Woman branded ‘soulless’ for refusing to swap plane seats | Travel News | Travel

A woman has sparked a debate after refusing to give up her plane seat so a mum could sit next to her six-year-old daughter on the flight.

The anxious flyer explained how she paid extra for a window seat months in advance to help her “stay calm” during the journey, knowing how worried flying makes her.

But when she arrived at her row, she was shocked to see a mum sitting in her window seat with a six-year-old girl next to her in the middle seat.

She said on Reddit: “I politely said, ‘Hey, sorry, but I think that’s my seat.’ She didn’t even look up, then she said: ‘Oh, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind switching. My seat is a few rows back, in the middle, but I really want to sit with my daughter.’

“I said, ‘I’m sorry, I understand that, but I booked this seat on purpose. I have anxiety, and I really need the window.’

“She now got angry at me for some reason. ‘Seriously? It’s a kid. You can’t sit in a middle seat for a couple of hours so a mother can stay with her child?'”

Annoyed, she explained how she paid extra for the window because she is an anxious traveller.

She added: “Then she stood up and snapped, ‘Unbelievable. Selfish people like you ruin everything. I hope you feel good about making a little girl cry.’

“Her daughter wasn’t even crying — just quietly colouring. I said, ‘I’m not responsible for your poor planning. If it was that important, you should’ve arranged seats together before the flight.'”

It was at this point when a flight attendant came over to see what all the fuss was about – and the mum tried to villainise her for refusing the trade.

She said: “The woman tried to make me sound like a monster, but I calmly explained I had this seat booked and wasn’t giving it up. The attendant checked my ticket and asked the woman to move.

“She did (all while loudly muttering things like, ‘Some people have no soul.’) I felt awkward the whole flight, but I also knew I wasn’t in the wrong.”

Wanting to know whether she’s in the wrong, she has taken to social media to ask users for their thoughts.

In response, one user said: “I flew last week and we had several families make a request to move seats so they could sit together.

“However, they did this through the stewardess, who then asked via intercom for volunteers. That’s the right way to request it, not be a one-off a***hole like this woman was.”

Another user added: “I don’t confront someone in my seat. I take it to the flight attendant and let them confront that person. I have nothing to say to person who wants my seat. It is mine. I bought it. My ticket says as much.

“I just look at them with a blank stare and let the flight attendant handle it. I can swear at them and call them names but why?

“I remain non aggressive and let the flight attendant be the bad guy. I am an aisle person. I don’t like to be trapped in the middle or at a window. I can feel kind of car sick in those seats.”