Best seatmates you've ever had?

idp5601 · Tue Feb 05, 2019 2:29 pm

To balance out the other thread on this forum about bad seatmates, it'd be nice to find out what your best experience/s with a seatmate was/were.

LH748 · Tue Feb 05, 2019 3:24 pm

On a FRA-DFW flight I had a nice older lady sitting next to me who was going to Austin to visit her daughter that had moved there a few years ago. I took a few pictures of Greenland for her when we were flying over, we talked a bit about traveling and cultural differences and it was just super nice. As our flight was a bit delayed and we both had a rather tight connection at DFW I already calmed her down and explained how easy it is to get booked on a later flight and that there is nothing to worry about. As we both still tried to make it to our connection I helped her a bit with the immigration machine. We both didn't make our connection but had already gotten rebooked. Even though it was a bit of work for me I was happy to help her out and also enjoyed the temporary company.

T54A · Tue Feb 05, 2019 5:07 pm

The singer Anastasia

smallmj · Tue Feb 05, 2019 5:15 pm

My kids, especially when they were under 12. I could steal lots of their seat width, so narrow Y seating wasn't so bad.

Except for the time when my daughter was 2 and vomited just as we were touching down. That belongs in the other thread.

Eindhoven · Tue Feb 05, 2019 5:57 pm

One time I was sitting next to a real hot Norwegian girl. We started talking which lead to flirting from both sides. It was a very short flight (CPH-OSL) so nothing happened on the flight itself. However afterwards instead of going to the hostel I had originally booked I went home with her (she lived near the center of Oslo) and we had a real great time together. Unfortunately after a few days I had to move on. She came with me to the airport and we kissed each other goodbye at the security lane.

Afterwards we kept in touch for a while, but that faded when she found another boyfriend. She was the best seatmate I ever had and much more than that.

Moose135 · Tue Feb 05, 2019 9:18 pm

A few years back, I was flying home from SEA to CLT nonstop on a US (maybe it was AA by then) A321. I had a window seat so I could shoot some along the way. I get to the seat, and there is a young couple, with an infant, maybe 2 months old sitting there. The woman asked if I would mind swapping seats, as their little girl traveled better if she could look out the window - she had already made several flights by that time. I grabbed the aisle seat, we ended up talking a little photography when she saw my camera gear, and you wouldn't have known there was a 2-month old on the flight, I don't think she made a sound the entire flight.

TheFlyingDisk · Wed Feb 06, 2019 2:57 am

An empty seat is my best seatmate.

Well there was a few times that I sat next to my friend, he's pretty okay as a seatmate. Other than that, most of my seatmates usually kept to themselves.

VapourTrails · Wed Feb 06, 2019 4:29 am

TheFlyingDisk wrote:
An empty seat is my best seatmate.

I have to say this. I'm already on a heightened state of alertness, and feeling a level of claustrophobia. Having an empty seat next to me is good and I can relax more. I can also stretch out a bit and use the room for my own things for some of the flight. This is only in Y. In J the whole experience would be lessened by at least fifty percent, relative to the space.

I don't have any specific stand-out memories. Collectively, the person who is pleasant, makes some conversation is good, but knows when to not talk, or when to stop talking.

Travel companions are always good, because they are someone you know - in a space among strangers.

Someone who doesn't hog the armrest or emit body odour, or perfume or strong aftershave. I am aware that I try to be a neutral seatmate myself, or pleasant and non-intrusive at the very least.

ClassicLover · Wed Feb 06, 2019 9:37 am

I've had a few... a Swedish guy in World Traveller Plus on BA on a LHR-HKG. We drank quite a lot and chatted the whole flight.

Two guys going on a working holiday in World Traveller on BA next to me on SYD-BKK. They had a massive bottle of booze and so I ran back and forth to the galley to get mixers for the whole flight and they shared it with me. Lots of good chats.

A guy I met in the lounge in London City for BA1 who came and sat next to me for part of the SNN-JFK sector. Much wine and chatting.

One Aussie lady and I got chatting on a LHR-SIN flight, so I guested her into the lounge. Another lady on a flight to ORD and I guested her into the Flagship lounge.

Quite a few nice people I've sat next to. I generally don't initiate conversation, but when others do I'll happily talk to them.

OlafW · Wed Feb 06, 2019 9:44 am

Maybe a bit hard to explain, but when seated in a 3-row with empty middle seat, I like to use that table during snack service, so I have more space at my own seat. I like when the person in the aisle seat copies that and therefore always leave "their" half empty. Not many do recognize is, though.

vhqpa · Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:15 am

TheFlyingDisk wrote:
An empty seat is my best seatmate.

THIS!!!

I was very lucky with a spare seat on my last two longhauls. SIN-LHR and LHR-PER. On the LHR-PER flight it was as far as I knew the only open seat in the Y cabin.

bluestreak · Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:51 pm

One really stands out: During the mid 1990's, I was in my 20's flying on Reno Air ORD-RNO. The flight was only about 1/2 full. An attractive young lady actually moved from her seat, asked me if she could be seated by me, I was happy to have the company. We chatted all the way to RNO, she asked if she could show me around town that night. We spent the weekend together, one of the best experiences of my life up until then. Afterwards, a few long distance phone calls, and a few letters, and cards were the only contact we had. After a few months, those stopped, and I moved on.

