When it comes to air travel, passengers often have the choice to pre-select their seats according to their preferences.
However, not everyone is willing to pay extra for a window or aisle seat, instead leaving it to the airline to assign them a spot.
One passenger, keen to avoid any uncertainty, reserved a window seat for her five-hour flight in order to enjoy the view and lean against the window for a nap.
But her peaceful journey didn’t go quite as she had hoped.
She shared on Reddit: “A woman gets on with her teenage son and asks if I’d switch seats so he can enjoy the view. I politely said sorry I’d prefer to keep my seat.
“She immediately says, ‘Wow that’s just a seat, don’t be difficult.’ I smiled and said, ‘Exactly. It’s my seat.’
“She let out this huge sigh, sat down next to me, and spent the entire fight elbowing into my armrest and dramatically texting with her brightness at full blast.”
Questioning whether she was in the wrong, she asked: “I get wanting to sit together, but how is me planning ahead suddenly me being rude?”.
Responding to her post, one user commented: “I’d have pointed to the middle seat and countered with “wow it’s just a seat, don’t be difficult” in an even tone.
“Or if you wanted to be a bit difficult, maybe stare at her and say, ‘Are you really serious, this seat costs extra money, and you want it for free?'”
“The point is that these bullies get so confident is because most people give it to them out of fear or to avoid conflict. Try standing up once and see how fast they cower!”.
Another user chimed in: “Had this on my first kids flight ever. I specifically booked a window seat on either side of the same row.
“A grandma kept insisting her daughter booked a window seat for her grandkid. That’s fine, but it’s not what her ticket says and no I’m not surrendering the seat I specifically booked for my child.”
A third user shared: “Just to even things out: I used to fly all the time for my job and I always booked a window seat. One flight next to me was a mum and a 12 year old kid.
“The kid kept discreetly leaning my way to look out the window, obviously his first flight. I asked the mum if it was OK to switch and give him the window seat.
“The kid was super thrilled, mum was very pleased and even gave me the aisle seat. Hero points for me, I say.”
A final user added: “She was the rude one. As soon as they pull that bull****, immediately call the flight attendant and tell them that this woman is trying to take the seat you paid for and has been verbally harassing you.
“That puts her on their radar so that she will be less likely to pull bull****.”
