Man Asks If He's Wrong For Saying 'No' To Mom With Baby Who Wanted Plane Seat He Paid Extra For

Oct 27, 2022 by apost team

Unless you have the luxury of being able to splurge on business or first-class tickets on a flight, it’s likely you’ll have to deal with a bit of physical discomfort from cramped seats. This can be averted by booking seats in the bulkhead, seats placed directly behind the walls that break up the length of the plane into separate cabins. These usually come with more legroom, although some airlines require you to pay extra to book them.

So, it comes as no surprise that many looking for a little bit of extra comfort on long flights will fork out the cash for it, as was the case with one Redditor going by the handle Bratster22. He took to the site in May 2022 to get the community’s take on whether he had acted appropriately after he was approached with requests to switch seats.

“My wife and I were traveling on a 10-hour flight from Europe to Asia last week,” he started. “We booked our tickets well in advance and also managed to book the specific seats we wanted – two seats in the first row in the middle column of seats – it was a Boeing 787 with the seat configuration being three columns with three seats each. 

“When we boarded, there was a woman holding a baby seated in the middle seat. We had booked the two aisles on the off chance that the middle seat may be empty but with full intention for me to switch to the middle seat if the passenger wished to sit in one of the aisles and not between us. This woman, before I even had a chance to put my bag in the overhead compartment, asked me, 'Can I be really cheeky and ask you to switch seats with my husband?'"

The request was the start of the man’s experience, taking a nosedive into awkward territory.

“She then pointed towards her husband sat in the second row on the left side column of the aircraft (only the first row has extra leg space and requires additional payment to book the seat). She then told me that her husband needs to be next to her to help with the baby," he said.

He continued, “My wife stayed quiet while I politely but firmly told her that unfortunately as his seat is in a second row, I wouldn’t be moving there as I had specifically paid for the seat with extra legroom. She then claimed that she and her husband had paid as well but they placed him in the second row, which seemed very suspect.”

He was again approached, this time by a flight attendant, to switch seats.

“Either way I stayed firm. Then the steward came and requested me to switch with the husband on her behest and I had to tell him the same thing, making things quite awkward. She then threw daggers at me for some time. The baby started crying after a while as well," he said.

Luckily, a way out of the awkward situation later presented itself:

“Thankfully the steward came back and told me that there were 2 vacant seats in one of the other first rows and offered to move us. We ended up moving there but could hear this lady animatedly make comments about us to her husband from behind for sometime after that.”

He said when he related the experience to his in-laws, they sided with the mother and child, saying he “should have just moved as she had a baby with her and that turned into a different conversation about baby expectations!”

apost.com

In taking to Reddit for the community’s views, many backed the man.

“A baby doesn’t trump anything on a flight. Having a baby on a flight can actually make for an unpleasant experience for others. NTA. If they want better seating, they can pay for it,” one user wrote.

“Having a baby doesn’t automatically entitle you to whatever you want, especially because booking is in advance and they had ample time to do the same amount of planning as you,” another commented.

Many pointed to the airlines as the guilty party.

“You paid for them, they’re yours. Even if she was telling the truth and they were somehow able to also book those seats, that’s the airline’s problem, not yours,” one comment read.

“You had no obligation to her. Why couldn’t she switch with someone in her husband’s row? As for the ‘but she had a baby,’ that’s irrelevant. She could trade off with her husband. She might have a beef with the airlines, but not with you,” another user wrote.

Meanwhile, the man further explained that the parents were not actually seated very far apart.

“Just clarifying a couple of things where people have said that I’m TA for booking 2 aisle seats – The first row of seats in the middle column (learned today that it’s called a bulkhead) on this aircraft is adjacent to the second rows of seats on either side (and not the first rows). Her husband had the aisle seat in this second row (but no legroom), across the aisle to where I was sitting. So if she had moved to my aisle seat that I offered her initially, both she and her husband would be in aisle seats next to each other (with an aisle in between of course).”

What do you think of the man’s reaction to the seat switch request? Have you ever been in a similar situation? What would you have done? Let us know, and don’t forget to pass this along to family and friends.