A young woman flying cross country found herself in the gate area noticing a demanding passenger. This older woman, with a six or seven year old son, was “demanding things from the airport staff.”
Once the plane boarded this passenger went to her middle seat, only to find that the mother and son showed up at her row. They were assigned the window and aisle seats and she was between them.
- The mother offered her aisle seat so she could sit in the middle beside her son.
- That’s pretty standard – book an aisle and window and maybe you get the empty middle, and worse case the person the middle will trade with you!
Only this young woman didn’t want an aisle seat. What are the odds? She said that she’d be willing to take the window, but the mother apparently didn’t want to move her child from the window seat. Maybe she expected a tantrum if she did?
That’s when things escalated, with the mother “yelling that she NEEDED the seat and that she wont accept that her son has to give up his seat as he is a child and deserves the window seat.” A flight attendant had to intervene, reminding everyone that they sit in their assigned seat. The young woman didn’t have to give up her middle seat.
This may be the strangest “do I have to give up my seat to accommodate spouses or a family” story I’ve ever heard! But it gets weirder,
The mom kept ‘accidentally’ kicking me the whole flight and made her son annoy me on Purpose so i might give up my seat.
When i went to the toilet i thought it was finally over as she might have accepted it but when i came back she was in my seat and my jacket and my bag which i left there were thrown into the aisle. I called a Stewardess and they made her get back onto her place.
I guess the lesson here is that picking an aisle and window seat with empty middle isn’t actually a risk-free strategy if two people want to sit together, since there actually are people who like middle seats!
People actually do choose them when other seats are open though perhaps usually because the window and aisle have a fee attached. But selecting a middle seat in advance is actually an interesting strategy to wind up with an empty seat beside you.
- Two passengers together won’t pick your row, since those passengers can’t sit together.
- And if only one person takes the row, you still have either the window or aisle open beside them.
Plus maybe middle seats aren’t so bad? You can make the case that you’re entitled to both armrests. You’re only one person from the aisle (for lavatory access) but can still see out the window. And you’re next to two different people, doubling your odds of making a new friend or contact.
The passive aggressive reaction from the mom, and stealing the middle seat while the young woman was in the lavatory, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around.
Sounds like both passengers were a bit nutty.
Who doesn’t give up a middle seat for an aisle seat??
These people that book window/aisle are narcissistic sociopaths. The airlines should not allow booking window/aisle when middle is open.
@Mantis AF/KLM do not allow 2 people travelling together in Economy to choose a window and aisle seat. This is something US-based airlines should consider implementing.
I wonder what I would do if I were in the middle seat (which happens sometimes since I non-rev). I think I would not take the offer to move, just to punish them for trying that trick.
I am the type of person to pick middle when only a window and middle are available. I only have to bother one person to go to the lavatory. Aisle is definitely the best, but middle is fine; it’s not the horror people make it out to be.
It’s all funny until…
There are still people calling them stewardesses? Really?
Indeed, what an odd situation! While I’d gladly make the change both as a courtesy to the other passengers and because I’d prefer the aisle to the middle, I can kinda sorta see how a few folks might have a general preference for the middle over the aisle. In addition to the reasons Gary stated, if you’re in the aisle you can get jostled by passengers, FAs, food service passing by. And in this particular case, a small child on one side means that if you’re in the middle you’re not as squeezed as you would be if between two adults.
@Mantis I disagree completely. I frequently book window/aisle with my partner. We don’t care if we sit shoulder to shoulder, but enjoy sitting in the same row. Someone in the middle sometimes asks us to switch. The answer is always no.
I once had my assigned window seat and a lady had the middle seat next to me with the aisle seat open. We spent the entire six hour flight as happy as sardines in a can because she would not move over to the aisle seat. Some people are fine with middle seats.
Just a point of note … the middle seater is not entitled to both armrests. They are entitled to the armrest which has their seat control i.e. the recline button.
Much ado about nothing. My wife and I always book adjacent aisle seats. We can see and talk to each other and are both comfortable with the extra space. That said, I once had a late change of plans, ended up in the middle seat between a couple, and they kept passing food over me the entire flight. Enormous chutzpah!
Tora- the passenger in the middle seat is not entitled to both armrests, it is a courtesy given to the middle seat passenger by those who recognize the middle seat is the least desirable.
@Steven S, I would think that one strong uncovered cough while that was happening would have stopped such nonsense but you are probably too polite to do it.
Ok Alex, so in addition to not even offering to switch, you’re also going to talk across the middle person? But you’re happy, so screw everyone else right? Yep, narcissistic sociopath.
I hate entitled mommies with their brats.
