While you have no obligation to move seats on an airplane, I am of the opinion that if you are offered a swap to a comparable or better seat, you should make the trade. But one man refused to move from one aisle to another, prompting an angry outburst from a husband who wanted to sit next to his wife.
Man Angry His Seatmate Would Not Move Across The Aisle So He Could Sit Next To His Wife
To Australia, where the incident occurred onboard a Virgin Atlantic flight. Jay Kloss and his wife, Zoe booked late and found there were not two seats together in the eight-seat business class onboard the Virgin Australia 737 (I’ve flown that…you can read my review here).
They were, however, able to assign a window seat in row two and then the aisle seat across the aisle, also in row two. Jay figured it would be no problem switching with the passenger seated next to his wife since it was a simple aisle seat for aisle seat swap in the same row.
Nope.
The man refused.
Jay: “Hey bro, would you mind moving so I can sit with my missus? It’s her birthday.”
Seatmate: “No. I won’t. But I’ll sit here.” (pointing to Zoe’s window seat)
Jay: “Bro, really? You sure you can’t swap seats with us?”
The man refused. He sat down next to Zoe, who asked him if there was a problem.
Seatmate: “Nah, no problem. Just not moving.”
Jay later told his followers on TikTok that, “I wanted to slap him.”
@jaykloss_ AM I IN THE WRONG?! #wow #seatselection #fyp ♬ original sound – JK
Part of me does not blame him. Even so, if you require seats together, book early or book another flight. No one is entitled to boot someone from their pre-assigned seat. That said, I think Mr. Seatmate was probably upset that he did not have a window seat and this was his retaliation. Poor form on his part.
CONCLUSION
The story has a happy ending: the seatmate in the other window seat agreed to swap with Zoe so the couple still wound up together. While the seatmate who refused to swap seats may have had a valid reason to insist upon his specific aisle seat, that does not seem to be the case when he was willing to swap for a window seat. I’m on team Jay here, though only because he was asking to swap for truly an identical seat.
Do you side with Jay or the man who refused to move?
Oh by the way, do you notice that picture of the business class cabin Jay used as the background to his rant? He stole it from me. Thanks, bro…
The seatmate is probably one of the a-holes in the comments section here, lmao.
The request was not unreasonable.
Pattern I’ve noticed is you’ve got a touch of the a-hole yourself.
And no, the request was not unreasonable.
I’m siding with the other guy here for several reasons. For starters, basic manners dictates that Jay use the word “please” when making a request from someone that is fully optional for them to comply with. “Hey bro” is not the same as “please” and even sounds a bit presumptuous. The other guy offered the option for them to sit together, sort of, in that they’d be across the aisle from each other. Not ideal, but quite doable. Jay proceeded to get angry before even exploring the option to ask the other seatmate to switch which fully solved the issue.
Finally, I’m booked on United basic economy in 2 weeks and it’s possible that I won’t be sitting with my wife and 6 year old daughter without paying about $70 in fees and if I’m stuck on my own in the rear away from my wife and child, I can live with that. It’s actually kind of good to let my daughter see that if something happens in travel, I don’t get hung up over it.
(I have read that United is working to address this due to Joe Biden’s speech about this matter released in “early March, but I don’t see the option yet on united’s website to pre-reserve our seats.)
I agree; if you want something, are asking for someone to accommodate you in some way, be polite. “Bro” is not a good starter… I’m not your “bro” and I’m not your friend. Who knows if a little more thoughtful approach would have yielded better results but certainly the casual frat boy one failed miserably. A request is not an entitlement, it is something you are asking for; act and behave accordingly.
I need someone to tell me which guy was being woke, then I’ll know which side to take. Tiktok is woke I think, but then again that guy has a lot of tattoos, so he might be an alpha. I’m so confused.
No confusion here from Matt Hancock.
https://i.postimg.cc/vBT1mG1T/4-AC71-BD0-5-E68-4-FC0-99-F8-49-A74-A281857.jpg
Matthew John David Hancock is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 2018, and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2018 to 2021
Is this supposed to be lefty humor?
Pretty sad this is how you spend your freetime.
I don’t know… he writes a lot like Ron DeSantis speaks
Ok groomer
Hey bub, I’m a real patriot, I’m no limp risted lefty. I’m doing my part to make sure woke losers know they are threw when Ron takes office. You need to read up on him, his hole platform is eliminating wokeness, which is the top problem in the world. In Ron we trust!
My guess would be that the tone/attitude used was not conductive for the other passenger to do him a favor.
And once he got angry this was it. How thinks he is entitled will not get wat he wants.
“My guess would be that the tone/attitude used was not conductive for the other passenger to do him a favor.”
Agree.
We had a similar situation last month. Passenger didn’t understand the 777 business seating (single window seats are staggered from the center aisle seats) and was making it my problem. She first said I was not in the right seat (I was). She wanted me to move so her adult friend was closer to her. I declined, I had the single window seat and was settled in.
The seats may not be identical to him.
-Some people prefer sitting on the left side vs the right side. (for reverse seats, some people don’t want to face backwards)
-The view from one side could be different, what if someone wants to see greenland while flying over the atlantic?
-the person you would be placed next to could be unfavourable; obese person?, smoker?
What a complete bogan!
The last time I swapped seats for this kind of thing (May of last year) I ended up in the bulkhead row, which I hate, and got covid to boot. I won’t be so generous next time.
Slap that bitch, bro!
