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Recently I was checking in to a flight and was asked if I'd like a window or aisle seat as usual and choose a window seat. I was then told that there are no more window seats available but I could get an aisle seat without someone sitting next to me and then just take that window seat. The plane was an ATR-72 so the rows were 2+2 seats.

I know about weight distribution to the front/back but I couldn't come up for a good reason to do this. What could be the reason for not giving me that apparently free window seat right away?

Danny Beckett
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André Stannek
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  • Depending on the airline they may charge more for a window seat so couldn't print a boarding pass for that seat unless you paid... – Lnafziger Mar 24 '14 at 15:11
  • @Lnafziger good idea but that is definitely not the case. I'm a frequent flyer on that route and had window seats before without paying extra. – André Stannek Mar 24 '14 at 15:47
  • Could also have been someone was booked into that seat but the gate knew they were going to misconnect. – casey Mar 24 '14 at 15:58
  • @casey hmm, plane wasn't even half full so mine wasn't the only free row. I doubt so many people missed the flight. Just remembered that I had a similar case before. Only that they didn't tell me I was allowed to just seat at the window. I just did ;-) – André Stannek Mar 24 '14 at 16:17
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    I think you're unlikely to get a good answer here. Whether you sit in an aisle or window seat has no practical implication for the aircraft. The answer would be purely related to the airline's boarding/seating policy. Even if you named the airline in question, there probably isn't someone here who would be an expert on their policies. – Bret Copeland Mar 24 '14 at 19:31
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    @BretCopeland yeah, I expected that much. Thought it was worth a try. If I don't forget I'll ask on my way back on friday. – André Stannek Mar 25 '14 at 08:50
  • Did you remember to ask? :) – Danny Beckett Apr 05 '14 at 06:04
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    @DannyBeckett they had some computer problems and there was a huge line so I didn't ask. But it won't be the last time I took that flight so there'll be another oppertunity :-) – André Stannek Apr 05 '14 at 10:17
  • Hey everyone, I almost forgot this was still an open question. Sadly the airline changed shortly after this and I didn't ask before :-( – André Stannek Jul 24 '14 at 07:45
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    One guess is that the flight was weight restricted and so it had to go out with fewer passengers than seats. (This is more likely on a small aircraft.) Their system may have enforced this by requiring that certain specific seats be blocked and not assigned to passengers. If 5A was such a blocked seat, they couldn't give it to you, but they could give you 5B. And then, once the flight has boarded, nobody will stop you from sliding over into 5A. – Nate Eldredge Aug 23 '14 at 03:43
  • also (though this may not be the case with the ATR) there are seating arrangements in which specific seats don't exist. Think a window seat next to an emergency exit that can't be placed because of the slide sticking out into the cabin. – jwenting Aug 25 '14 at 06:25
  • Too Localised, we can;t comment on the justification of one airline. – Jamiec Oct 22 '14 at 12:03
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about seating policies of a specific flight/plane/airline. – CGCampbell Oct 22 '14 at 15:00
  • I don't think the question is off topic, just badly posed. The real question is if they restricted where he could sit during take-off maybe for weight reasons. Which, I'm quite certain, we have answered in another question somewhere... – Jae Carr Oct 22 '14 at 19:22
  • @JayCarr do you have a good proposal on how to rephrase my question? – André Stannek Oct 23 '14 at 07:46
  • @NateEldredge best possible explanation yet. Too bad it's still just a guess. – André Stannek Oct 23 '14 at 07:48
  • @AndréStannek Well, with how you currently state your question you kind of dismiss the weight distribution answer. I'd probably just edit it so that it says something more like "could this have to do with weight distribution"... It's really the only question we can probably answer. – Jae Carr Oct 23 '14 at 13:42
  • @AndréStannek And if that is your question, this may answer it: http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/1659/passenger-weight-distribution-on-a-commercial-flight – Jae Carr Oct 23 '14 at 13:43
  • @JayCarr I know about weight distribution but to my knowledge it is only relevant along the longitudinal axis of a plane. That's why I dismissed it as an explanation. So the real question is "What other reasons are there?" which I pretty much asked. I think it is a valid question. The problem seems to be that no one has an answer to it. Assuming it to be too localized because of that seems wrong. Anyway, closing it as too localized might still be valid if someone KNOWS that this is a very strange and specific issue. This would also kind of answer my question, although not satisfyingly ;-) – André Stannek Oct 23 '14 at 13:53

2 Answers2

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There are certain restrictions due to which the airliner didn't give you the seat even if you were ready to pay extra for it (Depends on the operations policy by the manufacturer and the aircraft).

It's mostly the weight restrictions for the flight to take-off as there might be some obstacle for the flight during take-off(hoarding on the end of runway, climate etc.). If the weight is too much then it will result in a disaster so equal weight distribution is mandatory.

Moreover in the end it's airliner which has to suffer because the seat occupancy get's affected and it has huge losses incurred by not leaving to its capacity.

Jamiec
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user285oo6
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  • @Andre i wrote this post because i happen to read a news wherein the DGCA asked the Mumbai AAI to remove the banners from the runway exit(don't kow exactly which runway).IT was that an Airline by the name Indian Airlines requested the DGCA to remove some advertisement banners as it was having weight issues during take off(and also reducing the passenger count) – user285oo6 Dec 17 '14 at 10:45
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The only plausible reason is that the airline charges a different rate for the window seats, and you didn't purchase a ticket at the proper price point to get it. It has no effect on the airplane whatsoever.

Khantahr
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