Why You Can’t Sit in First Class Even When It’s Empty
If you book an Economy Class flight, you’re left with the lousy seats that the airline wants to give you, whether it’s in the back of the plane or just the middle seat in a row that doesn’t recline. When you see row after row of empty seats in a First or Business class cabin, you might be thinking, why not switch? Silently, you grab your belongings and make your way to an empty row of first class cabins, hoping the flight attendant will look past him.
Well, there are several reasons why airlines don’t want passengers to “sneak” into first class, no matter how inconspicuous they are. First, most Economy Class passengers are not eligible for an upgrade anyway; this rule is built into your fare class and ticket. But for any passenger, as a rule, airlines prefer to leave these lines blank, even if this has little or no effect on their bottom line.
Here’s the thing: in the eyes of the airlines, it’s stealing. According to their logic, you are simply occupying a seat you did not buy, and it would technically be unfair for one passenger to take the luxury seat instead of another. Back in September, United Airlines hit the headlines for an exchange with a traveler who simply wanted a better seat in the empty Economy Plus section of their flight.
“What’s the point in empty spaces if they can be filled in, and your customers will be more convenient?” the mentioned traveler tweeted. United resisted: “… If you bought a Toyota, you could not drive the Lexus because it was empty.”
In other words, yes, airlines are terrible and there isn’t much you can do. And even if you do manage to get a Lexus on the flight, don’t be sure you got away with it; flight attendants are fully aware of who should sit in each respective seat in the premium section. (In an article for the Los Angeles Times, author and flight attendant Elliott Hester noted that flight attendants have a clear responsibility to defy any premium offenders.)
While the rules may be implicit in the airline’s contract of carriage, you will often hear stories of passengers trying to “upgrade their class on their own,” being asked to pay for their ticket on the spot, or even threatened with arrest. ; On the FlyerTalk forums, one traveler said he witnessed the arrest of a fellow passenger for sneaking into the first class seat shortly after landing.
Where will it leave you? Well, we are not encouraging you to break any laws or anything else, but just asking the flight attendant before making any changes doesn’t hurt. To be honest, it probably won’t work, but at least you are helping them avoid awkward in-flight confrontations.