Internet puzzled after woman refuses to give up plane seat for family of 5

Going on holiday may be one of the more memorable things in life, but often the process of traveling to get there is less than amusing…

At least, that’s what happened to this Reddit user, Kitsune_chan29, who was sitting in an aisle seat during her recent travels. She had carefully selected this seat in advance to make the long flight more bearable. Then a fellow passenger approached her and asked if she would trade places.

In a post on the subreddit ‘Am I the [Jerk]?’, the woman detailed how, after she refused, another traveler joined in, pressuring her to switch seats. Keep reading to find out what exactly went down…

“This was my second 8-hour flight on my way home from Africa via Dubai. I had booked an aisle seat so I could get up without bothering others and a special meal due to health requirements. I boarded the plane, found my seat, and settled in,” the woman wrote.

“A family gets on with three kids (they don’t speak much English) and asks if I could switch seats with one of their kids so they can be together. The father of the family wasn’t seated anywhere near the mother and kids, so it looked to me like they had left their seats to random assignment. I initially said yes, thinking it was just a move across the aisle, but then realized they wanted me to switch to a middle seat, and I said no.”

She continued: “Another passenger then gets up and says he has a seat in the back that I can move to (no idea how) and I said no. I said that I had booked my seat and ordered a dietary meal, and there was no way I was moving to a middle seat. He then starts loudly criticizing me and saying he hopes I understand that I’m splitting a family up. This eventually attracts attention from the crew because it’s holding up boarding.”

Then, the woman says that the crew eventually got another passenger to switch, and that this passenger said (very loudly): “Do you understand what happened? She thought her seat was too special so she wouldn’t let you sit together.”

Much to the woman’s surprise, the internet community firmly stood behind her, with one Redditor commenting: “I’m tired of entitled people thinking someone should sacrifice for them. If they wanted to be seated together, they should’ve booked seats together. Not your problem and good on you for standing your ground and not letting them bully you.”

Another added: “I really wish airlines wouldn’t allow people travelling with minors to leave it up to random seating. So many parents think they can save a few bucks by choosing this option and just making it everyone else’s problem once they get on the plane. You are always [not the a*****e] for staying in the seat you paid for. Those parents knew exactly what they were doing when they booked.”

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!