A man is angry that his pre-assigned bulkhead seat was moved on SAS in order to accommodate a mother and her baby. It’s an important reminder that seat assignments are not guaranteed and you run some risk by selecting bulkhead seats in advance if you are not traveling with an infant.
Man Angry After His Bulkhead Seat Given Away To Mother And Her Baby
A man was traveling on SAS to New York from with a loved one. Although he did not specify which route, SAS flies to New York from Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm, all flights of about 8-8.5 hours. On reddit, he explained:
“Then three days before our trip we get an email that says your seats have been changed to a few rows back… mmm what? We got downgraded but we paid extra for those seats? So naturally we were both upset and instantly called the airline support, which took two hours of waiting.”
The SAS representative explained that a mom and baby needed those seats:
“So I tired very calmly explain how we booked those months ago and how we paid extra for them and how they can’t just downgrade our seats to give to someone else. And after hearing like yeah so sorry but the mom needs easy access to the bathrooms and she needs to put her baby bed in front and all that.”
Pause for one moment. Why would a mother need that particular seat? Isn’t that unfair to take away the seat a man had reserved for months? One one level, of course. It’s like a bait-and-switch if SAS sold the man these seats and is why many airlines block bulkhead seating until day of travel. But it just makes sense. It is only bulkhead seats that can accommodate infants, because it is on those bulkheads (walls) that bassinets are attached.
Put another way, every time you reserve a bulkhead seat on a longhaul flight, you risk losing it more than just about any other seat because it is favored by parents traveling with infants. Unlike an exit row seat, children are allowed in it. Indeed, the row is specifically designed for children.
The man posted this on the “childfree” page on reddit and thereby received mostly sympathy and support. For example, one person commented:
“I detest that we don’t have kids so we don’t have to accommodate our lives to fit a child’s needs yet WE STILL HAVE TO!”
Too bad, so sad man…without children, societies die.
Another offered a threat:
“We should all write to them reminding that the childfree have usually more money to spend in traveling, and we will not be conducting our business with them after this bullsh*t treatment.”
You do that, buddy.
The man who lost his seat fumed that the mother was traveling at all:
“I don’t know, I just got so pissed why is a mother traveling with such a young child. Why did they act like I was the crazy one for not wanting to give up our seats we paid for to a ‘helpless mother’ who needs it?”
Yes, you are the crazy one…or at least confused. Sorry you don’t understand how bulkhead seats work on airplanes.
CONCLUSION
I do understand why a man was angry over losing his seat assignment. However, once explained to him, it should have been quite clear. Perhaps SAS should learn from this as well and not allow passengers to pre-assign bulkhead seating until the day of travel, precisely to avoid this type of situation. Bottom line: seats are not guaranteed, but be particularly careful when assigning bulkhead seats prior to travel as those are easily taken when a family traveling with an infant requires them.
image: iStock
If the child free aka people not contributing to the continuation of civilization have a problem then they can start their own airline with all their extra money. Otherwise let them cry from a few rows back
We feed and pay takes so you breeders can pop out more children.
I hate that i have to pay taxes to educate some subhumans kids for free.
I think child free people contribute more because they do not get tax deductions for having children.
“People not contributing to the continuation of civilization?” Seriously?
There are too many people in the world, and we’re on a path to killing our species if we don’t slow things down. I’m not against people with children, I just think your line is ridiculous. Sure, the species needs to be perpetuated, but don’t make it out like some heroic, selfless feat.
If your father would have thought like this, you wouldn’t have been here.
If you don’t want to be here in this world with kids, DON’T.
The interesting thing is. You want to live in a world without kids, for the 70 years in your life. But you worry so much for life in 200 years from now, when you wont be around, and without kids no one will be around.
Stop worrying for life in future, if you don’t want there should be life in future.
The breeders can pay extra to reserve that seat if they need it do bad. And stop acting like your little brats are a gift to humanity instead of the waste of resources they are.
Uh, if the guy paid extra for those seats he should – at a minimum – be compensated for that cost and/or provided with an equally comfortable seat for his trouble. This isn’t as much about kids and rights and that jazz – it’s about getting what you paid for. And the pax was right to be disgruntled. They screwed him over. And the “oh well, the mother needs it” followed by a shrug is an utterly unacceptable answer to that.
Compensation? No, just a refund of the seat selection fee, if there indeed was one and the seat the guy was switched to was cheaper to assign on booking.
An upgrade to business class would have been fair…..
I think that just refunding the seat fee could be inadequate based on the scenario– unless the buyer was warned when making the purchase that the seat may be taken by a parent/child.
The reason is that when you book early, as I generally do, there are usually lots of seats to choose from. If they take the seat from you at the last minute and simply offer the refund, that refund may no longer allow you to switch to another seat of your choosing. Thus you have lost more than just the seat fee, you have lost your ability to make a choice that suits you.
