I refused to give up my pre-booked aisle seat so a family could sit together – I got dirty looks the entire flight and made a little girl ‘really sad’
A passenger has asked if she was wrong after she was subjected to ‘dirty looks’ and a sulking child during her two-hour flight because she refused to swap seats with a ‘demanding’ father.
The anonymous woman, who is believed to be from the US, shared with Reddit that when she boarded her flight, she saw a man in his 40s sitting in her designated seat.
He wanted to sit next to his wife and child, but the woman refused to give up the seat she had paid extra for and insisted he move.
Reddit users are baffled by the father’s entitlement, labeling him “rude” and “demanding.”
A young woman experienced a flight full of ‘dirty looks’ after refusing to give up her seat to a ‘demanding’ father (file image)
The 22-year-old explained: ‘I politely asked him to move as he was sitting in the seat I had specifically booked and paid more for (I usually feel comfortable sitting in aisle seats ).’
The passenger explained that the father vehemently refused to leave his family, despite not having reserved seats together in advance.
He repeatedly blamed the airline for “messing up” their assigned seats, boldly ordering the woman to sit in his middle seat.
When she explained that she doesn’t like sitting in the middle seat, so she paid extra money for an aisle seat, the man became increasingly angry.
Eventually a flight attendant came by and ‘forced’ the father to return to his original seat.
But the debacle didn’t end there as the annoyed passenger now had to endure a two-hour flight sitting next to a begrudging mother and a ‘really sad’ daughter.
She added: ‘His daughter looked very sad that her father wouldn’t be sitting nearby, even though her mother was sitting there with her.
“They also gave me dirty looks the entire flight.”
Many users flocked to the comments to defend the traveler, with some claiming the father just wanted her aisle seat.
The anonymous passenger, believed to be from the US, explained that she had pre-booked and paid extra for her seat, but the man was entitled to it because he wanted to sit next to his wife and daughter.
“You reserved that seat. If the three of them wanted to sit together, it was their responsibility to reserve seats together,” one person wrote.
“People can ask for others to change seats, but the person originally assigned that seat has every right to say no.”
A second wrote: ‘You specifically booked an aisle seat and he was rude. He probably thought he could bully you in transit because you’re young.
“He could have asked at the gate before boarding if there were seats together.”
One user advised the traveler to charge $40 if anyone tries to get her aisle seat in the future.
Many Reddit users flocked to the comments in support of the young woman, calling the father “rude.” Some even went so far as to label him as ‘nothing less than a common thief’
They added: ‘I’ve done this about half a dozen times in this situation and they’ve never wanted to pay for it.’
Another said: ‘I’m so tired of people feeling entitled to other people’s things.
“It’s your seat, you picked it and paid for it, and who does he think he’s telling you to move to accommodate it? Ugh, people are so annoying.”
Others went so far as to suggest that passengers should sue other customers who tried to steal their pre-booked seats, labeling the father as ‘nothing short of a common thief’.