Swapping plane seats to let a mother sit next to her kid may be a nice gesture many people would be happy to help with, yet it probably isn’t something to be demanded, especially when there is an option to book seats in advance.
At least, such was this Redditor's question after she was confronted by another passenger with a kid during her flight to her sister's wedding.
More info: Reddit
A woman refused to swap seats so a mother could sit next to her kid, and got 'accidentally' kicked the whole flight
Image credits: Jeffry Surianto (not the actual photo)
The traveler was already sitting in the middle seat when a mother and her son arrived
Image credit: u/Smart-Jellyfish1111
Image credits: Oleksandr P (not the actual photo)
Image credit: u/Smart-Jellyfish1111
The mother insisted that the woman give up the middle seat so she could sit next to her son
Image credits: Rahul Singh (not the actual photo)
The traveler replied that she would only change to the window seat as she doesn't like sitting in the aisle seat and got yelled at
A woman brought it to the Reddit AITA community online after she refused to swap seats with a mom of a 7-year-old, asking if she was a jerk to do so.
The woman explained that she was traveling across the country to attend her sister’s wedding when she was confronted by a mother of a 6 or 7-year-old child.
After boarding, the woman went straight to her middle seat, sat, and took out her headphones. When the mother and her son arrived, they had the window and the aisle seats booked, and the mom insisted that the woman had to move to the aisle seat, so she could sit next to her son.
The traveler who strongly dislikes sitting in the aisle seat politely refused and explained to the mother that she doesn’t like sitting there, yet would be willing to change for a window seat, and got yelled at by the woman.
The woman shared that the mother kept ‘accidentally’ kicking her the whole flight and after briefly leaving her seat, she even found her things moved to the aisle seat. The woman called the flight attendant who asked the mother to take her booked seat.
Despite the woman keeping her seat, the mom would not drop it by 'accidentally' kicking the woman's seat the whole flight
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
Eventually, the mother moved the woman's things to the aisle seat and only switched back when asked by a flight attendant
Travel and Leisure were discussing the right and wrong ways to ask about changing one’s seat, noting that there is an option to ask for a gate agent to make last-minute adjustments to the seating chart in cases when a flight isn’t full.
Yet, they emphasized that once already on a plane, it is important to sit in one’s original seat first, and only after boarding is finished one may politely ask to switch their seat.
Similarly, the Independent addressed the question of what to do if another passenger asks to switch seats, explaining that taking a fellow passenger’s seat without asking is among the biggest misjudgments of travel etiquette.
On the other hand, when asked by another passenger to swap seats, in most cases, it is perfectly fine to decline the request without necessarily giving a certain excuse, as they explain it to be enough to reply politely along the lines of “Sorry, I prefer to stay here in this seat.”
Finally, they remind travelers that a passenger is obligated to change their seat when asked by a flight attendant.
Coming back to the original story, the woman’s post gathered 2.6k upvotes on Reddit and people judged she was not the jerk in this situation.
What’s your take on the situation? Please, share your thoughts in the comment section below!
Redditors shared their takes on the situation
