Swapping seats across classes - within family

I am travelling with one of my sons (18) LGW - MCO on 1st July returning PE MCO-LGW on 9th. However older son (22) decided that he wanted to come along. These were combination rewards. I managed to get seats for the 2nd son out PE returning UC - opposite to us. It has struck me that the old man might be better in PE on the way out (with both lads in UC) and sleeping in UC(!) on the way back.

I know they normally won't change name on tickets; would they in this case - or would they let us swap on boarding? Should I just forget the idea?

Given that we will have 2 UC redemption tickets on the way over, is it still allowed to bring a guest into the LGW clubhouse?

I know a phone call might answer all my questions, but I prefer to know what experiences others have had before asking.

Hi Paul,

They will change names on tickets for an admin fee but as for changing them to diff people.. I believe T&Cs allow for non transference between completely different people, judged case to case in all likelihood - makes sense actually to prevent a possible underground market in seats.

An UC ticket is an UC ticket.... each UC ticket holder can take in one guest to the CH.

I did see a couple swap classes whilst on board once before - one had an injured leg and thought UC would be better, not sure why they were in diff classes in the first place though ): . The crew were fine with it during the flight but insisted they were sat in assigned seats for takeoff. Guessing that has something to do with preflight security, but not 100% as to the why. Basically that one is at the discretion of the crew and FSM.

Hope I have been of some help 8D

[Neil]

So you want to let your son seat in your UC seat and you sit in his PE seat? If yes, then that is fine, we've done the similar before and while we alerted the check in and gate agent, they all just said no issue at all.

It has struck me that the old man might be better in PE on the way out (with both lads in UC)...

Are you mad?

)

Thanks for the replies guys.

Neil, that sounds good - is it likely to hold true across the pond? It would be awful (for me!!) if I swapped to PE on the way over and I wasn't allowed top swap on the way back so that I got the UC flat bed!!

Sealink, I'm not that generous, but the younger brother has flown in UC (and club world) to Orlando many times (thanks to flying a lot in my previous job). Older brother has never flown business class.

Yes they will allow it but do it on boarding the plane and don't bother check/in or gate staff. And there is no need to change names on tickets. They will correct e.g. Jonh for John but not change it to George f

And if you do seat swap do it once and once only at the start. No doing it half way through so you can 'share' the UC experience !!

As Tonty says - or more simply once you're in the process of boarding just swap boarding passes then head to the seats you want. Changing after take off for no good reason risks you being sent back.

Thanks guys. I've no interest in swapping mid flight. Three people 3UC sectors. I suffer badly from jet lag and only sleep on a flat bed (after champagne, and a few G&Ts). The mco-LGW sector was not available when I booked the 1st two tickets.