I refused to swap my airline seat for a couple on their honeymoon

It’s one of the hottest topics on the internet right now – under what circumstances would you give up your seat for a fellow traveler?

Just this month, a train passenger received credit for quietly taunting a young woman who refused to get up from the seat he had booked and paid for.

While a tenacious mother was widely berated for demanding that another passenger give up her reserved train seat so she could sit next to her three children.

Now, in perhaps a surprising twist, an airline passenger has been applauded for taking a stand against a newlyweds who want to sit together on their honeymoon.

The pair were on their way to their sun-drenched destination when the groom asked the man in a window seat if he would move so he and his lover could sit together.

The disgruntled passenger took to Reddit to express his frustration, saying, “They asked me if they could switch seats with me, which I politely declined and gave them my reasons. One of the reasons was my size and aisle traffic.

“I always get bumped by someone when I’m sitting at the aisle. Once I hurt my elbow badly because the trolley hit me. I (have) avoided the aisle seat ever since.”

It was the second and longest of three flights he took that day, so ‘wanted to sleep and relax’.

The other man sat in the aisle seat of his row and also “tried” to persuade him to change seats and began “making a scene” when he refused to act as the couple’s “honeymoon miser.” ‘ used to be.

In his recently resurfaced message, the passenger asked the online forum: “I didn’t budge and all the people around me, including the crew, looked like they hate me. Am I wrong to refuse to change my seat?’

Most on the online forum answered a resounding no – the man was not wrong for refusing to move.

One of them said, ‘If they wanted to sit together that much, they would have had to pay extra to reserve seats together.

“It always amazes me that they don’t plan ahead like that and then expect others to just give up a certain seat that the passenger specifically paid for.”

Another pointed out, “The right to newlyweds is one thing. The correct bottom line has been stated here many times.

“You booked and paid for that seat. You shouldn’t feel bad or guilty in any way for not giving it to someone else who didn’t bother to plan ahead or pay extra.”

A third added, “Every time this story comes up, the person isn’t the a****** who refuses to move. You have specially reserved your seat. It sucks being them, but not your problem.”

It remains a hotly contested debate among the frequent flyer community, with some passengers even refusing to give up seats for children.

In a resurfaced Reddit post, an airline passenger who was on a transpacific flight from Japan to the US sat at the window, with the “toddler sitting in the middle next to them.” The mother also sat in the middle seat but the row behind.

Explaining what happened, the Redditor said, “[The mother] asked me – and only me – to swap with her so she could have my window seat (next to her daughter) and I would take her middle seat one row back.

Hell to the f*** no. Not my problem, they didn’t book together.’

He added, “The audacity to ask only me and expect an inferior profession on my part.”

To make matters worse, the airline passenger said they were “surrounded by others” from the mother’s tour group and that she “could have asked for a three-person swap instead.”

Some expressed surprise that he would rather sit next to an unaccompanied toddler than change seats.

One of them wrote, ‘As a parent of a toddler, I’m surprised you preferred sitting next to someone else’s unaccompanied toddler, rather than just moving.

‘Of course someone else can move, but either someone has to move, or someone has to sit next to a flying toddler.

“I honestly don’t know what’s more annoying for the other passengers.

“It’s not always possible for families to book seats together for some reason, and imagine having to fly places sometimes.

“I don’t know what the answer is here, but being outraged at a mother trying to babysit their own child is stupid.”

Another asked the now-removed chain, “Why were you so eager to sit next to a stranger’s toddler daughter?”

In February, New York-based Surya Garg revealed on TikTok that she faced a similar situation when she was asked by a mother if she wanted to swap seats with her teenage son.

In the video, she said the mother asked her if she wanted to give up her window seat, which she had paid extra for, so she could sit with her son who “must be at least 16 or 17 years old.”

When she asked where the woman wanted to move her, she was directed to a “middle seat, about a few rows back.”

When she subsequently asked who the woman’s son was, she was shocked to discover that he was not a child, but “like a six-foot man.”

Surya said that at this point she “didn’t really know what to say to the mother” and “didn’t want to look like an ‘a** hole’.”

However, she decided to reject the woman’s request, explaining to her that she had paid extra for the seat.

After being told ‘no’, Surya said the mother is ‘putting the dirtiest face at me I’ve ever experienced’, then went around ‘mumbling profanity at me’ for ‘the whole’ flight.

Stunned by the experience, Surya asked fellow TikTokers, “Am I wrong here?” I need someone to tell me.’

The consensus on TikTok was that Surya was right. One of them said, ‘I’m starting to think it’s not ‘bad planning’. I think people count on “the good samaritan” so they don’t have to pay extra for a seat.’

Another joked, “You’re not wrong. She just had separation anxiety from her 204-month-old son.”

A third added: “She could have asked whoever was sitting next to her son to switch places with her. People have so much right. You haven’t done anything wrong.’