A solo passenger on a plane says she experienced shocking behavior from a fellow flyer with whom she refused to switch seats.
On Reddit’s AmITheA—— subreddit, a 23-year-old woman raised the age-old question of whether or not one passenger should have to change seats to accommodate a family whose assigned seats are not together.
The original poster (OP) posted that she had to fly cross country to attend her sister’s wedding recently and was sitting in the middle seat between the mother and her son, who she estimated to be about 6 or 7 years old.
“The woman demanded that she HAD to sit next to her son and I HAD to sit down the aisle so she could sit next to him,” she wrote in the post.
After she told her mother that she would rather stay in the seat she had reserved and that she did not like sitting in the seat next to the aisle, the mother “started shouting that it is her right to sit next to her son”, she says.
A solo traveler offered another solution: “I politely told her that I would be willing to switch seats with her son (who had a window seat) and she continued to yell that she NEEDED the seat and would not accept her son having to give up his seat because he is a child and deserves a window seat,” she continued.
The flight attendant then stepped in and fixed the problem, saying that everyone should sit in their assigned seat – albeit temporarily. The OP claimed that the mom “kept ‘accidentally’ kicking me the entire flight and had her son intentionally annoy me so I could give up my seat.”
But the most shocking situation happened when the OP got up to go to the bathroom.
When the OP got up, the mother sat down in her temporarily vacant seat. When the young woman returned from the bathroom, she found her mother on her seat, and her own jacket and bag “thrown on the aisle”.
She engaged the crew once again and the mother was told to return to her seat by the aisle.
An outraged passenger, the stranger refused to switch seats with her after her own husband refused to do the same
Commenters on Reddit mostly agreed with the passenger that she was not “a——.” “You have the patience of a saint,” wrote one user.
“You handled this situation with a lot of grace. You gave the woman a chance and you let the flight attendants do their job,” said another.
Still, the main takeaway from the post was the question of why the OP prefers the middle seat, which is usually the option most maligned by flyers.
“Fighting for middle ground makes you a unicorn,” one user commented.
Another said it was “weird that someone is fighting for the middle spot.”
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The question of whether a solo traveler has to give up their seat for a family to sit together is one that travel expert Nicole Campoy Jackson said PEOPLE shouldn’t fall for on one flyer.
Jackson said it is not the displaced passenger’s responsibility to provide a seat replacement, but rather it is up to the airline and flight attendants to offer customer service for the family. When a conflict occurs, “it’s no longer one passenger’s responsibility,” she said.
“Generally speaking, don’t board a plane expecting passengers to move for you,” Jackson added. “Especially if your seat isn’t as comfortable as (or more than) theirs.”
A similar situation went viral in July, when a passenger refused to give up his seat to a family who had not booked seats together. Commenters argued on social media, but the consensus was similar, with most agreeing that it is more than fine to ask a passenger if they would change their seat, but that person has the right to say no.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education