Man Tells Mom She Can’t Take His Window Seat On Plane To Be Near Her Kids And The Internet Agrees

Aug 29, 2022 by apost team

It seems like almost every day, someone is having a hard time when it comes to seating arrangements while traveling, whether this is by bus, train or, more frequently, plane. With planes, comfort is a major factor when traveling, especially on long-haul flights, and airlines are known to take full advantage of this by charging extra for more favorable seats. For some, the extra charges are just a small price to pay for comfort, and they are willing to fork out extra for it. For others, this is not the case, and they instead put their faith in the kindness of strangers to end up with the seats they want.

However, the kindness of strangers is never a sure thing, especially when it comes to something that can be planned ahead. One mom traveling with her two young children found this out the hard way when she boarded a flight across the Pacific. She had hoped to secure a window seat that wasn’t hers but was stopped from doing so by the man who had booked that seat. 

He took to Reddit to ask the community’s opinion on what transpired and whether he had handled the situation well.

“I was flying on a redeye flight from New York City to London. I had intentionally booked a window seat so that I could sleep on the flight, as I can only sleep on a plane with a window seat,” he wrote.

However, he found a surprise waiting when he boarded the plane.

“When I arrive at my seat, there is a woman and her two young children (between 4 and 5 years old) sitting in the three seats in the row.”

After informing her that he had booked the window seat, the situation got a little out of hand.

After explaining to the mom that the window seat was his, she remained undeterred.

“When I informed her that one of her kids is sitting in my seat, she says that she had booked the other two seats in the row, as well as the aisle seat in the row on the opposite side of the plane, and asked me if I would mind switching with her so that she could sit in the same row with her two children,” he wrote.

But he, too, remained adamant, explaining to the woman why he needed to sit in that specific seat.

“I told her that I booked the window seat specifically so that I could sleep on the plane, and that I wanted to keep my seat.”

The man said it all went downhill from there.

“She started to cause a bit of a scene yelling about how I wouldn’t switch with her, even calling the flight attendant over to protest who informed her that they had to honor the ticket and asked her child to move,” he wrote. “She then glared at me pretty heavily as she told her child that he had to sit on the other side of the plane for the flight.”

Even after the situation appeared to have been resolved, he still felt unsure about whether he had done the right thing and posted about it on Reddit to get the community’s feedback.

While many users backed the man and lauded his decision to remain firm with his booked seat, others sympathized with the mother and recounted their own experiences flying with young children. However, many users complained about the excessive number of “seat switching” posts on the r/AITA board and urged moderators to clamp down on them.

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Redditors backed the man’s decision in the face of the woman’s “request.”

“She didn’t ask, she took it first and then tried to pawn off a worse seat when challenged on it. I wouldn’t call that asking,” one comment read. “This is a common ‘scam’ people will pull ... They’re counting on people feeling sorry for them so they can take advantage,” another user wrote.

“If she wanted to ensure that she and her kids had three seats next to one another, then she could have paid for seat selections instead of gambling on another passenger being willing to trade,” a third user commented.

Others shared their experiences while traveling with their kids.

“The real AH here are the airlines that pit customers against each other to squeeze more money out of us. We recently spent extra $$$ to get to choose our seats so our kid wouldn’t get separated from us. We were going to visit family. Not everyone can afford that extra money but they still want to see their family,” a user wrote.

“I flew with my 9-month-old son and the airline put us in DIFFERENT ROWS. Obviously, that was not acceptable. I admit I was crying with the stress as it did not seem, at first, that the problem was going to be solved. … I’ll never forget the nice gentlemen who traded seats with us so I could sit next to my baby. Airlines shouldn’t let this happen,” another comment read.

However, many seemed frustrated at having to read another post about switching plane seats.

“I really wish these types of posts would get banned. There’s always like 2 of these a month,” one exasperated Redditor wrote.

“I feel like I read this exact post like at minimum twice a day; I’m exhausted,” another user wrote.

What do you think about the man’s response to the mother’s request? Do you think airlines should be more responsible regarding seating arrangements on planes involving children? Let us know, and pass this along to friends and family who might be interested in this story.