On Air Now
Early Breakfast with Lindsey Russell 4am - 6:30am
Man claims he had 'abhorrent' flight after he refused to move plane seats so a family could sit together
13 August 2021, 16:23
The passenger forced a child to sit away from their family after he refused to give up the extra legroom seat he had paid for.
If you were going on a long haul flight, you might pay extra for a seat with more legroom.
But what would you do if a family with young kids wanted you to sit elsewhere so they could all travel together?
It's a situation that one man found himself in, and since disembarking the flight after not giving up his premium seat, has been left questioning the morality of his decision to stay put.
He posted on Reddit to ask if he was an 'a**hole' for not moving, even though it meant a young chid had to sit for ten hours away from their parents and sibling.
The man explained: "I paid a small amount extra for a seat that is in the front of the cabin - the coach seat that has a wall in front of it and extra legroom because it's my second leg in a 20-hour total trip.
Read now: Great cocktail recipes and bottles to raise a toast to National Prosecco Day 2021
"Two adults, two children (8ish?) and two infants would like to fill this row of four. Two adults with one infant each in the bassinet in front of them, and the two middle-schoolers.
"The attendant asked if I would move to a similar seat so they could sit together.
"I said, 'but I paid extra for this seat.' The response was that the other seat was the exact same, so sure. It was not the exact same. It was the same chair, aisle, and class, but it was not with the extra legroom. I said, 'absolutely not.'
"So one of the middle schoolers had to sit by themselves."
While he might have hoped that he could enjoy his premium seat in peace, the opposite happened and he instead claims he was given dirty looks by other passengers and ignored by the cabin crew.
Read now: The best things to do during a family staycation in Skegness
He added: "Service on the flight for me was abhorrent in comparison to everyone around me."
The commenters on the forum mostly supported his point of view over the family's.
One said he was in the right, and it was typical of parents to expect strangers to make allowances for them.
"You paid more and planned ahead. They didn't. Too many parents think the rest of us will just give them want they want even if they don't pay or plan for it," they wrote.
Another said: "I would pay twice the cost of my fare to NOT sit beside two infants, leg room be damned. I feel so bad for OP [original poster] - this sounds like a miserable flight."
Watch as passenger stops cabin crew from shutting plane so they can wait for 'shopaholic' daughter
However, some did say that it is so hard to book a block of seats that it wasn't right to say the family had been lazy or cheap to plan this in advance.
One said: "It doesn’t hurt to ask if someone will swap as long as it’s a similar or better situation for the other person. For example, window seat for a window seat in a similar section of the plane. It’s not always a failure to plan ahead, an assumption that other people will move for you, or anything like that."
