‘I refused to give up my plane seat so a mum could sit with her 6’5 son’

6 February 2023, 12:38

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

A woman has been praised after refusing to switch plane seats so a mum could sit next to her teenage son.

A woman has asked for advice after she refused to swap plane seats for a family.

Taking to TikTok, Surya Garg - who goes by the username @surya_garg - explained she was settled in a window seat when a mum approached her to ask if she could swap.

When Surya asked "where would you want me to switch to?", the mum then "pointed to a middle seat a couple of rows back".

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Then, when she asked who the woman's son was, she pointed to ‘a 6ft 5in man’, who wasn’t a child at all.

Surya admitted she didn’t know what to say, but she decided not to swap and stay in the window seat she had paid extra for.

But this didn’t go down well, and Surya said the mum was furious and spent the whole flight 'muttering profanities at me'.

After the experience, Surya went on to ask her TikTokers: “Was I in the wrong here? I need someone to tell me.”

The video has since gone viral and has been watched more than 850,000 times, with users divided in the comments.

One person wrote: “The way she reacted is precisely why you should not give up your seat. Good job for sticking up for yourself.”

Travel booking site Expedia even commented, writing: “Not in the wrong.”

Someone else said: “No you weren't. I'm a mom. I have an 11 and 14-year-old daughters. When we fly, I pay extra for us to sit together. Every time.

“Because it's my responsibility to make sure we sit together if that's what we need. And at their ages they can absolutely handle a flight on their own. So a 16-year-old old boy can too.”

Others were quick to share their own travel experiences, with one person saying: “This happened to me with an adult couple. But they were ALREADY in my (aisle) seat when I got there!”

Someone else said: “I always tell them I need a window seat since I get motion sickness and vertigo... might puke. Usually shuts them up and they don't mind the first seat.”

Read more:

• Plane passenger woke up to child drawing on her white socks
• Train passenger praised for refusing to give up first-class seat for elderly woman