A woman has been praised for refusing to give up her seat on a plane so a mum could sit next to her son – despite it being the ‘least desirable’ seat in the row
A woman has sparked a debate after refusing to give up her seat on a plane so a mum could sit next to her six-year-old son.
The 23-year-old explained how she was flying across the country to attend her sister’s wedding – and was assigned a middle seat for the journey.
Happy with this placement, she quietly took her seat after boarding the flight and put in her headphones in an attempt to block out the other travellers. However, she was soon approached by the mother-son duo in her row, and asked whether she would consider swapping to the aisle so they could sit next to each other.
She said on Reddit: “At the airport, there was a mum (around 40) with her little son (6 or 7), and the whole time she was demanding things from the airport staff. They had the window seat and the seat and the aisle seat. Directly the woman demanded that she must sit next to her son and I must sit at the aisle so she could sit next to him.
“I don’t like sitting in the aisle seat very much so I told her (friendly) that I don’t really like giving up my seat as I don’t like sitting there and she then started to yell that it is her right to sit next to her son.
“I politely told her that I would be willing to change seats with her son (who had the window seat) and she continued yelling that she needed the seat and that she wouldn’t accept that her son had to give up his seat as he is a child and deserves the window seat.”
After hearing all the commotion, a flight attendant came over to settle everybody down – and confirmed she had every right to remain in her middle seat. She added: “The mum kept ‘accidentally’ kicking me the whole flight and made her son annoy me on purpose so I might give up my seat.
“When I went to the toilet, I thought it was finally over as she might have accepted it but when I came back she was in my seat, and my jacket and my bag which I left there were thrown into the aisle. I called a stewardess and they made her get back to her place.”
But wanting to know whether she’s in the wrong for refusing a seat swap, she has taken to social media to ask users for their thoughts.
However, people have been struggling to get their heads around why anyone would prefer the middle seat One user said: “Honestly, we need more info on why you prefer the middle seat. You handled this situation with a lot of grace. You gave the woman an option and you let the flight attendants do their job.”
Another user added: “You have the patience of a saint. If she had to sit next to her kid, she would have bought two seats next to each other.” A third user said: “Fighting to keep a middle seat makes you a unicorn. Frankly, if she pulled that attitude on me I would have probably done the same or worse. If someone threw my stuff in the aisle I would insist the flight crew report it. Still, I would have rather spent the whole flight in the bathroom than have dealt with this.”
One more user added: “Some people purposely book the window and aisle seats hoping that no one will take the middle so they can get the entire row to themselves. Personally, I think this practice is just greedy. I’m willing to bet this is exactly what she did and got annoyed that it backfired. You have no obligation to give up your seat and even gave her an option which she refused – good for you for sticking to your guns.”
