A passenger has been praised for refusing to give up his seat on a 10-hour flight so that a family could sit together. In this case, I’m totally on the side of the passenger.
Passenger Praised (And I Praise Him Too) For Refusing To Change His Seat For Rude Family
The man was traveling from Athens (ATH) to either Newark (EWR) on United or Emirates or to New York (JFK) on Delta, based upon the flight time. He posted about his experience on Reddit.
“I traveled home today from Greece. The flight was roughly ten hours and around this time of year, it’s extremely hectic. I booked my ticket specifically to be closer to the front of the plane so I can be closer to the gate when it’s time to get out. I personally hate travelings so I spent a bit more money to be closer.”
A family of four had approached the man upon boarding and asked if he would be willing to move.
“Normally I’d be ok with that but switching spots would mean moving back 20 rows down which leaves me at an inconvenience and I would not get my money’s worth. I rejected and said that I would like to keep my seat.”
That angered the woman greatly. So what happened?
“She ended up making a scene and basically said ‘wow look at this *sshole who can’t even move seats so a family could sit all together.'”
The man then responded:
“Maybe you should have booked ahead of time, or spent more money on tickets so you all could sit together. This is not my issue. Grow up and get over it. I am not moving seats. End of story!”
The woman’s husband later apologized to the man, but said, “She hates traveling, but giving her the seat would’ve made things easier in the end.”
Well yes, when you give a spoiled brat what they want, it does pacify them for a few minutes. But it also shows that you HATE them.
Here’s a question for the selfish family to reflect on:
If it was really about sitting together, why didn’t they ask the people 20 rows back if they’d like the better seats upfront?
That way everyone wins.
The audacity of families to request seat swapping onboard is no the problem, it is the audacity coupled with the offer to move to inferior seats rather than better seats! What incredible selfishness.
CONCLUSION
As the father of two kids who travels with his family, I get that it is nice to sit together and I am perfectly happy to swap under certain circumstances. But when you made a demand and then cruse me out…no thank you. Get out of my face.
What is about families that need to sit together on planes? They usually put their headphones and watch movies all flight long and don’t even talk to each other. It is about entitlement. I applaud the passenger for not moving.
No different than walking up to someone at a concert seated 20 rows closer. Asking is straight up rude unless they’re offering compensation.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Time apart is good.
Santsatico:
Clearly you are not a father. We want our children next to us so no pervert can molest them!
And we can control our kids behavior.
I agree with the single pax for not moving, but that is a different issue
Those families need to make sure they book seats together. Don’t expect someone to change seats. You don’t know their situation.
Dear Mom of 2Gr8Kids that is so very true and very nice of you to see that from that gentleman’s point of view.
I once read a sign that this situation so reminds me of it read (Poor planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on our part)
then pay extra and book it that way.
Statistically, the abuser is more likely to be a parent or family member. Not every solo male you encounter on the street, or on a plane.
60% of them are lgbt
#fakenews
nope look up the stats.
60% of child sex abuse is done by the same sex as the victim.
don’t make excuses for these defective people.
Please cite the study for this statistic. I’m curious to see your source.
Also, gay people are not defective, and you addressing them as that is disgusting.
You are sick.
How? For stating the facts?
Also 80 percent vote republican. Thanks for outing yourself as a nonce once more
Wrong again.
100% of people named “koggerj” are tiny-handed incel a-holes who still live in their parents’ basement as an adult
Don’t project your failures in life on me.
@Deltahater: First of all I fly Delta. Have been 360 and Diamond for over 12 years in a row and have been treated really well by them so if you hate Delta it says a lot so about you. Second, I am a father of two and never ever had to ask people to change seats with me. Do you know why? Because I plan in advance and if I have to pay extra to sit with my kids I do that. Also, the story doesn’t say it but I cannot imagine that kids would be flying alone as the woman asked for only one passenger to change seats. Worst case scenario, my wife would sit with one kid and I with the other. Last, I control my kids behavior at home so they are well raised and know how to behave on planes and when they don’t have us around. Clearly you have some parenting to learn if you need to be around to ensure your kids behave.
