Airport Gate Seating

So what's up with the seating at airport gates? I suppose the question should be "what's up with the moronic passengers and how they choose their seat at airport gates?"

Most airport gate seats consist of rows and rows of adjoined seats. Generally, the airport tries to fill the space with as many seats as possible and use these straight rows to do so. The seats are adjoined (I'm sure) to keep people from moving them all around. Moving them not only necessitates the airport having to move them back but I'm sure the seat would wear out sooner if moved frequently. There are exceptions - some small airports have lounge chairs and I have to imagine they replace them frequently. Either that or the small volume of people moving through the airport allows them to use the nicer furniture.

As an observer of human nature who wants more cosmos than chaos in my surroundings, I am disgusted when I arrive at a gate and do a quick scan of the area for my choice of seat. There are those wonderful times when the gate is mostly empty and void of travelers. I now secretly relish those times. However, more often I notice a huge waste in seating due to Seat Hogs.

These Seat Hogs choose their seat so as to take up as many seats as possible. Let me explain. Most people can fit into one seat. It seems to be human nature for people traveling alone (there are those extreme extroverts out there though) to sit one seat apart from the next passenger. So I expect to see every other chair occupied. If the row contains 20 seats then I expect to see seats 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19 occupied allowing 10 people to sit. This alone is a huge waste in seating, I admit, but wait till Mr. Seat Hog enters the picture.

Mr. Seat Hog will sit in seat 2 and place a bag, newspaper or other item in seats 1 and 3. The next person coming along might sit in seat 4 but if Seat Hog has placed items in seat 3 that seem obtrusive (large bag or stinky food) then seat 5 is chosen. Such chaos! I see this all the time and I've thought about sitting in seat 1 several times. Just to piss off Mr. Seat Hog. But honestly, I don't think it would have that effect because this Chaos Generator is oblivious to the turmoil he creates.

Other airport gates, such as the B terminal at DFW, have seats positioned in pods of 2-8 seats. I'm sure the extrovert architect or designer that crafted this arrangement felt like everyone wants to sit facing their fellow passengers. Why? So I can see every move they make and they me? It works for the family traveling together but not so much for the singular traveler. As a result, many seats are wasted in these arrangements. I see more people standing along walls or around the gate area than I do people sitting in areas like these. Maybe 33% occupancy. Way to go architect! I get enough of Cozy Seating when actually on the plane, thanks.

So I'm usually left to shake my head in dismay and wonder. If you happen to notice a guy shaking his head with a look of disgust on his face in airports in the south - it might just be me. Please don't take up 4 seats, ok? Don't be a Seat Hog.