A post about a couple with a baby asking a passenger to swap seats on a plane has sparked criticism from users on social media.
The incident was detailed in a Reddit post shared by u/Banana_Bag in the r/americanairlines subreddit, where it garnered more than 5,500 upvotes and almost 1,000 comments since it was posted on October 4.
The post, titled “It unfortunately finally happened to me…,” described a 14-hour international flight where the user paid approximately $125 for a window seat to ensure rest before a weeklong business trip. The intention, the user said, was to avoid being disturbed throughout the flight, knowing they would be sleep-deprived.
Upon boarding, the user found a mother and her roughly 1-year-old infant occupying the middle and window seats. The father, seated across the aisle, asked the poster to switch with him so he could sit next to his family. The requested seat was on an aisle in the middle section.
“I told him I unfortunately paid for a window seat and he aggressively said ‘it’s basically the same thing’ and they kept repeating ‘well you’re going to have to sit by a baby then,’” the poster wrote.
The user refused to switch and remained seated. The couple “spent the next 5 minutes disappointedly discussing how they were going to handle the logistics of passing the baby back and forth across the aisle,” the post said.
Eventually, the mother moved to the aisle seat, leaving the couple seated directly across from each other. The poster said: “Couple of people around me seemed to give me shocked looks that I wouldn’t switch—but it could just be me being sensitive.”
The Reddit user expressed conflicted emotions about the incident, noting that it is “so unfair that airline procedures lead to paying customers being asked to give up their paid for accommodations or face shame and (admittedly minor) conflict.”
The American Airlines website says that, while the company strives to honor selected seats, “seat assignments are not guaranteed,” and the carrier reserves the right to “change seats for operational, safety or security reasons.”
The website adds: “We will attempt to assign children under 15 with at least one adult they’re traveling with,” and “if you sit in a seat other than the one assigned, you may be asked to move.”
Travelers had plenty to say when it comes to swapping seats on a plane in a June 2023 survey of 1,000 plane passengers in the United States and Canada, conducted on behalf of the travel booking website Kayak.
The survey found, “You are allowed to ask to switch seats if you ask politely,” because 54 percent of travelers “have a soft spot for common courtesy.”
However, you are not allowed to ask to switch seats “just because you don’t like your seat” because 77 percent of travelers believe “you get what you get and you don’t get upset,” the survey added.
You are also not allowed to ask to switch seats “just because you’re a nervous flyer” because 64 percent of travelers think “everyone’s a little nervous, not just you.”
‘Entitled’
Many Reddit users were sympathetic towards the original poster and criticized the couple in the post.
U/Loren81 posted: “You did nothing wrong! They were being unreasonable.”
U/giggleblue commented: “You did the right thing. They should have handled this with the gate agent or customer service. Not your problem.”
U/naannccyyyy wrote: “If they wanted to sit together, they should have paid for their seats too.”
Newsweek has contacted the original poster via the Reddit messaging system and American Airlines via email for comment.
Do you have a travel-related video or story to share? Let us know via life@newsweek.com and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
Read the full article here