Just want to say that was one helluva comeback.
There are a lot of not-so-great people on the comments of these posts on this travel blog and people have got to call out the people who are just name-calling, trying to pick fights, racism, etc in the comment section.
LOL….talk about projection!
I’m a father and I’m chuckling. My daughter is actually much better behaved when she’s on her own because she frets about being checked by an authority figure instead of me because she knows she can count on me loving her (an authority figure, she knows, doesn’t.)
A nurse on the phone taught me “self soothing” when my daughter was 2 months old and I carefully educated her on how to be personally responsible for her emotions, to be considerate of others, and to be social and she does well in school and has friends. I’m proud of her. If she EVER has a problem with ANYONE, she talks to me and I we discuss it and I explore the issue. I don’t fret about “perverts” on a plane because she’d say something because we have that bond.and agreed upon trust.
It’s important to me that she understands how to behave well in public and when we go on flights, we have discussions about how to behave and to communicate with us. I want the passengers to be happy that she’s there and she does artwork, watches the IFE, and enjoys her drink and is an angel to those around her.
If I ever ask someone to switch seats we always offer up the better seats and move to the worse seats.
Women are born as entitled narcists, American women are 100 times worse.
Who the he– made you a superior judge of women? You have absolutely NO CLUE how and who women are. You need to get over your egotistical arrogant self and check your (as in you) gender. Get a life.
I commend the gentleman for refusing to make the change. The family should have planned ahead to reserve and/or pay for desired seating. I always plan ahead and pay, if necessary, to ensure my desired seat on each flight! I have on occasions refused such change requests! Planning remains the keynote to success!
I hope Mommy Karen had a miserable ten hours in the air after she didn’t get her way. The person I pity the most is the husband. You know that he’ll never hear the end of this.
Normally I say to people “If you are not being forced out of the window/aisle you have, don’t be mean… move.” But I say that assuming the switch will be close. They could not find anyone else to shift near them to accommodate the family. If the kid is young, he/she needs to be with their parent… Parents should plan for that.
I was returning home to Maui after having traveled to the mainland to deal with a family health tragedy. I’d willingly paid more for my chosen first class window seat so I could be isolated and undisturbed while I processed, and dealt with my grief. The young woman whose seat was next to me asked if I’d move so she could sit next to her boyfriend who’d bought their last-minute, first-class, isle seats in different rows, as a birthday present for her? I said no; that he knew the seats weren’t together when he’d bought them, so that must have been okay with him when purchasing, and they’d have to live with their choice. She proceeded to sit there, sobbing for some ridiculous length of time while her boyfriend gave me dirty looks. Ultimately she and her boyfriend moved to seats in the main cabin but not before making my trip miserable due to their spoiled, manipulative, sense of entitlement. No harm in asking, but spare me the immature drama when you don’t get your own way.
Oh, man. This.
You almost want to do what they want to avoid the drama. Can’t win.
Good for you for sticking to your guns.
I saw a family get kicked off my United flight from EWR to TPA a couple weeks ago. Family of 4 wanting people to move so they could sit together. This was a 737-MAX8. They were blocking the boarding process by standing in the aisle and continuing to argue with the people did not want to move out of their economy plus seats. The father who was all angry got asked to go to the jetway, which he did, and thankfully the whole family left without further incident so nothing went viral. Flight attendants handled it well.
Several thoughts here.
Dude is sucking up a 10 hour flight in economy but being able to deboard 5 minutes faster is a priority? SMH.
But he paid (apparently a premium) for the ticket so it is his. Giving him guff for not being willing to give it up is absurd. Perhaps the family might have considered offering some $$$ if it was a priority.
Preaching to the choir. Clear the family was on vacation and this was not a last minute purchase or the result of a cancellation. So they had many options at time of booking to buy adjacent seats or fly another airline if that was essential.