I’m not saying the additional compensation has to be outrageously great, but I think something beyond just the refund would be the nice thing for the airline to do.
Exactly. This is precisely why some compensation is due.
There’s no compensation required. Just refund the pre-assigned seat fee, with a apology. Bassinets only fit on bulkhead walls.
We have droughts in china, Europe and 0western US. Soon there will be food shortages. We are running out of clean drinking water, not to mention heating gas. All ESG posers are just lying if they keep popping out kids.
Castrating losers with more than 2 kids is too late now but let’s get to it.
Interesting that Debit’s anger regarding climate change is that people continue to have children. While perhaps heresy on this board, maybe the best way to prevent catastrophe is to reduce the number of carbon-emitting airplane flights?
2 kids are enough to maintain population at a slow pace of decline and have a complete family.
People who have more than 2 kids are consuming more natural resources than they are entitled to. People who have more than 2 kids and who live on goverment assistance are the biggest losers on this planet and should be castrated immediately. After the pandemic assistance almost everyone has lived on goverment handouts.
I think christians and liberals are the biggest two faced hypocrites on almost everything they talk about.
I knew I could count on you for this debit, but in this story we are only talking about one baby.
Not sure why you would use the word mother in this post. It’s birthing person, please.
If you are selling access to the bulkhead seats, then swapping someone out of the seat without refunding the fee is outright fraud.
Of course. SAS should really simply block those seats until check-in.
A few months ago UA moved me without telling me. 7D is normally blocked until check in. I selected it while checking in the day before. In the TSA line, I checked to see if my upgrade had cleared, it had not, and I was still in seat 7D. I boarded, sat in my seat, then an older woman approached me and said I was in her seat. Confused, I checked my boarding pass on the UA app and discovered that I had been moved back to 10C sometime between TSA and boarding.
Or…What if the airline tells the family with child that they’ve already sold that seat, and steers them toward another flight? Is that crazy talk? IDK. Also, I’ve raised two children of my own so I’m not a hater.
If he has all that money, why didn’t he book in business class?
The issue is he had to spend 2 hours getting what he paid for. They should have provided him a similar or better seat immediately, and if not, an online option to rebook with compensation. Fail on the airline’s part.
Yeah, basically.
Sorry, how could I take this seriously. Just refund these childfree adults their money ore upgrade them to SAS Premium Eco. Inspite of all, this is my humble opinion, do not forget – and I mean those who are anti children out there-to be grateful that your parents have made you and you can grow up in this world! You have been once a child and you yourself depend on the help and understanding of other people. So growing up with such appalling attitudes towards children and mothers is just simply sad- you have a deep and serious problem within you! Grow up and behave like the rest of the normal adults in this world and stop thinking about your own advantages.
Thank You!
Much of the anger, especially in men, is that they are bitter that they can’t find anyone that is willing to have children with them.
OMG! that is frank. Hope nobody is offended here. But just for the sake of being equally right..not only men but women as well.
I had something somewhat similar happen on ET from Addis to IAD, a 16 – 17 hour journey. Paid for the seat upgrade the day before and boarded, boarding pass in hand. Near the end of boarding a mother and infant show up. She stands there and wants me to give the seat to her. I politely declined. An FA came over and after talking to the young girl asked if I would be willing to move. I said sure as long as it is comparable to the seat I purchased, to accommodate my 6′ 3″ frame. They didn’t have anything. The FA told mom she would have to take her assigned seat. To be honest, I felt like an ass but she could have just as easily booked the same seat. And it’s a little comfort on an ultra long haul which I greatly appreciate.
Well it didn’t end there. She refused to take her seat and sat in the aisle with her kid. I told her I’d move if she reimbursed me for the cost of the seat. Nope. The FA’s were trying to get her to sit in her seat but she wouldn’t. The plane was ready to push back and the situation was starting to draw attention from people sitting around the area. Realizing I was in a no win situation, big white guy vs. young African mom and her infant, I moved. I was pissed! But what do ya do? My bags stayed in the overhead above that seat. I made several trips to retrieve things during the flight and I made sure we made eye contact so she knew how I felt about the stunt we pulled.
“Realizing I was in a no win situation, big white guy vs. young African mom and her infant”
Why? No one is asking you to give up what is rightfully yours to improve race relations. Stop being a martyr. What is yours is yours.
I would never have moved in your situation unless forced to by the crew. Crazy story. That mother should have been thrown off.
This happens regularly on Ethiopian flights – not just for bulkhead seats. It can be a bit of a free for all. Stand your ground and the crew will back you up for your assigned seat. The judgmental looks from your fellow passengers though, you have to live with!
You only have to live with those looks until tbe fligjt ends…
You only have the seat assignment till the flight ends too…
“Mother”?….ahem
If the airline is going to allow those seats to be pre-booked, then a parent has just as much opportunity to book those seats as anyone else. If they’re not available, they can choose a different flight, just as the rest of us do if the available seating on a flight doesn’t meet our needs.
