A flight attendant has revealed a few tips and tricks when it comes to getting your ideal seats on a flight.
If you've been on the likes of a Ryanair or easyJet flight and haven't forked out the extra cash to reserve a spot, then you've probably run the seat gauntlet.
The budget airlines randomise seat allocations in such a way that groups who don't reserve are almost always separated from one another.
Even when the plane isn't full and there appears to be room for split up families or groups of friends to be reunited on the aircraft, often staff stop switches to keep the plane nicely balanced.
Kristie Koerbel, a veteran flight attendant with more than 20 years of experience in the skies, has urged people to be proactive when it comes to any seating issues they may have.
"If your family is split up on the flight, the chaotic rush of boarding is not when flight attendants can solve it for you," she wrote in the Irish Times.
"The gate agents have access to the seating chart and family reservations, so please ask them first if it is possible to change your seats. Some airlines even have a policy that families with children under 13 must sit together, so the gate agent is the best place to address the issue.
"Or even better: call the airline before coming to the airport."
Kristie says she has witnessed passengers becoming grumpier and tensions raising since the coronavirus pandemic, with some extreme incidents of bad passenger behaviour she has witnessed turning violent.
The flight attendant has urged people to be mindful of their manners when onboard so they don't inadvertently rile others up.
This includes being gentle when reclining a seat so you don't spill the drink or the meal of the person behind you, and cleaning up after your children so overworked flight attendants don't have to.
She also reminds people that overhead bins are given out on a first-come, first-serve basis and you don't have any particular right to the one above you.
When it comes to being too noisy, Kristie urged people to keep things peaceful and quiet by not speaking on Facetime, particular when you don't have any headphones to hand.
In terms of armrests, the cabin crew member said that the person in the middle is entitled to the two either side of them, as a consolation prize for being squeezed between two passengers.
If you are tired of your seatmate engaging you in conversation but are unable to find a suitable excuse to stop speaking to them, Kristie recommends simply putting on your headphones.
While this may be acceptable behaviour, what isn't is taking off your socks. Kristie says shoes off is okay on a long flight, but bare feet never are, due to the high likelihood of them smelling bad.
She also suggests that the call button should only ever be used in certain, quite rare situations, such as when a passenger needs medical help or someone is being disruptive. Use it too much and you risk alienating the flight attendant for the duration of the journey.
