Plane etiquette: Resurfaced Family Guy episode sparks debate on switching seats on a flight

A resurfaced Family Guy scene, in which a mother asked Stewie and Brian to switch seats so the family of three could sit together, has reignited the debate. Photo / YouTube

“Can we switch seats?” If you’ve been on a plane and haven’t heard that question at least once, you’re one of the lucky ones.

It’s one of the most commonly asked questions on a flight and when the answer is no, it can create some heated reactions — even in the fictional work of Family Guy it seems.

A resurfaced episode of the popular cartoon has made its way to the internet and sparked a debate about whether it’s okay to ask someone to switch seats with you on a plane, news.com.au has reported.

In a clip shared on YouTube, characters Stewie and Bryan are seen sitting side by side in a plane with a man seated beside them; all is well until a woman with her baby asks the pair to switch seats, “Excuse me, do you mind if we switch seats so my family can sit altogether,” she asks.

Quickly replying, Stewie firmly says, “No, no, we don’t switch.”

Remaining persistent, the woman says, “ ‘Cause when we booked, they didn’t have three together,” before he interrupts saying: “Ma’am, ma’am, your poor planning does not constitute an emergency, you’ll see him in Paris, go sit down.”

It has earned many comments from viewers with hundreds agreeing with the Family Guy character’s stance, “ ‘Your poor planning doesn’t constitute an emergency for me’, what a great line, absolutely perfect,” one person said, while another added, “Stewie is right. I’m sick of ‘seat cheaters’ — either pay extra or go home.”

Another person said, “She was polite an’ all, but the situation just had an uncomfortable vibe, and Stewie was kind of a d**k even though he was within his right to decline.”

While a fourth person said, “I pray this never happens to me. I want to imagine I would give up my seat but I’m not that confident I’m a good person.”

After going viral, the clip earned a response from a person claiming to be an aviation worker who said Stewie is “200 per cent right” with his stance.

The unwritten etiquette of swapping plane seats

Travellers asking to swap should always be offering to trade up, not down

Seating allocation at times can feel like a lucky dip. While airlines say they try to allocate bookings together, sometimes that isn’t what happens. That doesn’t mean you can’t use the rules of negotiation to sit with your travel companions, but you must understand who holds sway. If you’re asking to swap you must have something to offer the passenger being displaced.

Is it okay to ask someone to switch seats with you on a plane? Photo / 123rf

Extra legroom, aisle seats, proximity to exits for disembarkation, or even cabin class can all be used as leverage. You can’t expect a passenger to move places if all you have to offer is a seat at the back of the plane. The couple wishing to be seated together should instead opt to offer the passenger at the back of the plane to move forward.

What a shame your partner is seated in economy, while you’re seated in business. Why don’t you offer to go back there and join them?

The person being asked to swap seats has the final say. End of

You might have the most compelling reason in the world. Perhaps you and your travel companion have to, right this moment, hash out a “treaty for universal world peace” over your tray tables. If the passenger you’re asking to move doesn’t want to budge, it will have to wait until after the flight.

Worried about being split from your child on a long flight? Children under 14 must be seated next to a parent or adult guardian. For flights to or from Canada, the age is 16 or up, before a child can be seated on their own or they are considered an unaccompanied minor. This is up to the airline to resolve and reseat families so they are seated next to each other, or at least in rows together.

You shouldn’t swap plane seats without asking cabin crew

You actually shouldn’t swap seats without asking the cabin crew. Passenger seating arrangements and names are recorded on the flight manifest, which is a legal requirement for airlines and must be amended to reflect upgrades or other seat substitutions. If you’re on a quiet plane where passengers have helped themselves to empty rows, you might sometimes be asked to return to your original seats for landing. This is because the manifest should reflect the seating arrangement at take-off and landing to help balance the plane for pilots, but also as a legal record of the plane’s passengers.