While flying on USAirways PHX-ATL, I was seated by a very nice female. We chatted about everything, the flight was over way too quickly, before I knew it, we were descending into ATL. I was single, but she was married, so our conversation ended at the gate. But she was an outstanding person, one I'll never forget.

On my first USAirways A-330 flight, I was seated next to a businessman. He struck up a conversation with me just after takeoff. It turned out that he owned a company, and we chatted all the way to PHL. Just after landing, he offered me a job! I did follow up with him, but the job would require me to relocate, which I was unable to do at the time.

I was seated next to a professional body guard on a Delta 767-400, HNL-LAX. He was going to visit family in southern California, and was a nervous flyer, so I chatted with him in attempt to make him more comfortable. He loosened up after about half an hour. He then told me about his job, the celebrities he had worked for, and some pretty wild stories about them. It made the 5 hour flight go by in no time!

In recent history, my best seat mate has been my wife. We enjoy each others company, and it makes the flights so much more enjoyable. She knows my passion for airplanes, and encourages me!

Eindhoven · Sun Feb 10, 2019 9:43 am

bluestreak wrote:
One really stands out: During the mid 1990's, I was in my 20's flying on Reno Air ORD-RNO. The flight was only about 1/2 full. An attractive young lady actually moved from her seat, asked me if she could be seated by me, I was happy to have the company. We chatted all the way to RNO, she asked if she could show me around town that night. We spent the weekend together, one of the best experiences of my life up until then. Afterwards, a few long distance phone calls, and a few letters, and cards were the only contact we had. After a few months, those stopped, and I moved on.

That sounds like me.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1414789#p21068689

I still got to go back to OSL some day to explore the city. I mean, I was there, but we were too busy exploring each other if you know what I mean. Now I still don't know what the city looks like.

Hope you had just as a great time as I had.

fbgdavidson · Sun Feb 10, 2019 2:48 pm

It was quite a while ago now, DEN-OAK on a UA 757. Was in the exit row by 2L and the guy next to me was 7ft tall. Everything about it was highly amusing. His feet could touch the bulkhead, his coffee cup looked like a dolls house prop in his enormous hands and he had to double over to fit in the loo, or anywhere frankly. He struck up conversation and we chatted for the whole 2hr flight or whatever it was and even through the terminal after. I’ve never made any effort to start chatting with seatmates, so this was unusual for me!

Lionel Richie on BA LHR-JFK a few years ago. He was an utter gentleman for the whole flight and I broke my usual onboard celebrity protocol by chatting. A couple of passengers asked for photos or went to chat and the FAs loved him too. I had been in the UK to visit family and coincidentally my mother and I had been talking about his Glastonbury performance just the day before. He signed a menu for her and took a photo to send to her, which was met by bemusement/astonishment upon landing at JFK!

Delta777Jet · Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:31 pm

I joined the mile high club with me best seat mate on board a American 767 from JFK to BRU ! That was hot

stlgph · Sun Feb 10, 2019 8:31 pm

Brett Somers

CarlosSi · Mon Feb 11, 2019 12:35 am

I’ve got plenty. One was flying FRA-EWR with a guy from Spain, about my age. Played some card games, spoke about stuff. I wonder how he’s doing.

Also several Southwest flights; just talking about the city and other places we’ve visited with one lady (was LAS-meddivertPHX-AUS). The one place you’ll meet other people from your city in another city is at the gate

.

bluestreak · Mon Feb 11, 2019 1:57 am

Eindhoven wrote:
That sounds like me.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1414789#p21068689

I still got to go back to OSL some day to explore the city. I mean, I was there, but we were too busy exploring each other if you know what I mean. Now I still don't know what the city looks like.

Hope you had just as a great time as I had.

Yes, your story is actually what reminded me of my experience. Not that I had forgotten, but it was a long time ago, and now that I am married, I don't think about that trip as often anymore.

Actually, we did see the city, since I had 2 full days there. We did plenty of exploring of each other as well, but we did get out a couple of times. She dropped me off at the airport on her way to work that Monday morning, which was the last time I saw her. I have only been to Reno once since then, and it brought back a lot of good memories.

I guess it's no wonder why Reno Air was a favorite of mine!

Spark94541 · Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:20 am

I have an unusual one. It's wasn't that I had a great conversation, but it was just an interesting seatmate.

I was flying from OAK-LGW, and get seated next to a young mother (about 23), and a girl who probably 2. The girl was fussy and and crying, and my initial thought was "Oh crap, I'm going to get this crying toddler the whole flight."
The mom looked at me and said, "She is tired, it's been a long day. We flew here from Boise." She was middle eastern, and I found that they are heading to Iraq. This was two years ago, so Iraq was a strange destination.

