A woman has been praised for refusing to swap her pre-booked window seat on a plane with a seven year old boy.
The 27-year-old explained on Reddit that she always pays extra for a window seat as it allows her to sleep without disturbing anyone due to the chronic pain caused by her autoimmune disease.
However, during her six-hour flight, a man asked her to switch seats so his son, who was on his first flight, could enjoy the view. She recounted: “I told him no and that I paid extra to have this specific seat. He said that it’s his sons first airplane ride and that he would really like to look out the window.”
Despite offering to keep the window open and use her eye mask, the father accused her of being difficult and refused to pay the extra cost she had incurred for the seat. She concluded: “I put my headphones in and ignored the father.”
Throughout the flight, she was relentlessly pestered by the child, leading to a confrontation that involved the cabin crew. She recounted: “I repeatedly said no. It became such an issue the flight attendant came over. She even asked me to switch seats to keep peace but I stuck to my guns.”
After sharing her ordeal with friends who deemed her unreasonable, she sought public opinion online.
One social media user advised: “Anytime somebody starts badgering you about seat switching, immediately hit your flight attendant call button. Make it clear to the flight attendant that you will be sitting in the seat that you paid for and you need them to intervene with the passenger harassing you about that.”
They added: “Don’t engage with the passenger. Ever. Lessons learned for next time. Your friends suck.”
Another chimed in: “You also don’t need to qualify why you wanted that seat. You chose it and you paid for it – and the reason is nobody’s business but yours. If this father wanted his son to have a window seat so badly, he could have chosen and paid for one. Entitled parents unfortunately breed entitled kids. I’m sorry that you had to experience that and that the crew were so unhelpful.”
Another user weighed in on the debate, saying: “If the dad wanted his son to have a window seat so badly, dad should’ve paid for one. Kid needs to hear ‘no’ more often. He’s already learnt to strop get his way. Good for you for keeping the seat you paid for and had a medical need for.”