They made the choice to buy these seats and it is not up to another passenger to fix their problem
I was in a similar situation when I went abroad for the first time ever. For context, I had just begun as an entry-level risk analyst at a hedge fund and I was seating near the front of the economy cabin in a Boeing 767 in a window seat for a business trip. The dad of the family of four sat next to me and the rest of them sat in the middle three seats. The mom asked if I could switch seats for the kid to have a window seat. I accepted and the dad was really appreciative, so they bought me a few drinks that flight and had the kid say “thank you” to me. Quite incidentally, I met the guy a few years later and he helped me get the position I’m at right now at one of the top financial institutions on Wall Street.
Point is, I wouldn’t mind switching seats if I didn’t pay extra cash for that specific seat, the seat I switch with isn’t too far off the seat I bought, and if the person asking is civil. However, in this post, it looks like they were just being entitled and rude, and I wouldn’t have switched with them as well.
My rule is simple. Ask nicely, and I’ll try my best to work with you within reason. Act like an a$$hat, take my seat and pretend you don’t speak English when caught, etc.? No dice. You can take it up with the FA.
And for the record, when I fly with my family, I *always* prebook seats together, even if it means I have to pay for seat assignments. Period.
As someone who has kindly negotiated a seat change with another passenger who legitimately did not speak any english, I can attest that most people get what you’re asking even if they don’t know the words. The “I don’t speak English” routine is nonsense
If a Family of Four can afford a 10hr from ATH-EWR/JFk. They can afford to pay to sit together. The entitlement of some people is off the charts lately.
This is not a new story….it’s been published in several places globally….but all the same another example of pax believing they’re entitled and have a right to make demands.
Sitting in the left hand seat up the pointy end (and no, I would not swap that seat for anyone), I’m hearing more and more stories from FA’s about such pax.
Sort your seating out at the time of booking.
If you don’t, and expect to bully fellow pax into a swap on board and they refuse, accept it with grace and make a note to be more proactive when booking seats in the future
Definitely the beeyach should have been willing to sit with family together Even 20 rows back. F*## her
Of course there are those multiple people boarding to protect that child under 2! Last example was DCA ORD where 14 passengers boarded with the infant@
I don’t know why the guy didn’t scream and make a fuss calling for the police and cry when he was treated like that. That’s what would have happened had it been the other way around.
I do understand for families with Kids it can be horrible traveling. But there are ways to solve the problem. Over the past 35 years we have traveled back and forth to Australia dozens of times – we used to fly Qantas, but we stopped because Qantas policy at the time was you could only get seat allocations when you got to LAX or SFO – since we traveled from the east coast, we were literally the last folks to get seats – we had 3 small kids – 6 months, 3 and 5…..the last time we actually ever traveled on Qantas, the gate agent was not at all helpful and told us that the crew would help (that’s called problem transference) well on the plane they had no seats together – and I mean not even 2 – I solved the problem very quickly – I took the 6 month old from my wife, handed him to the Purser, then picked up the two year old and gave him to a crew-persons, told the next crew member the name of the 5 year old and said to my wife, don’t worry it’s there problem for the next 9 hours or whatever it was to Hawaii or Tahati wherever it was in those days we stopped over to refuel. We literally started to walk to our seats….
Amazingly, the crew solved the problem as we had to have at least 3 seats – and we really needed one with a bassinet – they eventually did solve the problem – I don’t recall, but I am sure it involved them moving some folks…
Needless to say, it was the last time we flew with Qantas – mainly because of their policy not to give seat bookings to folks connecting. It’s not the same I suspect today, but I never found out, as the last 40 plus trips to Sydney were on either Continental or United where I am pretty well stuck with these days….Interesting that over 35 years I could have spent hundreds of thousands of $ on Qantas but never did….policies matter (like no seat allocations) – bad policies matter even more.
Not the same thing, but…. about a year ago, I was planning to book 4 business class seats on BA for me and the family. We didn’t all have to be in a block, but were trying to at least get 2 together and another 2 together so that we could pair 1 adult and 1 child. We were booking about 6 months in advance. I think the whole business class cabin was unbooked (maybe one or two seats were taken– this was before many folks had returned to international travel) the point is there were tons of open seats and pairs.
