Man defends himself after refusing to swap plane seats so child could have the window

A man has defended his decision not to give up his seat on a plane after a mother wanted him to give his window seat to her child.

He explained that he'd been flying from San Francisco to New York City and worked out that he'd accumulated enough in the way of gifts and bonuses to score himself a first class ticket.

Being a fan of sitting in the window seat, and who wouldn't be considering the view, he booked a first class seat by the window well in advance.

The man explained that he's a fan of forking out a little extra for the window seat in general because then he's 'not kicked off if it's overbooked' and 'simply because I like the window seat' which is understandable.

When he got on this particular flight and was about to experience a luxury journey in his beloved window seat, he was near a woman and her two children, and that's when his problems started.

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He explained that she asked if he'd switch seats with one of her children so they could sit in the window seat, but since he was in first class for once he decided to say no, at which point she got very angry at him.

The traveller claimed that 'the kid threw a fit' and their mother gave him a glare while trying to 'guilt trip' him to switch throughout the flight.

Since a friend of his thought he was in the wrong he threw the situation out to Reddit to see what they made of it.

Generally people thought he was in the right not to move since he'd specifically booked the seat and had every right to say no.

One person said they 'have no problem with the mother asking' to switch things around but 'once you said no it should have been the end of it'.

Someone else said he shouldn't have to move since he 'paid for and selected' his seat while the mother 'didn't plan ahead' for her kid getting a window seat.

Kritchanut Onmang / Alamy Stock Photo

The general consensus was that the man was completely in the right to stay in his seat, although someone else said they'd go a step further and agree to switch seats if the mother paid $500.

It was pretty much unanimous that he was right not to move, though that isn't always the case for these sorts of things.

Normally people are pretty supportive of plane passengers not giving up seats they've already booked just because someone else didn't make sure they were going to be sitting in a certain seat.

Couples who don't book seats together and ask if they can swap later tend to elicit little sympathy from the internet peanut gallery, especially if the person being asked to move paid extra to sit in a particular spot.

The only time general opinion tends to swing the other way is when a family who couldn't get any other tickets are asking to sit with their young children.

Topics: Travel, Life, Parenting

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker