bcla
On our rugged Eastern foothills.....
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2012
Yes, but you're comparing apples to oranges. I've never ridden a train where I can pick my specific seat. You can pick class. You can pick assigned seating or no assigned seating. But you can't pick the seat.
And people can get huffy all they like but they know they have to sit next to somebody. The couple in the plane example KNOWS someone could by the seat. That's different from paying for something and not getting it. It's no more justified to get angry over having someone sit next to you in open seating than it is to get angry over being separated from your group when you didn't pay for assigned seating.
Well - apparently in Europe and Asia it's possible to purchase a train ticket with an assigned seat. It's probably a lot easier on a train with limited stops. However, what I was getting at is that seating model where the conductor tells the passenger where to sit is actually pretty similar to the way airline travel used to work. You could always make a request once at the airport, but you didn't pay extra and you didn't always get what you wanted.
As for your mother, did you ever try asking an airline if they might waive or refund a seat selection fee? There is a lot of stuff that they will do in order to accommodate a passenger who may have a special need for a specific seat.