The fare for the tickets was $11k. BA wanted another $1k to allow us to reserve seat assignments. If we didn’t pay the extra grand, we’d be assigned seats closer to the flight time (I don’t remember exactly when), with no assurance that we’d be next to the kids. I ended up booking a different flight on United because of it. It just seemed stupid– I get charging more for premium seat choices, but we were already paying for business class and we weren’t hoping for anything more than 2 sets of adjacent seats together in a fully unbooked cabin. I guess for me this pricing scheme just didn’t represent a deal I wanted to make, but it also struck me as kind of a crappy way to do things in terms of bait and switch pricing and for folks traveling with kids who don’t have the financial blessings I do this seemed like a good way to create avoidable problems.
I have an autistic child and always ensure we book together. If my skank wife has to sit in a different area, that’s fine with me but no one is getting between me and my Bubs. Anyone with a special child understands the bond we have. I use the money I make scamming to ensure we can be together while I’m here and he will be here after I’m gone. Which I hope will be a long time, which is why I move constantly to stay one step ahead of those I scam with my fake gambling systems. Hustlers always hustle.
What else do you have, troll?
Troll? Look me up, I’m selling a lifestyle. You too can be rich like me just by following my gambling systems. Are you ready to change your life? Then look me up, The GOAT Christopher Mitchell and see if you are ready to live the lifestyle.
Nah, I work a seven figure job while you live in your parents’ basement. Nice try, though.
You sure it’s not the other way round??????
It’s easy to see who I am while you are hiding behind some name no one can understand. I’m out there in the public eye, what about you?
I make my seat selection months ahead of my travel date.
“Poor planning on your part does not necessitate an emergency on mine.”
Your bolded bit is spot on. It’s reasonable for the family to want to be together. Who knows why they couldn’t get seats together – people usually don’t deliberately separate themselves. But the way to do it is to give people better seats to change into. I’ve never seen anyone refuse that. I’ve seen people rightly refuse to give up a good seat.
I once had a passenger ask me to move back into coach from domestic First so they could sit next to their spouse. I suggested they ask the person next to their spouse to swap with them instead. Needless to say the couple sat separately in different cabins. That said it all.
QANTAS now offers the option to buy the empty seat next to you on domestic service.
Can you imagine the drama when an entitled parent “demands” that you surrender both seats so the family can sit together?
What sucks about these bad actors (meaning the lady in this story) is that as these stories circulate, I fear it will make more people unwilling to consider a switch even under reasonable circumstances, and also make reasonable folks afraid to ask.
What happens when people act like the asking family in this story is that folks may assume that they’ll be attacked if they say no, and thus instead of simply saying “no thanks” to a kindly presented request, they’ll go bezerk instead.
As a parent, I have been stuck trying ask for seat changes when traveling with a 2 and 3 year old. I plan ahead and buy assigned seats and all of the things one can reasonably do, but all of the planning in the world doesn’t allow you to predict that a hurricane will cancel your flight, or that a flight delay causes you to miss a connection.
When in a tough spot, I found was that the vast majority of folks were very sympathetic, and when asked kindly and offered a comparable or better seat they’ll easily switch. It would be a shame if that changes because too many spoiled jerks create a new culture in which those who decline to switch are verbally attacked.
I accept a cash premium on the spot, to yield my seat to another in the same class.
I usually refuse to ask people to change their seats to accomodate families. The majority of the folks, picked those seats way in advance when making their reservations, so it’s not fair to them. More often than not, those families seated apart, made their reservations when there was not many seats available… and then they ‘hope’ to board the plane and reshuffle many around them.
A few years ago, on the 747-400, I had a pax blame me for ruining their vacation and not allowing them to sit together on a row that costs more…. when the actual fact is that he was too cheap to pay extra for those seats…. life goes on 🙂
Then there’s the families that don’t board during “Family Boarding” and once on the plane they make a big deal so that they can sit together.
We all boarded on-time. Just like this passenger said, it’s not our fault you were late with your family to the gate!