Window Seat

I still fly a lot (and this starts building some guilt inside me... you know, all that carbon footprint - but that is for a separate blog post). So I still fly a lot and having a window seat is one of the biggest rewards I could imagine for being a frequent flyer. Forget the upgrades and the lounges and fast security tracks. Dear airline, let me just select a window seat.

There is so much going on out there. Flying itself is fascinating - sipping wine while sitting in an armchair cruising at almost the speed of sound in the clouds. And the things outside the window are equally fascinating - the clouds, the occasionally met planes and the Earth from above. I always carry a camera - the Nikon Z50 with the plastic telephoto lens has proven to be a perfect balance for casual window seat aerial photography. And keep collecting the photos - see in my Window Seat album.

But interestingly many people don't care about window seats. So often I see them taking the seat and immediately shutting down the window blind as sunlight makes their phone screens less readable (or should I say watchable?). 

They say loss of curiosity is the sign of an old age. Definitely there is something in it.

Airlines don't seem to understand this either. My beloved Lufthansa (I could make an entire series on them, but trying not to be negative here) has recently "upgraded" me on a LIS-FRA flight. The "upgrade" was from 9F (window) to 2D (aisle). The "business class" in Europe is a joke, as these are the same seats, they just move the little curtain "cabin divider" separating the higher status passengers from the stock. Sometimes there are some better snacks but this time the upgrade was "with no food" (new optimized category?). So I lost my window seat, and they were not willing to trade it back for the old one. Not a big deal overall, the most important thing is the aircraft makes it safely to the destination - right? But and interesting mismanagement of customer's expectations.

Also as a frequent customer of United Airlines I have always been surprised they could not help me select a (window) seat on their codeshare flights - "it is not our aircraft - no we cannot do that". There was some hope even last month when the United app (otherwise the best airline app I know of) surprisingly displayed the seat map of the codeshare Lufthansa flight and let me pick my seat. I was about the send them flowers as a thank you, but after a couple of days all the seat selections were reset and I ended up in 39G (the middle row). Lufthansa saying not their flight reservation, United saying not their aircraft. Or just their reservation systems still not being able to talk to each other. So no new photos this time.

But they did not forget to send me a satisfaction survey. Or rather the system did. Just wonder if anyone is reading what comes back?