United Airlines Answers The All-Important Question Of Why You Can’t Sit In Empty First Class Seats

Have you ever been making your way through first class on your way to your seat in coach, spied an empty seat, and thought, 'I wonder if I can sit there?'

Stephanie

• Published in Interesting
• October 13, 2020

Have you ever been making your way through first class on your way to your seat in coach, spied an empty seat, and thought, 'I wonder if I can sit there?' Well, the answer is no, and we're here to tell you why.

The simple answer is, it would technically be stealing. If you've paid for a coach ticket, it would not be fair to other customers if you were given a first-class seat.

Recently, United Airlines tweeted in reply to the question, "What's the point of empty seats if they can't be filled and your customers can't have a better experience?" The airline pointed out that, "if you were to purchase a Toyota, you would not be able to drive off with a Lexus because it was empty."

Another thing to keep in mind is that the flight attendants know exactly who is supposed to be in first-class and who isn't.

If the attendants find you sitting in a seat that you didn't pay for, they have every right to ask you to move. There are even stories of people getting arrested over the first-class seat switch debacle.

Surely getting a free drink and a little extra legroom can't be worth that kind of risk, right?

Stephanie