Here goes, a call into the vastness of the FT brain to answer this bizarre question. I'll explain the background at the end.
We are 2 pax in First on a long-haul International flight (747-400). If we were to pick (upon boarding) 2 random pax in Business and offer to swap our F seats for their J seats, would the FAs allow it?
I know the answer is probably "Maybe, depends on the FAs", but I'm wondering if there is a more sophisticated answer than that.
Why, oh why? you may ask, would someone voluntarily downgrade from F into J? The answer to that is that we will be traveling with our two children, aged 9 and 11, who will be booked in Coach. They may (or may not) be accompanied by a bevy of their school friends, and some of the parents of said school friends. If they are, we will snooze happily in F and visit them once or twice. However, if the school group ends up taking a different flight, we feel bad being two cabins away from them -- we've done this before (when they were a few years younger) and try to get the last row in J and put them in one of the front rows in Coach (E+ now, I guess).
But why not just book in Business Class to start with? I hear you cry! Because we're traveling on award tix -- you think I'm made of money? And there are F Saver awards, but no J Saver awards, that's why.
So go ahead, road warriors, make fun of me, I don't care. I flew 930,000 BIS miles on UAL before my kids were born -- I fly mostly for pleasure now, and it's not pleasurable to be in Y. My kids are skinny and short and they don't care.
And while we're at it, why the f&* aren't there any upgrade awards 330 days out? I would have bought B fare tix if I could have upgrade to J -- and UAL would have a bunch more of my money! I know, I know -- "capacity management". Harumph.
We are 2 pax in First on a long-haul International flight (747-400). If we were to pick (upon boarding) 2 random pax in Business and offer to swap our F seats for their J seats, would the FAs allow it?
I know the answer is probably "Maybe, depends on the FAs", but I'm wondering if there is a more sophisticated answer than that.
Why, oh why? you may ask, would someone voluntarily downgrade from F into J? The answer to that is that we will be traveling with our two children, aged 9 and 11, who will be booked in Coach. They may (or may not) be accompanied by a bevy of their school friends, and some of the parents of said school friends. If they are, we will snooze happily in F and visit them once or twice. However, if the school group ends up taking a different flight, we feel bad being two cabins away from them -- we've done this before (when they were a few years younger) and try to get the last row in J and put them in one of the front rows in Coach (E+ now, I guess).
But why not just book in Business Class to start with? I hear you cry! Because we're traveling on award tix -- you think I'm made of money? And there are F Saver awards, but no J Saver awards, that's why.
So go ahead, road warriors, make fun of me, I don't care. I flew 930,000 BIS miles on UAL before my kids were born -- I fly mostly for pleasure now, and it's not pleasurable to be in Y. My kids are skinny and short and they don't care.
And while we're at it, why the f&* aren't there any upgrade awards 330 days out? I would have bought B fare tix if I could have upgrade to J -- and UAL would have a bunch more of my money! I know, I know -- "capacity management". Harumph.