People Divided As Ryanair Passenger Refuses To Swap Seats For Mum And Baby
The internet is divided after a Ryanair passenger refused to swap seats for a mother and her baby.
The passenger took to Reddit to ask for advice, after explaining he had purchased a middle seat on a Ryanair flight.
Discussing how he wanted to be in the specific seat to be close to the exit, the man revealed that when he boarded the plane, he was asked by a mother if he would swap seats with her husband who was 12 rows behind.
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"It may sound odd to buy a middle, but I wanted it to be as closer to the exit as possible and there were no other seats available," he wrote.
"The flight was landing on a minor secondary airport which has limited train connections so if I wanted to catch the best train, I have to run outside the plane and do passport control asap. If I miss that train other option is to wait 1:30 hour or get a 70 dollars cab. So that's why I paid for that seat.
"So I board my flight tired as hell, also business trip was awful and unproductive, and I have this lady with her child of months [sic] quietly sleeping sitting in the window seat.
"She immediately asks if I can move to row 18 so she can seat [sic] with husband. I just said that I paid the seat and I did not want to move, didn't really explain much."
The man explained that the 'whole row' was looking at him, and claimed he could see the mum texting the husband.
"The worst thing is that the aisle seat next to me was empty, no one showed up so it seemed even more odd that my excuse was that I bought a middle seat. Eventually no one was sitting next to the husband so she moved down the airplane," he continued.
Asking for other opinions, he added: "AITA? I mean was physically and mentally exhausted, I paid for my ticket and that exact seat. Everyone was judging me yet no one moved a finger to help the mother. Open to hear your opinion."
Reddit was pretty divided, but the majority deemed that the man wasn't in the wrong.
One wrote: "You know you have reasons you purchased that seat. It would have been nice of you if you heeded to the lady's request, but you're not obligated to. Why did they not purchase a seat by each other? Not your fault they did not plan this any better."
While another said: "If you WANT to sit together - PAY FOR THE SEAT."
And a third added: "I empathise with the family, but why didn't they buy seats together or ask at the gate? They took a gamble on the seating and lost, you had no way of knowing what seats would be available until the doors closed."
Others asked why the man didn't move to the empty aisle seat, but he later clarified: "Yeah it was possible but the lady as soon as the doors closed left. I guess she was irritated."
What would you do?
Lucy Devine