Seat swapping is a hotly contested topic among the frequent flyer community, and a story about it has added fuel to the debate.
In a revamped Reddit post, an airline passenger shared his frustrations over a mother who had “the audacity” to wait for them to switch seats so she could sit next to her son.
The anonymous traveler explained that they were on a transpacific flight from Japan and had a widower seat, while the ‘little daughter was in the middle next to me’ and mom was also in the middle but in the back row.
Explaining the chain of events, the Redditor who has since deleted his account, wrote: ‘[The mom] she asked me, and only me, to switch with her so she could have my window seat (next to her daughter) and I would take her middle seat a row back.
In a revamped Reddit post, an airline passenger shared his frustrations over a mother who had “the audacity” to wait for them to switch seats so she could sit next to her son.
‘Hell f*** no. It’s not my problem that they didn’t book together.
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-way swap instead’.
Another alternative, Redditor said, was for her to ask the tour operator to swap places.
Taking out their frustration, they concluded: “The audacity to ask only me and expect inferior exchange from me.”
The post quickly garnered attention, and other Reddit users were divided over the debacle.
One commenter, themselves parents, sided with the mother.
They wrote: ‘As the parent of a toddler, I am surprised that you preferred to sit next to the toddler unaccompanied by another person, rather than just move around.
‘Sure, someone else could move, but someone has to move or someone has to sit next to a flying child.
The anonymous traveler explained that they were on a transpacific flight from Japan and had a widower seat, while the ‘little daughter was in the middle next to me’
‘Honestly, I don’t know what is more annoying to the other passengers.
“It’s not always possible for families to reserve seats together for some reason, and imagine, sometimes they need to fly places.
“I don’t know what the answer is here, but getting angry because a mother tries to take care of her own child is silly.”
Another Redditor mused: “Why were you so eager to sit next to a stranger’s little daughter?”
However, some commentators sided with the bewildered airline passenger.
One wrote in his defense: ‘My general rule of thumb is: 1). It will only change a corridor for a corridor (my preference). 2). I will never change a corridor or a window for a means 3). I would never change if I had to spend extra money to get my seat.’
Another user echoed similar sentiments, commenting: ‘I started to completely deny myself. Unless it’s for an update. I’m sick of people’s rights, and it seems elevated on airplanes and even more of late.
I don’t know you. I don’t usually care for you beyond reasonable human compassion. And I’m certainly not responsible for your poor planning. Don’t talk to me anymore and go.
In February, New York-based Surya Garg revealed that he was faced with a similar situation to the Redditor when a mother asked him to trade with her teenage son.
In February, New York-based Surya Garg revealed that he was faced with a similar situation to the Redditor when a mother asked him to trade with her teenage son.
In one video, Surya details how a mother approached him and asked if she could give up her window seat, which she had paid more for, so she could sit with her son, who “had to be at least 16 or 17 years”. years.’
When she asked where the woman wanted her to move to, he directed her to a “middle seat about a couple of rows back.”
Then, when he asked who the woman’s son was, he was surprised to find that it wasn’t a boy but ‘about a 6 foot 5 man’.
Surya said that he “didn’t really know what to say” to the mother at the moment and “didn’t want to seem like an ‘a**hole'”.
However, he decided to reject the woman’s request, explaining that he had paid extra for the seat.
After being told ‘no’, Surya said that the mother ‘makes me the most disgusting face I’ve ever experienced’, and then proceeded to ‘mutter profanities’ at me throughout the ‘entire’ flight.
Baffled by the experience, Surya asked his fellow TikTokers: ‘Did I go wrong here? I need someone to tell me.
To date, her video, uploaded under the hashtags #nyc #airplane #airplaneseats, has been viewed more than 1.5 million times, with many viewers reassuring Surya that she wasn’t wrong.