The person who posted the video and asked for the seat swap is a complete AH. How can you legitimately get upset if a stranger doesn’t do you a favor? Then, to post about it for opinions on if he is wrong or right, and when that doesn’t seem to go in your favor, following up with a post stating, “it’s not that serious”. Sigh, his mentality and thought process is draining. Plan better, and I’d it doesn’t work out, suck it up, take your assigned seat and don’t throw a temper tantrum.
Anybody who requests something by calling me bro should be slapped.
This guy is a certified douchebag. The attitude and entitlement sense is out of this world. Even for a weenie like him
Lost me at “Hey Bro”, how about “Excuse me, sir?”
D-bag city.
+1. If you wish someone to do you a favour atleast show some manners. Even then, they may have legitimate reasons to not wish to swap – like a bad hip ? (s0 exercise that leg in one direction), prefer lots of elbow room one side for eating ?, etc…. that mean they carefully selected their assigned seat.
Guy looks like a real winner: Calls strangers bro, whines when he doesn’t get what he wants, then goes shirtless in his whiny online video.
Even worse, why does the whole boarding area blogosphere keep reporting such stuff? Post News, tips, tricks and other useful content.
This kind of content doesn’t help anyone. Newsflash: stupid people exist, they even get on planes sometimes. I don’t know what this kind of content helps anyone. Everybody deals with this situation different. The reporting also relies fully in what the viewpoint of one single person is, without hearing the other side. Maybe he “forgot” to mention things in the video he did, said,… Which would make him look back. It’s all speculation.
Please bloggers from boarding area we don’t need that kind of content. Bring us useful and informative stuff. I don’t want to just slam Matt here alone. It’s the whole boarding area network. Seems like you guys running low on actual good content and now bring the drama in.
I just published a 24-part Ukraine series. I balance it with click-bait like this. Surely, you can shop around for the stories you want.
Sigh……
Whip out the Benjamins……
The wife probably would prefer that her husband just be calm and kind on her birthday and not get his knickers in a twist.
That’s why I always carry a snickers…..
LOL. Awesome, since the guy is acting like such a diva.
Look, I guess it’s pretty easy to figure out. To me, it all boils down to common sense and kindness. Did the guy have common sense, maybe, but he didn’t show it. Did he have kindness, not at all, but then again he didn’t have to move. What if he had a bad case of hemorrhoids, or what if he believed in a lucky number or stuff like that. All in all, the fault lies on “Bro” for not doing his homework in a timely manner!
Guessing you have to stir up something for the TicToc following. Otherwise you just be a regular idiot
I would have had to collect a Bro tax penalty from him to move. “Want some action, wave an Andrew Jackson”
I’ve read the articles several times and can’t find the route. Were they flying Sydney-Mebourne (a relatively short route) compared to Sydney-Perth (much longer route.
Does anyone know the route?
That was not made clear in his rant.
I recently flew a 15 hour flight in economy. I was in the aisle seat and the other aisle seat (middle section of 787) was empty. My seatmate in the middle seat refused to move to aisle and give us more space. Told me “you can move to that seat if you want”. The most WTF seat related encounter I have ever had.
Positive multiple tattoo sign says it all.
The guy looks like a roid monkey.
I often support seat-switching requests when it involves young children in unplanned situations, but this case?
First of all, they’re adults- in what in the US would be considered domestic first class. This shouldn’t be a big deal. You ask politely and you get what you get.
Second, a reasonable counter offer was made– he wanted to sit closer to his lady, the other guy wanted to be closer to the window, the counter offer covered both of these, but was rejected.
Third, they had the option of asking another person to make a trade that solves the problem, and did.
Trying to pin the blame on a guy who considered your request and made two reasonable responses (“no” and “I’ll trade for the window”) makes you actually more childish than someone who won’t trade identical aisle seats.
The airline must have been Virgin Australia, not Virgin Atlantic as mentioned in your article.
The sense of entitlement is astounding. I’d deny him for that reason alone. Plus the birthday stuff was probably made up nonsense.
Normally I demand the same type of seat (aisle for aisle) but we all experience times where we receive a non-preferred seat, because we were standby, or whatever. In that case, it makes sense to ask for what you want. There is no rule that says you can only get like-for-like, rather obvious as many people offer inferior trades.
Shirtless idiot acts like shirtless idiot.
Crappy tats, hat worn backwards. I can tell this bloke is a real Jabroni!! Hope he slaps the wrong person at the wrong time and gets his comeuppance!!!
I think the opinions were against him as well.
If the passenger sitting next to his wife didn’t want to switch seats, maybe the passenger seated next to him wouldn’t mind switching seats. If he was the only passenger to switch seats then they are both being childish. He should have offered $20 or to buy his meal or head phone’s so he can watch the inflight movie. If that didn’t work you could tell him that if the plane crashes and your trapped in your seat Do you think I’m going to help save your life? and look at him with a smile. I was a passenger on a TWA 747 and a flight attendant asked me if I could switch seats with a fellow passenger who was about 6’11” and I had a seat by an exit so I had lots of leg room. I told her yes but after take off because if the plane crashed and he died and I lived I would feel guilty. F/A gave me free beer FRA to JFK.
Jay sounds entitled and like he has anger management issues. He could have easily taken another flight if he wanted to sit together or even booked seats together in coach on the same flight if they were available instead. I’m sure his attitude was part of the issue. What is with this entitlement by the younger generations? I recently had a woman and her daughter try to punk me with a change to a much worse seat. I will only change for a clearly better seat in the future.