Jan, No offence taken at all. My thoughts on it is, Americans wish for more personal space. Most moving around I have seen/done has to do with open space somewhere else. Like if I'm assigned a seat in a row that I have people next to me, but the row three behind and to my right has just someone at the window (I'm assuming single isle 6 abreast) I'll move back so there is not someone sitting right next to me. Not saying this is the only answer, but from what I've seen Europeans are a closer bunch then us Yanks, so I would guess that is a lot of it. Shawn KDCA At 07:29 PM 4/24/02 +0200, you wrote: >Hi all, > >just noted this remark in Dennis Zeuch's trip report: > > Seat belt sign on a lot and we were told not to change seats after takeoff >which made me think of a major difference between flying in Europe and in >the United States. >Over they years, I've flown quite a lot both intra-European, domestic US and >intercontinental flights between the two parts of the world, and it seems to >me that whenever there are American passengers involved, a whole lot of >"moving around" seems to take place, whereas Europeans seem to stay put in >their assigned seats. >I don't wish this to turn into any kind of Europe vs. US discussion or to >slag Dennis or anyone else, but I just wonder: Why this difference??? >If the Americans fancy particular seats in the plane, why not ask for them >at check-in? I mean, if they're available once airborne, the chances are >that they would have been at check-in also... >Another aspect (probably one that only a small number of passengers think >of, but anyway...) is the fact that post-crash identification of bodies >often is performed from where the bodies (or remains) are found, compared >with the seats assigned. Not that I ever hope ending up as a few charred >remains, but if the unlikely happens, I would sure like that the ashes my >family received would be mine and not some other guy who happened to like my >seat better than his own. > >But as I said, I don't wish to insult anyone - I just wonder what's the >reason for the difference in behaviour? > >Rgds >Jan Broe >EKCH ATC