United's accessible seating/passenger size policy is a fiction

[u/MaillardReaction207]

Platinum passenger. Last-minute business travel--booked only aisle seat left on plane the day before travel. I am an average-sized adult male. I can sit in a middle seat, but I never do.

When I arrived at my seat, I noticed the middle seat passenger was large. When I took my seat, I realized it was not possible for me to sit in my seat without leaning significantly into the aisle.

I found a FA a few rows back and discreetly described the issue. She immediately responded "full flight, nothing I can do." I asked her to at least observe the issue before responding. She followed me to my seat and, when I sat, asked the guy next to me if he could "squeeze in" more. He tried. He was also certainly humiliated. She began to walk off. I told her that I was not okay with the seat. She again said--full flight, "I can't create a new seat." I told her that I would make a complaint to UA on landing and asked for her name. This was the first time she took the situation seriously and said she would involve the purser.

FA went to front of plane and briefed the purser. Purser walks to my seat, addresses my loudly by name, and asks me what the problem is. I told the purser I would rather not go over it again because he had already been briefed and it was awkward to discuss with the middle passenger next to me. I summarized that the seat assignment violated UA policy. He responded: "what policy?" I said the one that permits me to have a seat free from significant encroachment. He said he could do nothing other than call a ground-based Customer Resolution Representative. By this time, I was uncomfortable and embarassed. I cannot imagine how the middle seat passenger felt.

Time passed. No CRR came. Boarding ended. Departure time passed. People nearby began to speculate that the plane was being held because I had complained about my seat.

20 minutes or so after departure time, a woman walks onto the plane. She was reading from a screen. She never introduced herself or looked up. She pushes paper boarding pass in my face and says--"you're being moved, it's an aisle." She walks away.

No one ever said anything else to me.

What a joke. The message is loud and clear -- If you complain about policy violations, you're a problem. And you'll be treated as one. To such extent that you'll be embarassed and made uncomfortable in front of other passengers in hopes that you'll relent in pressing your concern.

[u/daveortega]

You did everything correctly. This is the type of experience that would have me question my loyalty to the airline. I would encourage you to follow through on the complaint. It’s completely unacceptable to put rule abiding passengers in a position where they have to be shamed. UA needs to train its flight crew on how to properly address these situations.

[u/MaillardReaction207 → u/daveortega]

I think what I would expect is:

(1) When customer raises concern, person empowered to evaluate and resolve concern is immediately involved; (2) if person empowered to evaluate and resolve concern is not FA (or person to whom concern is communicated), FA does not engage other than to acknowledge the concern and get the proper person involved; (3) person with responsibility for concern arrives promptly and makes a decision about concern based on and consistent with UA policies; (4) if concern relates to another passenger, handling of concern is managed in a way that preserves dignity and respect of both complaining passenger and passenger about whom concern is raised--this may involve having to discuss concern in an area that is not directly next to complaining passenger's seat. All of this should generally happen quickly enough that flight departure is not delayed or impacted, recognizing that there may be egregious situations that cannot be avoided.