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Fly on an Australian airline where you are allocated a seat and you have no choice but to stay there. Even on a half full flight, the cabin crew ask you not to move seats.

 

It's your seat, why would anyone even think you'd want to give it up.

Fly on an Australian airline where you are allocated a seat and you have no choice but to stay there. Even on a half full flight, the cabin crew ask you not to move seats.

It's your seat, why would anyone even think you'd want to give it up.

In my defense, I reviewed the first revision of your answer:

That doesn't mean your answer can never be undeleted (although I think right now it needs more work). Three people or a moderator can undelete it and the system allows editing of deleted posts to make them fit for Interpersonal Skills. Just like questions are closed so they can be improved, a deleted answer won't hurt you, it will prevent further downvotes and give you the time to edit it into shape at your own leisure.

I reviewed the first revision of your answer:

That doesn't mean your answer can never be undeleted (although I think right now it needs more work). Three people or a moderator can undelete it and the system allows editing of deleted posts to make them fit for Interpersonal Skills. Just like questions are closed so they can be improved, a deleted answer won't hurt you, it will prevent further downvotes and give you the time to edit it into shape at your own leisure.

You edited your answer before it was deleted, to add:

As someone said earlier, this is not your problem so, if you feel you cannot decline politely, ask the cabin crew to sort out the seating arrangements.

I think that's still not quite enough: it deals with what the OP can do after the thing they're asking about, which is declining politely in the first place. Some guidance on how to approach the cabin crew and something to back up that this will work (and the crew won't look at you like you're crazy) would be nice.

Since then, my response has been deleted by three people! How can this happen? How can my response be considered so far off track (which it wasn't) that it was deleted.

In my defense, I reviewed the first revision of your answer:

Fly on an Australian airline where you are allocated a seat and you have no choice but to stay there. Even on a half full flight, the cabin crew ask you not to move seats.

It's your seat, why would anyone even think you'd want to give it up.

Now, that's on the short side, it assumes the OP can fly on an Australian airline all the time, and doesn't really answer the question asked, which is how to most politely decline when asked to switch seats. So yeah, that definitely fell in the 'Not an Answer' category here on Interpersonal Skills, since we'd like answers to address the Interpersonal Skill rather than just provide a life-hack.

Sadly, once a delete vote is cast on an answer, it can't be retracted. It doesn't age away either, as far as I know. Also, I won't be notified by the system once a post I voted on is edited.

That doesn't mean your answer can never be undeleted (although I think right now it needs more work). Three people or a moderator can undelete it and the system allows editing of deleted posts to make them fit for Interpersonal Skills. Just like questions are closed so they can be improved, a deleted answer won't hurt you, it will prevent further downvotes and give you the time to edit it into shape at your own leisure.

Is this a site where only a favoured few are allowed to answer questions?

I certainly hope not! But since this site is both about a subjective topic and still in beta (which means rules change over time), participating here can be a bit confusing in the beginning ;-)

Take a look at this meta where each answer outlines one of the things we expect from an answer, with links to other meta posts explaining the reasoning behind those expectations.

So, if you'd like to have your answer undeleted:

• Answer the actual question asked (which is how to decline politely in the first place when people ask to switch seats). Ideally, back it up with some experience or sources.
• If you have experience that shows that in these cases, it's better to get the cabin crew involved, feel free to include that (and ideally, also explain how that's not an overreaction on their part). Also, then explain how the cabin crew should be approached about this, and why this works better than e.g. just saying 'No thanks' in this case.

Once you've edited a deleted answer into shape (or if you want further feedback on what is needed to get it undeleted) you can ask about that here on meta, just like you did.

Since then, my response has been deleted by three people! How can this happen? How can my response be considered so far off track (which it wasn't) that it was deleted.

In my defense, I reviewed the first revision of your answer:

Fly on an Australian airline where you are allocated a seat and you have no choice but to stay there. Even on a half full flight, the cabin crew ask you not to move seats.

It's your seat, why would anyone even think you'd want to give it up.

Now, that's on the short side, it assumes the OP can fly on an Australian airline all the time, and doesn't really answer the question asked, which is how to most politely decline when asked to switch seats. So yeah, that definitely fell in the 'Not an Answer' category here on Interpersonal Skills, since we'd like answers to address the Interpersonal Skill rather than just provide a life-hack.

Sadly, once a delete vote is cast on an answer, it can't be retracted. It doesn't age away either, as far as I know. Also, I won't be notified by the system once a post I voted on is edited.

That doesn't mean your answer can never be undeleted (although I think right now it needs more work). Three people or a moderator can undelete it and the system allows editing of deleted posts to make them fit for Interpersonal Skills. Just like questions are closed so they can be improved, a deleted answer won't hurt you, it will prevent further downvotes and give you the time to edit it into shape at your own leisure.

Is this a site where only a favoured few are allowed to answer questions?

I certainly hope not! But since this site is both about a subjective topic and still in beta (which means rules change over time), participating here can be a bit confusing in the beginning ;-)

Take a look at this meta where each answer outlines one of the things we expect from an answer, with links to other meta posts explaining the reasoning behind those expectations.

So, if you'd like to have your answer undeleted:

• Answer the actual question asked (which is how to decline politely in the first place when people ask to switch seats). Ideally, back it up with some experience or sources.
• If you have experience that shows that in these cases, it's better to get the cabin crew involved, feel free to include that (and ideally, also explain how that's not an overreaction on their part). Also, then explain how the cabin crew should be approached about this, and why this works better than e.g. just saying 'No thanks' in this case.

Once you've edited a deleted answer into shape (or if you want further feedback on what is needed to get it undeleted) you can ask about that here on meta. The same goes for if you ever need more feedback on getting a closed question into shape. Meta is the place where you can ask questions about the things happening on the main site.