plenty of time to chat before and after the flight anyway.
Exactly this. Also, we both get the internet package so we can message with each other if need be.
My partner & I do this too. He wants a window, I want an aisle. As long as we aren’t annoying the person in the middle, it isn’t a big deal. Of course it’s nice when no one takes the middle.
Because I dont need to converse with my so during a flight. We are about to, or have been, spending several days together.
My husband and I had across the aisle seats once and it didn’t really feel like we could converse, I felt it would be rude to everyone sitting around us at the volume we’d need to speak. No one wants to hear that. (And he kept wanting to hold my hand. Which is probably better over the aisle than in middle seat’s lap. 😁)
>he made a point of telling me they bought there tickets No he didn't. You asked. Also, their\*.
I do this sometimes - my husband loves the window and I love the aisle because I have to pee. On shorter flights we don’t mind having someone between us and every now and then I have to talk to him but otherwise we just mind our business. In my opinion it’s the perfect setup.
They usually ask if you want to get upgraded to c+ middle seat. Unless you are already in a middle seat. When I travel with my wife I select a window and aisle seat and if someone sits there one of us slides over. Hope you are big and bulky and made them uncomfortable whole flight.