It’s a reasonable argument, but a mother/baby may have many reasons to book late and should not be denied the very seats that were intended for them in the first place.
That’s a bit of a circular argument. If those seats are intended for parents, then other people should be blocked from choosing them. If they’re not going to be blocked, then they’re presumably intended for whomever selects them.
@scott
100%
if they are only for X… block them out as X
Then fill them as with standbys at the last minute… DO NOT charge extra for them and the strip them away later…
Did this mother in need book first class? Or even pay extra for those bulk head?
@Matthew Klink
What makes you say “the very seats that were intended for them in the first place” ? There are multiple seats that are designed with bassinets and extra oxygen masks on planes… Why these seats?
Bulkhead seats in general…any seat right in front of a bassinet docking station (on the bulkhead wall) is intended for a baby, right?
The “birthing parent” was banking you would give in. Did she approach anyone else….no!!! You were the path of least resistance and her bluff worked. No telling how many times the “birthing parent” has played this card.
Humans acknowledge the need to accommodate the young. Feral animals just fight and eat the young. While not always easy, I choose Team Human.
This is why I like SQ’s policy for blocking bulkhead seats in case someone who needs a bassinet needs it. Even if an agent offers a PAX that option, they always remind them that the seat isn’t guaranteed in case another PAX needs it.
EK doesn’t block seats but they do mention that seat changes might be possible later, in case another passenger needs the bassinet seats.
More airlines should be doing either one of these two things too, especially on their wide-body aircrafts
One should get what they paid for – all of the others who spew their stupidity here about this situation would be equally upset if this had happened to them.
The Daily Mail just published an article about these situations…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11146309/JACI-STEPHEN-refuse-switch-airline-seat-help-families-sit-together.html
I don’t blame him, why should I have to accommodate some femoid breeder and her little [redacted] bag?
Watch the language. One more curse and you’re banned.
Wouldn’t it be something if koggerj and debit are the same person?
Their prose is different….but I confess to having had the same thought. I do find Debit entertaining!
I once refused to give up my window seat to someone. She was appalled. I once asked not to sit in the middle seat and my wish was granted! It depends on the situation. Baby or no baby.
Apparently, the complainant was never himself a baby. Had be been a baby sometime in his past, perhaps he would not be such a selfish dope.
I have kids and understand the guy’s frustration. having kids doesn’t instantly entitle you to the world. if for an emergency my wife has to fly then we will pay extra for the seat privileges and hope the money goes to refund and compensating the passengers who paid for it before. we know having kids is a blessing but also don’t want to ruin somebody’s potentially once in a lifetime trip or hundreds of other in the cabin
My wife and I don’t have children, and at this stage of our lives, we never will. It wasn’t by choice. So in some ways, we see both sides of the argument (we wish we had kids, but we don’t).
Certain things for parents need to be accommodated, just because of the reality of parenthood. We get that. What we dislike is the other side of it, where the child-free are often treated as second-class, getting the short end of the stick, or being expected to give something up.
As for “continuing civilization” – come on. People don’t become parents out of a noble calling. It’s great to have a family, but having more than 2-3 children just contributes to the problem of the Earth’s sustainability. The world should be grateful for those without children, whether by choice or not, because at least they slow things down from the selfish heavy breeders.
We flew to Barcelona on Air France biz with our 7-month-old (his first international trip!) back in May. We booked months in advance, and I called Air France to request bulkhead seats for the bassinet.
Over the next seven months, our airplane changed not just 1x but 2x – not unexpected. But each time, our bulkhead seats and the accompanying bassinet were given away. Thankfully, everything worked out in the end, but as a new parent, traveling internationally with an infant for the first time, it was unnecessarily stressful.
The bassinet was enormously helpful on both flights. Not just for the bassinet but being closer to the restroom for the inevitable diaper changes! The flight attendants and most of our fellow biz passengers were so kind and thoughtful. I think the kiddo picked up on all the positive energy and was a dream on both long-haul flights.
Kindness costs you nothing and goes further than you know. We could all be a lot better to one another, especially when things get stressful and we are jammed on a flying metal tube together.
flying100, it’s been a few days, but just in case you come back to this, I’m leaving this response for you.
Read what I said again. I did not say I wanted a world without kids. I didn’t say I was ungrateful for my life or that I didn’t like the world. I also specifically said I have nothing against people with children. My point was that we have too many people having too many children, and overpopulation is a problem.
Perhaps you should read carefully and evaluate your own state of mind and happiness before responding to the comments of others too hastily.
Just tell me where “SUITE 2K” is and how much it costs? Do you have to fly somewhere too?
I work for airline and we don’t move people like that to accommodate a bassinet as those are given only if the seat is open so they are never a guarantee even if u have infant. So this story really does not make sence