Oops, you mean this reclining couchette isn't an economy class seat?

June 3, 2018 3:48 AM

This is a two part question: 1. Economy class fliers, have you ever just sat down in first/business class on a flight and got away with it? 2. Flight attendants, what would happen if someone did this? Have you ever caught someone sitting in the wrong area? Did you let them stay?
posted by vernondalhart to Travel & Transportation (31 answers total)

Getting away with it never happens, unfortunately. There is no upward mobility in the airplane.
posted by nantucket at 4:14 AM on June 3, 2018 [12 favorites]

The first class flight attendants in my experience have a list of the names of who’s in each seat (so they can address you by name when they offer you food, for some reason) so if the seat is supposed to be empty but there’s someone in it, they will have questions. I think this could only work if you happen to pick the seat of someone of your gender who happens to no-show for the flight.
posted by Stacey at 4:27 AM on June 3, 2018 [8 favorites]

This is not going to work. They know who’s supposed to be on the plane and in which seats.
posted by something something at 4:30 AM on June 3, 2018 [14 favorites]

I sat in economy plus once, kind of by mistake (I noticed my error after I sat down, and then decided to see if I could stay there), and the flight attendants did a double take when they brought around the meals, because they only had enough for the passengers who were actually booked in that section. They let me stay in the seat, but wouldn't let me eat. I suspect if it had been business or first, they would have actually made me move back to my seat.
posted by lollusc at 5:21 AM on June 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

It doesn't even work on TV.
posted by COD at 5:23 AM on June 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

On a recent flight there were some seating issues with multiple people being assigned the same seat. One of the contenders sat down in first class to wait for it to be resolved, and then was just allowed to stay there instead of being forced to move to a middle seat in economy.
posted by slide at 5:30 AM on June 3, 2018

Everyone's talking about the flight attendants caring, but what are the odds you pick an unassigned seat? Someone's probably gonna show up to sit there.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 5:47 AM on June 3, 2018 [5 favorites]

In my experience, there are literally never unassigned first class seats. In the odd chance they didn't sell, someone from coach would be bumped because they were frequent fliers or were offered to upgrade at a price they were willing to pay. I don't understand this question, because it just can't even logically happen unless there's a no-show.
posted by cgg at 5:53 AM on June 3, 2018 [37 favorites]

This basically isn't possible for the reasons people have outlined. Airlines usually fill up the first/business class sections, if the sections aren't full they will sometimes "bump" people from whatever regular class is as a sort of hook-up (this happened to me flying British Airways from Boston to London once, it was amazing). There used to be cabin mobility between and around the better/worse sections of the regular cabin. So if you got on a flight and, say, no one was sitting in an exit row or a better seat once the doors were closed you could move and/or ask-and-move. Nowadays I've tried the same thing and basically been told that the seats with 3" more legroom cost an extra $whatever-it-is and I can pay to move to a better seat but not just move to a better seat, though you can often move to a same-status seat.

That said, you do hear egregious violations of this general policy such as this one where there was a man sitting in a woman's assigned seat, he wouldn't move and she sat elsewhere and then complained about her. There's some indication that discretionary decisions made by flight attendants may be class/race/gender based.
posted by jessamyn at 6:28 AM on June 3, 2018 [7 favorites]

Data point: I fly first class every now and then if the airline is offering a discounted rate for an upgrade.

There is typically one flight attendant assigned to the first class section. This flight attendant is often very social and incredibly competent. Their job is to make sure that the passengers in the first class section feel comfortable and relaxed. Because they are responsible for a smaller group of passengers, they're able to note people's names, food/drink preferences, etc.

I think it would be very difficult (although, obviously not impossible) to "trick" your way into first class. The entire nature of that section of seating strives to eliminate anonymity.
posted by WaspEnterprises at 6:33 AM on June 3, 2018

The first time I flew on my own, I was an unworldly college kid who hadn't been on a plane since I was 5. The first leg of the flight was on a medium-large jet, the second leg was on a tiny turboprop. When getting on the first plane, I mistakenly looked at the second ticket, saw "seat 2A", and was surprised to find it was a first-class seat. I goggled out the window, had a nice warm cookie and a nap and only discovered my mistake when I got on the second flight.

