A man has sparked a fierce debate online after boarding a plane without his wife and leaving her alone at an airport.
The unnamed man, 47, from the Pacific Northwest, took to it Reddit to reveal the complicated incident involving his wife, 43, and his 21-year-old daughter.
Using the pseudonyms ‘Meg’ and ‘Jess’, he explained that ‘Jess’ – whose father he was before marrying ‘Meg’ – was studying in another US state, so the couple had booked tickets to to visit her during a ‘long weekend’. .
Once they were on their way to their connecting flight, he said he had to board the plane without his wife, after she insisted on getting a “Starbucks” coffee that was about a “train ride away” — with still only 15 minutes to board.
He also revealed that her belated “go with the flow” nature had got them in trouble many times before, to the point that they once missed a flight to see Jess because Meg overslept.
He said she generally “doesn’t like to get up early” and that he wasn’t willing to take the same risks this year.
An unnamed man, 47, from the Pacific Northwest has sparked a fierce debate on Reddit after boarding a plane without his wife and leaving her alone at an airport (Photo: stock photo of a couple before departure)
Reactions were mixed: some said his wife deserved to be left behind, while one woman called his antics “scary.”
He explained, “Meg and I live in the PNW (Jess goes to school on the East Coast). We usually visit Jess a few times during the semester, usually parent weekend and moving day.
She also comes home during the holidays.
“Let me start by saying that traveling with my wife is not a great experience. I’m a very type a, I like having everything organized and making sure we get to where we need to be early, especially when we’re traveling.
My wife is the opposite: ‘go with the flow’ and ‘we’ll get there when we get there’. I do my best to meet halfway, but not when traveling by plane.
“Last year, during parents’ weekend, Meg and I were supposed to fly to Jess. Our flight was at 10am. Our airport is not big, but not a small one either. I told my wife that we need to be at the airport 90 minutes early, and that we live about 30 minutes from the airports.
‘Having said this, I wanted to leave no later than 8:00 am, as we still had to park and walk a bit.
‘Of course I got up at six, to make sure everything was ready and settled. My wife doesn’t like getting up early. It took me five tries to wake her up before she finally got up at 7:40 am. Then I wanted to make coffee, shower and eat a bowl of cereal.’
He said that after leaving their home at 9 a.m., they encountered an extremely busy airport and because it “took so long to get through security,” they ended up missing their flight. And to make matters worse, the airline refused to refund their ticket.
The man explained that he boarded the plane without his wife, after she insisted on getting a ‘Starbucks’ coffee
Coming back to the incident, he explains, “It was another long morning pushing my wife.”
He continued: ‘We took our first flight and landed in the connecting city, at a much larger airport. We only had a layover of about an hour. We got off the plane at 9:15am and at 9:40am the next plane started boarding.
‘We had to take several rails to get from the landing area to our terminal. We reached our terminal and had about 15 minutes before our plane was due to board.
“My wife tells me she wants to get a coffee. There was a small market next to our terminal selling hot food and coffee. I asked if she wanted me to get it for her. “No, I want Starbucks,” she said.
“Well, Starbucks was just a train ride away, and a short walk. I told her we couldn’t do that, we didn’t have enough time. She said we had plenty of time and if I didn’t go with her she would go alone.
I tried to discourage her, but she was determined. She walked off, at a brisk pace for her, saying she’d be back in time.
“Fifteen minutes went by and she was nowhere to be seen. I called my wife hoping she was around, but she didn’t answer.
In a panic, I called my wife again, three times. Finally on the last call she answered and said she was on her way, it was a long line and she had to wait. I told her they were almost done boarding and to hurry.”
He talks about the crucial moment when a flight attendant announced that she would close the gate. He said he begged her to “wait a few minutes,” but to no avail. “So I got on a plane,” he concluded.
Reactions were mixed: some said his wife deserved to be left behind, while one woman called his antics “scary.”
Upon boarding the plane, his wife called him back, but unfortunately it was too late.
Meg requested that her husband get off the plane to “be with her,” to which he replied, “It’s not fair to do this to Jess again, I said I told you we didn’t have time but you decided to go anyway.
“I told her to buy a new ticket for the next flight and I’d see her when she arrived.”
After the incident, the pair initially seemed to treat each other like a house on fire, but it was apparently a ruse by Meg.
After leaving Jess’ school, she treated her husband to a dose of quiet treatment.
Bewildered and confused, her husband questioned Reddit’s Am I The A**hole forum about his actions, asking them to consider whether her behavior could be due to the fact that she was not Jess’ biological mother, even though Meg was ‘very against’. he visited Jess alone.
He said he married Meg after losing his first wife to complications that arose during Jess’s birth.
Many were surprised by the story, while some took the opportunity to share similar experiences.
One person wrote: “I quit being a carer for my partner after we missed a flight for the first time. Told him no, never again. He missed the next two flights and man, he b**ched.
“Explained again that he’s fucking grown up and has choices to make. The third time, he missed a 10-day cruise. He’s never been late again. He is devastated, but listens to me and gets up, gets ready and leaves the door on time.
Another said: ‘I have a friend who has planned a trip to Spain for a year with her husband. She took care of everything. All he had to do was check that his passport hadn’t expired.
“The night before they left, he finally checks his passport. Expired. His daughter was given a surprise ten-day trip to Spain. His wife said she came home and the suitcase she packed for him was pushed to her side of the bed.”
Another added: “Seriously. She sounds like a child. How did they raise a child who is now studying?’
Meanwhile, a woman asked, “How do women marry men this way and how do I make sure this doesn’t happen to me?” All these stories, about deceit and abuse. Man, it’s scary out there.”