When you purchase a plane ticket on a commercial airline in the U.S., you either pay to choose your seat, have a credit card or another way to choose your seat for free, or are eventually assigned a seat (the only outlier to this, at the moment, is Southwest…but their days of choosing your seat once you get onto the plane are numbered).
You may have read that I’ve been on a bunch of JetBlue flights recently, as I’m in the midst of completing their 25 For 25 promotion. Having been on 20+ JetBlue flights in the past month or two, I’ve heard the flight attendants’ safety spiel many, many times—sometimes upwards of three times in the same day, and once a total of seven times over the course of three days.
Not surprisingly, most of my flights were 100% full or nearly full. However, there have been a few times, particularly when flying to or from a smaller location, that the flights weren’t full at all. In fact, I’ve even gotten an entire row to myself 3 times so far!
L: DCA-ACK (9/22) // Mid: HPN-MCO (9/23) // R: BOS-ORF (10/8)
Anyway, while on those not-so-full flights, I noticed that the safety spiel changed a little bit. The FA on the PA would mention that the flight was not 100% full but that it was very important for all passengers to remain in their assigned seats due to “Weight and Balance.” But if we did want to change our seat, to ask the FA about it.
Hmmm…
My first thought was that it was pure and utter bullspit. I mean, yes, I understand that Weight and Balance are very important when flying a plane. Pilots are taught about that importance (and how to calculate it), the FAA has a 114-page manual about it, etc. (I’m not suggesting I understand anything about Weight and Balance other than the obvious “the plane needs to be evenly balanced, front to back and side to side, so the plane can fly safely and efficiently.”)
But think about it. Yes, of course, the weight and balance of an aircraft are important. But when I have a seat assignment, be it purchased or not, how do they know how much I weigh? Am I 99 pounds? 699 pounds? Shouldn’t that matter in this “weight and balance” plan?
Of course, I know their REAL concern regarding weight and balance is that they don’t want every single person on the plane to suddenly crowd, say, the front rows of seats. Of course, they wouldn’t want everyone to suddenly crowd just the left side, just the right side or just the seats in the back of the plane. But it’s probably more realistic that if everyone were “allowed” to change their seats, they’d go towards the front, because they’d figure they’d get off the plane faster.
So that’s their ultimate goal, but I’m sure that the seats towards the front of the plane costing more has nothing to do with it either. 😉
Meanwhile, I asked
Meanwhile, I had one other flight that was relatively empty and the flight attendants did their “weight and balance” spiel. Although there were plenty of empty rows all up and down the plane, it turned out that I was in a completely full row. All three of us were strangers, and frankly, it made no sense for us to stay there if we didn’t have to.
Anyway, I’m a rule follower and they had indeed said if we wanted to change our seats, to ask. So that’s what I did – I went up to the front and asked.
“The door just closed.”
The FA’s reply was, “The door just closed, so I’ll get back to you on that.”
Of course, I fly a lot and know that after they close the door of the plane, there’s a lot of pre-flight stuff that has to get done. Helping a passenger sit in a different seat is not a priority, and I understand and accept that.
However, Chris Q. Public doesn’t know that; they’d be wondering what the “the door just closed” has to do with whether or not they can move their seat. But to most people, the FA’s response would have made no sense whatsoever.
So, one demerit to the FA who gave an answer that most people wouldn’t understand the nuance of.
But I went back to my seat and waited. And about 10 minutes later, the FA came back and said I could move one row forward (that row was also empty – I told you it was a pretty empty flight LOL). Which, of course, wouldn’t affect the weight and balance.
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2 comments
As crew I can tell you that aircraft are divided into bays. It’s possible that the row in front was in the same bay so fine to move. And really the weight and balance is only important for takeoff, at my airline after the seatbelt signs go off you can move to any free seat in your cabin class (except of course emergency exit rows if you don’t meet the requirements).
Airlines use an average weight for an adult male, adult female, and child, and hold luggage is loaded to ensure balance with the seat allocations. They also take into account galley loading aka pantry weights.
So it’s absolutely not a fake rule.
The closing of the forward entry door starts a number of procedures, from the time clock to the calculation of W&B numbers. It’s one of two reasons passengers are asked to remain seated (the second reason being that it’s a violation of FAR’s for the plane to move if any passengers aren’t seated with their seatbelt fastened. Final W&B numbers are often calculated between gate and runway. The supplies to people sitting in the front, middle, or back of the aircraft. Everything that is done on board, the aircraft is part of a procedure. Passengers aren’t expected to know all the reasons why a flight crew ask them to do certain things; simply that they comply with flight attendant instructions… Another federal aviation regulation.
The different story is the move toward seats in more desirable locations. If someone hasn’t paid to sit in a premium seat or premium seat, location, then they can’t sit there. Plain and simple. It doesn’t matter if there’s 40 open seats in premium seating areas. That’s a decision of the airline, not the passengers. Moving to an upgraded seat, even an economy, without paying for it, is theft.