Emma Guinness
A woman has seriously divided the internet after revealing that she refused to give up her plane seat so that a family could sit together.
Maresa Friedman took to TikTok to say that she 'wasn't a villain' for wanting to keep the first class seat that she paid 'full fare' for after a family failed to book ahead.
She also explained that she's also a parent herself and wasn't going to put herself out to make up for someone else's mistake when it came to their seat booking
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In a follow-up video, Friedman said that a family of four had asked her to move so that they could all sit together. She also claimed that the mum supposedly gave her side eye and 'talked about her' in a different language.
The video didn't go unnoticed on the social media platform, however, but viewers were divided about whether or not she'd done the right thing.
Reacting to the revelation, one TikToker wrote: "Thank you! As a child free person I get shamed for not moving. I paid full price. I’m not moving."
A second agreed: "I don’t give up my seat anywhere ever on a plane. I reserved it early enough to get what I wanted. Your loss if you didn't."
"As a flight attendant I totally agree with you!" remarked a third. "Some customers get upset when someone tells them no & expect me to move them."
However, not everyone thought Maresa was right.
Another TikToker dubbed her 'mean' while a second slammed: "I was on your side when I thought that u were being asked to go from 1st to economy, but it was just a row change in 1st! Most would've said 'ok'!"
A third added: "If I'm swapping my aisle for another aisle then I'm fine with swapping. I'll totally swap."
Friedman went on to add that the airline in question automatically books reservations together, and therefore, she believes that the family either missed a flight or a connection which led to them being separated.
However, she said that even if this had happened, the family could have used travel insurance to book rebook seats together to prevent being separated on their flight.
She also said that when she is travelling with her kids, she always told her airlines that she was travelling with minors so that they wouldn't be separated for any reason.
And, in response to a TikToker who accused her of being 'elitist', Friedman claimed that she had a disability which required her to travel in specific seats, but did not want to 'justify' her situation.
Tyla has reached out to Friedman for comment.