ShareThisQ: My husband and I booked a last-minute trip. The flight was nearly full, so we couldn't get seats together. Can we ask the person sitting beside one of us to change seats so we can be next to each other?
A: Before doing that, do everything you can to change your seat assignments. Check your airline's Web site regularly to see if any seats have opened up. Also, little-known tip: Don't print your boarding pass at home 24 hours before check-in. That fixes your seats. If you wait to check in at an airport kiosk, you'll have one last-minute chance to change seats -- and seats do open up. It also wouldn't hurt to ask a gate agent.
If nothing works, though, you can ask someone to switch. Whichever one of you has the better seat should offer up the ticket. So if you have an aisle seat in row 4, but your husband has a middle seat in row 20, ask the aisle or window person in row 20 if they'd prefer your seat in row 4.
If you both have middle seats, however, it might be better to just stay where you are. Nobody actually wants a middle seat, and it's not nice to make someone else uncomfortable just so you can sit together. Who knows -- maybe you'll find someone who's happy to switch, but don't be surprised if people say no. (And if they do, don't make them feel guilty.)
Q: Let's say you're sunbathing, and the people on the blanket next to you decide to go for a swim. They leave some chips out. A seagull comes and starts eating them. Should you shoo the seagull? Should you tell them when they get back?
A: You can try to shoo the seagull, but honestly, once it lands on their blanket, you might be too late. Seagulls at public beaches tend to be pretty good at ignoring humans, especially if there's food involved! But if you can't scare it off, do tell them when they return.
Q: I saw a guy clipping his nails on a plane. Yuck! Where do you draw the line with in-air beauty rituals?
A: Yuck, indeed. I checked www.tsa.gov in hopes nail clippers were actually a banned item. Sadly, they're not. However, just because you can carry something onto a plane doesn't mean you should use it there. A good rule of thumb is that if a beauty ritual produces debris, it should not be done in public. So no filing your nails, trimming your split ends or tweezing your eyebrows in the cabin, either.
(E-mail travel-etiquette questions to Lesley Carlin at deartripadvisor(at)tripadvisor.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
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