An American Airlines passenger found that a chld took the aisle seat he says he paid extra for, and had words with the family over it – but a flight attendant seems to have come down on the family’s side.
Osaac Summer took a redeye American Airlines flight. A young girl was in his aisle seat so, her family said, he’d need to take a nearby window seat. That way the family wouldn’t be separated.
@lalawright2 Respectfully they should’ve asked him if it was coo first cause he did pay for that seat.
He… was not amused, declaring “I don’t care about your daughter” and told the family, “Stay in your lane and in your seat!” It could have been handled more diplomatically, but it was his assigned seat right?
Except that he says a flight attendant told him the family was entitled to the seat, “She got on the plane before you” and told him “you are being the bad guy.” He says he was even threatened with ejection from the flight over it.
Afraid the flight was going to be delayed, another passenger offered the man their aisle seat. And a flight attendant apologized to… the family, “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Your daughter is really beautiful.”
That is not how this works! That is not how any of this works!
Live and Let’s Fly says that he doesn’t “think families should be permitted to buy basic economy tickets” since they don’t come with free seat assignments, and those are “necessary for families with young children; therefore, basic economy class tickets should not be sold to families traveling with children who cannot be separated.”
I don’t think that’s the right take here.
- Basic economy fares are literally intended by the airlines for price-sensitive leisure travelers (and families are often among the most price-sensitive). Airlines are trying to segment those customers from business travelers who will spend more money.
- In fact, families buying basic economy are entitled to be seated together on American Airlines!
American was actually the first to commit to family seating in its customer service plan. That’s a commitment which is enforceable by the Department of Transportation.
- They will “guarantee children 14 and under will be seated adjacent to an accompanying adult at no additional cost, including Basic Economy fares” provided that passengers are all booked on the same reservation (otherwise they won’t know to seat everyone together) and adjacent seats are actually available to assign when buying the tickets.
- Basic economy passengers are instructed to “skip choosing seats for the entire reservation” to have them assigned.
Of course it is important to check when buying tickets for a flight, traveling with small children, that there are actually seats open beside each other! It’s important to make sure the seats do get assigned, if relying on the airline to handle it for you. And it’s important to garden your reservation and make sure nothing changes between the time you book and when it’s time to travel.
Sometimes you’re stuck with a last minute flight change. Maybe your original flight cancelled and you got rebooked, or your first flight is delayed and you need to have your connection rebooked, or there’s a change to a smaller aircraft. That can put you on a plane without seats by your kids – and that needs to be solved.
Gate agents are rushed, and often it is agent singular rather than plural (a domestic flight less than 80% full is only going to have one agent to take care of all the duties involved in getting a flight out on time). So they may not be as helpful as you’d like, although still try to enlist their assistance. Then ask a flight attendant for help.
Most of the time other passengers aren’t going to want to sit next to your unsupervised children! Just consider offering the better seat that your family has in trade (an aisle, or at least a window), rather than the worse seat (like a middle). And if there are two parents, consider than in a pinch one parent can sit with a single child you may not all have to be seated together.
Somebody needs to explain to the stupid Waitress that she works for AA, not Southwest. (i.e. the SWA we have now — not the one starting Jan 27, 2026). It doesn’t matter that the girl got on first.
There are some missing information. Specifically:
1) The pax was 6’2″ and paid $300.00 for the aisle seat. HE PAID EXTRA MONEY SO HE WOULD NOT BE UNCOMFORTABLE. That is why he did not want to trade to a window seat.
2) The two entitled parents were sitting in the window/middle. So they decide to have their child steal the aisle seat so all three could sit together. It should have been that one entitled parent and the child sat in aisle/middle. The other entitled parent sat in the third seat which was located elsewhere. The child ends up still sitting next to one of the entitled parents.
—–> For the record, that is AA policy and procedure. That a child under 15 will sit next to at least one adult. NOT NECESSARILY BOTH ADULTS.
3) Omaar Summer posted a video to give his side of the story. In his video he clarifies that he would have been fine with a seat swap if they’d just asked. See video link below — him saying that is at 0:25.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT_DI7u-Uv8
—–> I have watched YouTube videos and seen articles on several travel blogs regarding seat swaps. It is clearly a contentious topic. Frequent travelers say two things:
* They say they are only going to swap for an equal or better seat. Not aisle near the front for middle in the back.
* One comment almost all of them say —> “If you steal my seat instead of asking if we can swap, it’s an automatic no.” (See #3 above — he would have been willing to switch if they had asked, not stolen his seat.)
—–> The fact that frequent fliers have HUGE issues with seat stealing speaks volumes about how airline etiquette SHOULD BE.
