When you purchase an airline seat, you are acknowledging that you agree to the contract of carriage, a legally binding agreement between you and the airline.
When you buy a plane ticket, the only obligation the airline is required to do is get you from one destination to the other. Understand you’re not buying an actual seat — you’re purchasing transportation.
What Happens If Your Seat is Moved
Whenever you're asked by a flight attendant or gate agent to change your seat, it’s usually to help families sit together, allow caregivers to sit next to patients, or accommodate an air marshal or other airline employee. They also might ask you to move for safety reasons or to help redistribute the weight balance of the aircraft, especially on smaller planes. If it happens to you, respond politely and graciously. You don't want to be dramatic about it.
Your Boarding Pass Is Your Assigned Seat
If you happen to be onboard and a gate agent hands you a new boarding pass, that is your new assigned seat you are required to sit in, regardless of how much you paid for your ticket or the class of service you purchased. The gate agent has the right to assign your seat every flight and determine where you will sit.
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