Plane Passenger Calls Out 'Seat Stealer' for Trying to Sit in 8D, Sends Them Back to Row 35: 'Small Victories’

One frequent traveler tells how they turned off a “seat stealer” on their flight.

In a post on Reddit, the passenger – who says he flies almost every week for work – began by complaining about the “things people try to do on flights these days” that they find “beyond annoying”.

“Always trying to take seats that aren’t theirs, holding up boarding or just being rude,” they wrote before sharing a recent encounter with one such seat.

“She got comfortable in seat 8D with her mom, I guess, so you’d think it was her seat. Well, lo and behold, the owner of the right seat comes and, of course, says, excuse me, but you’re in my seat,” recalled a passenger who was sitting in seat 8C at that moment.

Should a solo airplane passenger have to move seats so that a family can sit together? A travel expert answers

“The seat stealer then says ‘can you just move to my seat because I want to sit next to my mother.’ Person [whose seat] the question is asked which seat it is and the seat stealer says 35B,” they continued.

Hearing all this, the passenger said they jumped in and blurted out, “Are you fucking serious?! Move to 35B from 8D? You’re crazy.”

Airplane seats (photo).

Getty

The passenger wrote that the seat stealer was then “embarrassed because everyone started laughing at her”, and the person in 8D said “no” to giving up the seat.

“So the seat stealer had to get up and walk to the back, staring at me as she did so. As she stared, I told her, ‘You can bleat me all you want, but [you’re] I keep going back to 35B!’ ” the passenger continued, adding, “It was nice to put the seat stealer in her place. Small victories count!”

Never miss a story — subscribe to PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In the comments on the post — which was titled “He who takes the seat gets paid” — many shared similar stories of rude in-flight behavior they witnessed and applauded the passenger for not allowing the woman to take the seat.

“I’m proud of you for speaking up!” one Redditor wrote. “People like you who put people in their rightful place are what the world needs more of.”

Someone else chimed in: “Not all heroes wear capes. Thanks for doing your job!”

Another person, who said she works as a flight attendant, added: “I LOVE kicking seat stealers out of their seats. It’s my pleasure.”

A passenger on a plane documented how a colleague from his seat reached over her to take a picture of her through the window: ‘Purely indecent’

Airplane seats (photo).

Getty

Several people wondered why the woman, if she wanted to sit next to her mother so badly, didn’t invite her own colleague in row 35 to move up and take her mother’s seat, allowing the couple to sit together in the back. “If she wanted to sit next to her mom so bad, she would have asked the guy in 35C if he wanted to sit in row eight,” someone wrote.

One commenter argued that airlines need to be more proactive with policies designed to prevent such behavior with seat changes.

“This is happening so often now that airlines should address it in advance,” they wrote. “Whether it’s through a public notice or by writing it on the ticket… but the rule should be that you sit in the seat that your boarding pass shows. They used to do it so they could identify people in the event of an incident… but now in the age of flying that it can be compared to riding a bus, the rules are reduced and chaos ensues.”

Another person added: “I wish airlines would stop charging us for things like seats – and then it wouldn’t be so common.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education