I agree, he could have handled it a little better, but he wasn’t wrong in what he was expecting. If I pay to select a seat, I have every right to expect that seat. This isn’t Southwest’s ‘sit where you want’ (for now) .
I bet if he sat in a first-class seat, the FA wouldn’t have told the passenger who paid for that one, “Well, he got on first”.
Why don’t the two parents move back in the plane and allow two passengers to move up? This way they could all be together.
Gary – What is the passenger’s recourse in this type of situation where the FA is wrong? I generally have no problem switching seats if it’s an equivalent or better seat and if I’m not already settled. But if I arrive & you’re sitting in my seat without asking – we have a problem. I’m nice but assertive.
Do airlines have actual policies or does each crew just wing it?
@XYZ — How ’bout start by not referring to the crew as ‘stupid waitress.’ Even if you feel strongly that someone was in the wrong here, you ‘show you cards’ by disparaging flight attendants, generally, making the rest of what you have to say irrelevant. Oh, and please do enjoy that delicious spit in your food and drink. You must wonder why you get sick often, don’t you…
@george romey:
7777! jackpot
Every fare is a multiple of the airline’s CASM from the prior reporting quarter + a multiple for the number of miles for that route – they can charge less for longer routes but they are not allowed to lose money on any seat sold to anyone at any time.
Removing geographic distortion from product pricing starts a chain reaction that moves the industry back towards sanity – it becomes impossible to go bankrupt!
and what do we call that 1990?
REGULATION
@Hagbard Celine — I get it. If you see most of my comments on here, other than the silly ones, I’m usually advocating in-favor of workers and consumers, and less-concerned about maximizing profits for the capital class. Generally, yes, that usually means more regulations and protections for those workers and consumers. Some detest that approach because they are either currently benefitting from the status quo, or have been convinced by others/propaganda to defraud their fellow passengers and the workers, most of whom are doing their best and just trying to get by. As I am sure you do too, I care deeply about the industry and all those affected by it.
I can understand that for safety reasons, young kids need to be seated near *a* parent, and folks should be (1) made aware when confirming every reservation that their seats are subject to change slightly if a situation with a young kid arises.
However, the safety issue only requires that *one* parent be sitting next to the child. If the parents didn’t book the seats correctly, and they’re relying on the this kind of seat-swapping to fix the problem…the two adults sitting next to each other without a stranger in between shouldn’t be a required component of the solution. They’re adults. They can sit separately and trade who sits next to the kid halfway through the flight.
The FA was wrong. A little common sense would have moved one of the parents and allowed the customer to have the seat he paid for.
@bkkbob — Do you mean actual ‘common sense,’ (as in, a sound judgment in practical matters); or, rather, like, the recent rightwing attempt to highjack the phrase (as in, to justify their beliefs without explaining their reasoning, often in furtherance of bigotry or political advantage)?
Just don’t fly American Airlines.
I am surprised if this really happened. If it did, you do have to obey the flight crew, they have so much power over if you if you don’t. However, in that case make your point as clearly as you can, recording, and file a complaint with the airline including FA’s name and I would bet you’ll get a fairly nice flight credit reward. The terms usually say you are not guaranteed a seat, but they do want to do what they can to give you want you booked. However, there are some tricks to politely escalate.
1) Explain you need an aisle and ask them to find you another.
2) If they can’t, state you will need to disembark the plane before you do you need confirmation they can get you another aisle without much delay. This is a particularly powerful threat if you have checked bags and make it shortly before door close, as they will need to delay the flight to extract your bag. The reality is, when this is presented to the purser, you are simply a passenger with a boarding pass and somebody is sitting in your seat, so you need to get off the plane, and 99% the purser is going to solve that for you unless the flight is full. Say, “Unfortunately, I reserved the aisle because I don’t fit in the window and it’s not fair to those around me.” At least if you are big enough to say that.
Sadly, today, first class will be filled with upgrades well before door close, so you won’t be able to get one of those, but often those people upgraded will have had an aisle.
Family should have arranged this before they boarded. FA should be fired.
FA should have had family exit the plane and work with an agent and let the agent find a volunteer.
Families don’t usually pay to sit together like they should if they need to. The Father should have sat elsewhere and let Mother sit with the Girl.
AA charges non-elites for seats exit those way in the back or middle seats.
Also interested in recourse. We’ve seen it worse, paying F passenger downgraded to Y.
Assume one doesn’t have to be home ASAP.
If an airline charges you more for a specific seat, they need to produce it. No one should try to make you the bad guy for wanting what you have already bought. Otherwise the airline is stealing from you.