4 ms·

I'm not a United fan, but there is a big point of their story that is confusing. Why was a man napping across a row of seats during boarding?

• logfromblammo 9y ago
  I presume that the man was already boarded from a previous segment of a multi-segment flight, and that segment was lightly-booked enough to nap across multiple seats. This would be especially likely when boarding at a hub airport--like ORD. The fully-booked portion of the flight is from the hub to the end destination, but those passengers are coming in from N feeder routes. So 1/N of the feeder passengers can remain on the plane instead of getting out to make a connection. But even so, you still need to have enough of your ass in your own seat to be belted in during takeoffs and landings. That makes it mighty difficult to sleep across 3 or more seats through a stop. Looks suspicious. I suspect this couple was embellishing to surf a wave of anti-United sentiment for a bit. The guy was probably asleep in his own seat, and they just didn't want to climb over him and sit 3-to-a-row when other rows were empty. I wouldn't put it past United to seat an affianced couple in separated seats with a stranger seated between them, either.