So, it's possible. The things that probably saved me were 1) somehow I won the lottery and there was no one else in that spot, 2) my entire demeanor was that of "whoa I am out of my depth here," obviously not trying to pull something over on anyone 3) I wasn't old enough to drink, so I didn't cost them very much.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:34 AM on June 3, 2018 [7 favorites]

Most of the time airlines will take someone who is a frequent flier but has not paid for first class and upgrade them if they have empty seats. I have platinum status on a couple of airlines and that happens to me fairly regularly. When you see a situation where two people have the same economy/economy plus seat, usually that means that one of them has already been bumped up and the other person was a standby, and the flight attendants just haven't told the first person to come up to the front yet.
posted by nushustu at 6:54 AM on June 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Once, way back in the '80s, I was on a red eye from SFO to LAX. As I recall there only 3 or 4 of us passengers on the whole flight. Once airborne, the crew invited us to first class, which was completely empty of course, opened up a bottle of bubbly, and allowed us to luxuriate for the short flight. I have never heard of such a thing either before or since but it happened to a handful of us bleary eyed travelers one strange night.
posted by royboy at 7:22 AM on June 3, 2018 [8 favorites]

Definitely won't work. Flight attendants have very boring jobs and keeping the plebs out of first class is like the one fun thing they get to do. Source: wife of a 13-years-in-the-biz flight attendant.
posted by masquesoporfavor at 7:26 AM on June 3, 2018 [8 favorites]

Someone once tried this in my business class seat. They'd made themselves comfortable, broken out the blankets, headphones, etc before i boarded. Cheeky as.

The flight attendant moved them back to economy.

In my experience the flight attendants have a list of names for each business class seat, so will immediately know if an empty seat is taken.

Plus the airline is likely to bump regulars up to business so as to free up economy seats to sell. Again, based on my regular upgrades back in the day, meaning business was normally full.
posted by macapes at 7:50 AM on June 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

A friend of mine has a story from the 2000s similar to slides - missed connection chaos, overbooked flights, multiple people assigned the same seat, my friend cheekily sat in business class and was not called on it. He was wearing a suit and tie and has a knack for looking like he belongs wherever he is.
posted by muddgirl at 8:21 AM on June 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

I've never tried this but I have seen others try it and get booted back to economy.

It's really unlikely that this would work and honestly it's the type of nonsense that just slows down the boarding/departure process for everyone else. That person is obnoxious and inconsiderate. Don't be that person.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 8:38 AM on June 3, 2018 [27 favorites]

On an American airline? This could've happened -- in the 1960s, even the 1970s, before deregulation, maybe. Not today, no way.
posted by Rash at 9:23 AM on June 3, 2018

The poster asked an answerable question and never indicated that they were actually considering this.

I can speak for Delta; they always fill up first class on domestic flights. If there’s an extra seat they will come back and get someone. All it costs them is $4 worth of Woodford Reserve so there’s no reason not to. They are also selling first class upgrades for very, very cheap in a new policy called First Class Monetization.

International flights, they will fly empty first class seats, and they come around with a printout (or I think they have an app now.) They’d know right away.
posted by ftm at 9:34 AM on June 3, 2018

In my experience, there are literally never unassigned first class seats. In the odd chance they didn't sell, someone from coach would be bumped because they were frequent fliers or were offered to upgrade at a price they were willing to pay.

This is not the case in international first class, but, believe me, in international first class they know who's supposed to be in every seat. They will not be giving that product away for free.
posted by praemunire at 9:54 AM on June 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

Am I the only one bemused by the anecdotes of success here, mixed together with many responses amounting to ‘this is literally impossible according to the laws of physics’?

I once saw a guy get away with it for almost the whole flight, they made him move back, but by then it was time to prepare for landing.