It turns out her family had emigrated from Boise post-Iraq War II, and she was 10 when they moved. I asked how in the hell does an Iraqi family end up in Boise? I didn't get a good answer, but I figured that her family was powerful enough to get out of Iraq and move to the United States in 2008.

It turned out the little girl was great after a nap. Eventually midway fhrough the flight mom got the girl set up with a show on IFE, and eventually started to drift off her self. I noticed the show end, the little girl wanted to watch it again- so I restarted the show. 30 minutes later the little girl tugs on my arm and motions that she wanted another to watch it again. My job became the guy who started the show again.

Austin787 · Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:35 am

A few stand out:
DEN-AUS (Frontier) and AUS-JFK (AA): seated next to beautiful women both flights, and spent a good part of the flight talking about personal backgrounds and travel stories

DFW-LHR (AA) on Christmas Day: my first upgrade on an overseas flight. Seated next to a young couple. When we weren't sleeping, talked about holiday plans as well as enjoyed the business class experience.

Not on a flight, but on a ground tour in Ireland, I was seated next to a girl from my hometown. Lots of great stories to share.

incitatus · Mon Feb 11, 2019 4:22 am

Met my wife on MIADFW on American. Also had a girlfriend whom I met on LAXJFK.

MIAspotter · Mon Feb 11, 2019 7:59 am

On a MAN-BCN flight a couple of years ago, a good looking Spanish brunette took the middle seat, and we started chatting, which turned into a full flight conversation all the way to BCN, I didn´t looked out the window once.

She was on a solo trip up in Scotland, and turns out she worked as a police agent in BCN.

Kept in touch for a while on Facebook but nothing more than that.

I think that´s the one time I didn´t mind the middle seat being occupied lol.

MIAspotter.

FatCat · Mon Feb 11, 2019 10:52 am

TheFlyingDisk wrote:
An empty seat is my best seatmate.

Well there was a few times that I sat next to my friend, he's pretty okay as a seatmate. Other than that, most of my seatmates usually kept to themselves.

agree
no seatmate is best seatmate

StrandedAtMKG · Mon Feb 11, 2019 5:12 pm

Not really a "best" seatmate, but I wanted to share this story: A few years ago I was on a DL flight GRR-DTW and in the row behind me was an older gentleman who struck up a conversation with his seatmate (who was sitting directly behind me). By the end of the flight the conversation had turned to politics, and the older guy was just *ranting* about how he didn't watch TV news because it's so unreliable and untrustworthy, they're all a bunch of liars, etc. Bear in mind that the seatmate he was talking to had been sitting directly behind me, so it wasn't until we deplaned that I saw his face and realized it was the very well-known and easily recognizable 6/11PM news anchor from the Grand Rapids ABC affiliate. I just about fell over laughing.

n92r03 · Mon Feb 11, 2019 5:14 pm

Empty seat is best.

However I had a smoking hot woman next to me TPA-LAX and the weirdo that had the aisle freaked her out so much that she asked to move closer to me, even put the armrest up. This was pre-9/11. When we landed at LAX she met her body-builder boyfriend and the 4 hours fun was history.

Had a really cool business man sit next to me HKG-ORD. We were in the back of the plane, where the fuselage narrows and only two seats in the row. We made a deal that if either one needed to use the lav, to wake up the other. Then we both worked until laptop batteries died (this was on UA in the 744, back in the day). I had chatted with one of the FA's at the gate while waiting to board and she brought back to me a dessert from F class, I think it was ice cream with Bailey's. She then went and got him one as well. Turns out he was some bigwig at a tech company.

IAHFLYR · Wed Feb 13, 2019 4:49 pm

"Names withheld to protect the innocent"!

CO flight PHL-IAH Row 1, a very attractive well known R&Band Pop singer with about 10 Grammy Awards She was very quiet at first and once she knew I recognized her and didn't want to get her autograph or make a big deal out of where she was she just began to talked on and off for the last 90 minutes or so of the flight. Very personable, polite and a pleasure to sit next to for that flight.

Couple of years later, sCO United flight again, PHL-IAH Row 1 a very very tall (7' plus and yes retired NBA star) sat down and his knees hit the bulkhead without any problem. He was quite the chatter from the time he sat down until we landed at IAH, cracking jokes with the FA's and other passengers alike. Great fella with a huge personality, again very polite and with a heart of gold for all his charity work.

I'd enjoy the chance to sit next to both of them as they were quite gracious.

Have had a few other excellent seatmates, but it doesn't happen often unless it is my Wife.

Super80Fan · Thu Feb 14, 2019 12:24 am

The invisible man sitting next to me. He never seems to complain when I take his legroom, armrest, or get up over him to use the lavatory. Great guy, wish he would be my permanent seat mate.

smallmj · Thu Feb 14, 2019 12:25 pm

Super80Fan wrote:
The invisible man sitting next to me. He never seems to complain when I take his legroom, armrest, or get up over him to use the lavatory. Great guy, wish he would be my permanent seat mate.

Well, you could buy him a ticket. I'm sure he'd be glad to come along.

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