Ethics of Switching Seats at a Classical Concert

[Ron Resnick]

Let’s say you are in your seat at a classical concert. Scanning the hall in front of you you see a choice seat in the center of the front orchestra section.

After the intermission do you casually mosey on over to that empty seat and take it? Or do you find that improper? What are the ethics involved?

What, practically, would you do in this situation?

 

[marty]

Hell, I did that a lot when I was younger. But I must be getting more conservative in my old age as I don't do it anymore. Then again, I can afford better seats now so there is not as much need.

 

[Bruce B]

It's done all the time at sporting events!!

 

[Steve Williams]

Hell, I did that a lot when I was younger. But I must be getting more conservative in my old age as I don't do it anymore. Then again, I can afford better seats now so there is not as much need.

Marty

We did it in Chicago in the box we were in

 

[Ron Resnick]

Today we switched from mezzanine to the very first row of front orchestra, two seats away from dead center behind the conductor. There was a special, named reservation card for Stanley on the seat I took.

If questioned I was prepared to say, “Oh, didn’t you know? Stanley passed . . . very sad.”

 

[Mike Lavigne]

i have no idea regarding what is expected on this issue at a classical concert, but experience it myself a couple weeks ago.

i was honored to be given two tickets to a concert at Benaroya Hall in Seattle to hear my friend and WBF member Joel Durand's new classical composition 'Tropes de' Bussy. loved Joel's piece. stunning to my ears and beautifully and dynamically played by the Seattle Symphony.

Ravel's 'Mother Goose Suite', Mozart 40th Symphony and a Flute Concerto by Delbavie were also on the Program. enjoyed them all and left with a smile on my face.

https://www.seattlesymphony.org/concerttickets/calendar/2018-2019/symphony/sub18

picked up the seats at will call, and turns out the seats were originally in the name of the Director of the School of Music at the University of Washington who was a last minute cancel. i looked at them; 'Orchestra Center M 11 & 12. even me not exactly knowing, that sounded pretty good. got to the seats and a bit intimidated.....dead center 13 rows back. SCORE!!! i'm a neophyte and assume all around me are experienced concert goers. so just sat there and behaved. my wife could not make so i was by myself. no one sat in my extra seat or asked me about it, then the Ravel piece began and the next thing i know there is someone sitting in my other seat. i was just a lucky piker anyway, and never said anything.

so it must be ok?

 

[NorthStar]

If it doesn't hurt I don't see why not.

 

[Ron Resnick]

There is a very strong economics-based rationale for no negative externality self-help seat improvement. Alfredo Pareto described “Pareto Optimality” as a condition in which social welfare can be improved when one person can be made better off while no one is made worse off.

So taking an empty seat which is better than your original seat achieves Pareto Optimality.

 

[NorthStar]

About this: Just before moving to that empty better listening seat tell a person in a seat @ the very extreme side and rear of the hall of the new vacated seat...yours.

 

[the sound of Tao]

There is a very strong economics-based rationale for no negative externality self-help seat improvement. Alfredo Pareto described “Pareto Optimality” as a condition in which social welfare can be improved when one person can be made better off while no one is made worse off.

So taking an empty seat which is better than your original seat achieves Pareto Optimality.

Win win I would think. If I had a fantastic seat to a performance and was then unable to attend I’d hope someone else could enjoy it for me instead.

 

[Folsom]

Everything is probably fine unless that person shows up... Then there's no way you'll feel good for the rest of the show, after all that entails. You run that risk. I feel it's ok, if you're prepared for that.

I recall awhile back I went to a premier at midnight for a movie, people kept saying, "that seat is taken"... Basically the ENTIRE theater had a handful of people reserving 6-8 seats in a row. We ended up in poor seats. In retrospect I've decided with unassigned seating... never again. If I wait for a long time in line, and these people have someone saving their seat because they won't stab in line... They'll be told "I don't see your friend" and we'll be seated. I don't expect that though at the movies, because I almost exclusively go to assigned seating with recliner chairs... everything else sucks so much that I won't bother unless it's a special more or special theater + special movie.

 

[Ron Resnick]

We go to the movies only very rarely, so on those rare occasions when we do go we have grown very fond of the iPic royal treatment.

 

[Folsom]

I have no idea what that is, unlikely available here. (like most things are that good)

 

[astrotoy]

Standard practice. However, there is a chance that the people with the tickets to those seats show up late and you have to move back to your old seats.

Larry

 

[WLVCA]

I know movie theaters that have reserved seating and serve food and drinks are all the rage now but I don't find the concept appealing. Seems that it would be like going to a dinner theater - which means you get a bad dinner and bad theater.

There is a movie theater near me that was remodeled with reclining chairs and reserved seating. I like the chairs but don't like reserved seats. How the heck do I know where I want to sit before I am in the theater? I like to scope out the situation first and then pick a seat.

My worst experience at the reserved seating theater was when the seat that was empty when we bought our tickets was subsequently filled with a very large man who loudly slurped down massive quantities of soda and food throughout the entire movie. We had to move to other seats eventually. He seemed to be the kind of guy who lived in his parents basement and played video games all day.

...and who wants to go to a movie theater where alcohol is served - people behave badly when they are sober so booze doesn't make things better.

However, I do tend to go to see movies at off times purposely so that I can avoid crowds. That's one of the advantages of being retired.

Back to the original question - I have been known to take a better seat at a concert or sporting event...more frequently when I was younger than now.

Then again I was also the guy that would sneak beer and peanuts into a baseball game. One of the reasons I married my wife was because she would assist with the deception with a bag that we called the beer purse - you could stash 8 cans of beer in it and it wasn't obvious. That was back in the days before they started strip searching you before you entered a sporting event.

Those were the days.....

 

[bonzo75]

Let’s say you are in your seat at a classical concert. Scanning the hall in front of you you see a choice seat in the center of the front orchestra section.

After the intermission do you casually mosey on over to that empty seat and take it? Or do you find that improper? What are the ethics involved?

What, practically, would you do in this situation?

I do this all the time.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Then again I was also the guy that would sneak beer and peanuts into a baseball game. One of the reasons I married my wife was because she would assist with the deception with a bag that we called the beer purse - you could stash 8 beers in it and it wasn't obvious. That was back in the days before they started strip searching you before you entered a sporting event.

Those were the days.....

A woman who can carry 8 beers and hide peanuts is a highly marriageable kind of a woman... you are indeed a very lucky man.

 

[NorthStar]

If there is a vacant seat in first class of an airplane ... first class train ... 5 stars hotel ... ?
Pareto Optimality?
Nobody gets hurt.

Me, in a music concert hall, I would remain in the seat that I purchased/ reserved (ticket).
I'm older now and I don't want to get into trouble (even when I was much younger), not worth the risk today in the world we live in.

You never know if you're going to hurt someone else; it's easy to think not, but it's uneasy for the person you last thought you wouldn't hurt.

Funny thread ...

 

[WLVCA]

You are correct. We've been married for 35 years. She is a wonderful woman.

 

[Folsom]

We have no food being served or booze at the theater I got to.

If you REALLY don’t want someone next to you, there can be some strategy, like choosing seats next to a string of taken seats, but with one chair between. Almost no single person takes those spots. Or if you are willing to pay, reserve more seats, do 4, so no one sits by you or wife on either side.

I think my success with seating and reserved has been substantially better than with pick your seats when you walk in.