I agree it’s highly unlikely, but let’s not toss about absolutes. The sneaky upgrade clearly can work, even if only very rarely.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:12 AM on June 3, 2018 [4 favorites]

International first class often has empty seats, so in theory it is quite possible (airlines will NOT generally do complimentary upgrades on international routes regardless of status --- the only exception is when economy is oversold, you might get an "operational upgrade" to first if you have status. But it is quite common to see empty first class seats on longhaul international, because if they gave free upgrades no one would pay $5k-$10k for a seat).

That said, yeah they generally greet you by name. On the other hand, they don't check a photo. So the best I can think of is if you knew Bob Smith was flying in 3A but didn't show up and you could pass as a "Bob Smith", you'd probably get away with it.
posted by thefoxgod at 10:58 AM on June 3, 2018

Airlines also give empty first-class/business-class seats to their non-revs if available. My mom used to work for Delta, and I had an S3 pass. I usually got first class on domestic flights, and even managed to snag business class to Paris on an Air France codeshare, and first class flying home from Buenos Aires. If you are flying in/out of an airline's hub, there are almost always non-revs (including employees deadheading) - so you would almost never see an empty first class seat on a Delta flight in Atlanta, or United at Dulles. (I haven't had flight benefits for over a decade, so things may have changed since then.)
posted by candyland at 2:25 PM on June 3, 2018

Another point of anecdata: I've been on several transatlantic flights with nearly-empty business class seats and even some empty economy plus and even as those of us in the completely full coach section looked longingly (and tried to move) all of the flight attendants watched those empty seats like hawks and refused to let anyone move and bounced all attempted squatters. If they can't sell those upgraded seats then no one gets the luxury for free, at least as I've experienced on United, British Airways, and Lufthansa...
posted by TwoStride at 2:27 PM on June 3, 2018

In international first class, they usually also greet you at the plane door, walk you to your seat, and make a little introductory fuss. A person might be able to dodge the attention of the flight attendant(s) directing traffic at the door and turn the wrong direction (probably by doubling back along the far aisle when no one was looking), but suddenly appearing in the seat would earn you a bit of scrutiny, I think.
posted by praemunire at 3:04 PM on June 3, 2018

I had a free upgrade to first class on a United flight last week. The attendant came around, consulting a list, and greeted each passenger by name. On that particular flight, at least, you would have been sent back to coach before take-off if you didn't belong in first class.
posted by wryly at 7:29 PM on June 3, 2018

Lately, I can't even move from coach to coach-exit-row without getting bounced.
posted by j_curiouser at 7:32 PM on June 3, 2018

It might seem unfair that empty business class seats aren't opened for economy flyers, but if you think about it, it's actually the opposite. If no one in economy paid for business class, why should person A get a free update and persons B - Z don't? What if a fight breaks out on board?
(Of course, if person A happens to have a birthday or a disability, maybe they can be bumped up.)
posted by LoonyLovegood at 12:10 AM on June 4, 2018

This question made me laugh. Not the same country so of course things may vary, but I've even got the flight attendant stink eye for using the washroom towards the business class (it was closer to my seat and being extremely sleep-deprived, I didn't stop to think). Upgrades are invariably with fee, even within economy, for seats meant for people with human sized legs. Forget business/first classes.
posted by Nieshka at 3:37 AM on June 4, 2018

I once got berated for accidentally using the first class bathroom (I was front row premium economy, the bathroom was right behind The Curtain) so based on that experience I would say grabbing a seat would be pretty far unlikely under their watchful guard.
posted by like_neon at 1:22 AM on June 5, 2018

Response by poster: As a few people have noted, this is really a hypothetical question. I've been on enough international flights where they board first/business class first, and so when walking through you have some idea which seats may be free (although not, of course, a guarantee).

I was also hoping to hear from flight attendants, but they seem to be keeping rather mum about this :D
posted by vernondalhart at 6:59 AM on June 5, 2018