This isn’t a story about booking aisle-window preventing two people from sitting together. It’s a story that you have to be willing to give up the aisle seat if you want to sit together.
One time many years ago on a Hawaiian Airlines flight a woman and her husband were sitting in my husband’s and my assigned seats. She asked if my husband and I would switch seats with her and her husband so they could sit across the aisle from their children. We had the two seats next to the window and apparently her children were in the middle section of the same row. I asked where her seats were and she pointed to the other side of the plane. Not wanting to switch, mostly because they had already made themselves comfortable in our seats assuming we would agree, I said no. She got so huffy and mean. Telling me among other things that I “obviously don’t have children”, which was true, but no business of hers. Turns out the seats they wanted to swap with us were two seats in the middle row, not two seats next to the window. Plus, her children were not really ‘alone’ in their seats. Her sister and travel companion were sitting in the row right in front of us, next to the window. As retaliation her sister decided to recline her seat all the way back as soon as the plane took off. She refused to put it upright during meal time until a flight attendant had to make her do it. I will never understand why people don’t consult with the gate agents before getting on the plane if they are unhappy with their seating arrangements. It’s not other passenger’s responsibility to change seats because you are incapable of planning ahead of time.
Why didn’t the older lady slip a Benjamin ($100) to her younger masochistic seat mate?
Lordy, too many people out there think if they yell the loudest they win the argument.
That’s not how it works…..
I usually keep 2-3 MRE bean burritos in my bag fir emergencies, since they don’t need refrigerated and are meds free.
I would have pulled those bad boys out and chowed down. In approximately 15 mins, they would have been BEGGING to move anywhere else.
Yeah, middle seats are pretty bad. You have no rights over the armrests, just the tacit agreement to share. The OP was a fool to not trade her middle seat for the aisle. I remember wanting to have a window seat my first flights on an airplane.
Should the mother have yelled or moved the OP’s coat and bag? No- don’t make a scene nor touch other people’s stuff, unless they are in your space. But this is the story from the OP’s perspective- who knows exactly what happened.
I book window-aisle all the time- typically we want to swap the window seat for the middle, to still have easy egress. If you don’t want to swap, or insist on the aisle seat, we keep our original seats. But please don’t try any passive-aggressive techniques like whipping out a spoiled burrito or coughing on something being passed by you. We lived in China for years- can out-loogie any seatmate!
Sometimes it is not about strategy. My husband likes the window seat. I like the aisle. We have no problem with a stranger sitting between us, though most of our flights have a 2- seater side and that’s usually where we end up.
Similar story— except the AIRLINE assigned the seats between me and my toddler. I could believe the middle seat person would not switch. My child was well behaved but I did have to pass some things over the middle seat. Not that I cared but I was shocked the middle man wanted to put himself through that! What if my kid had not behaved and started crying or throwing things?
Sounds like the mother should be tossed off the plane and banned from flying. If you can’t stay in your assigned seat then you can’t function in society. Can’t stand people who think they are entitled to switch seats upon boarding. That being said there is no way i’m staying in the middle seat if someone gives me an option for an aisle.
Left Boston years ago, connected in NY for a overnight flight to San Diego. I had the window. There was a kid next to me and a woman on the aisle. Kids mom and sibling were across the aisle. The woman wanted my seat, I take the middle, and the kid the aisle. Told her NO! My arm was casted and splinted up to my arm pit. The kid bugged the poop out of her. I slept for a good portion of the red eye. She was free to switch seats, but wanted my window seat and to have me deal with the kid which she antagonized.
@Mantis
Totally disagree. My wife likes an aisle seat. I like a window, because I like to look out it, and I don’t like getting wacked by the food/beverage cart. We do not need to sit together. If someone sits between us then we ignore each other for the duration of the flight. To not do that is rude.
However, I would never book aisle/window if travelling with a kid, that’s just stupid and I’m glad it backfired on her.
Book a seat you want to sit in.
@Jules if an airline wouldn’t allow booking an aisle and a window seat, I would just make two separate bookings..when I travel with my adult son, he always wants a window seat and I want an aisle. If there is someone in the middle seat, my son and I don’t talk to each other during the flight and we don’t pass items between us. Nor do we ask to change seats
I think it’s fine if 2 people traveling together take window and aisle seats leaving a middle one for someone else. But only if the pair aren’t also talking over the middle person or passing lots of stuff back and forth. If you don’t want to sit with your companion, then you don’t get to make whomever you forced between you have to suffer the whole flight either.
My bet is that the “young woman” is the real attention-seeking one with an excessive entitlement mentality. A lack of empathy for others, especially a child, is a sign of a lack of character.
Guys, do yourself a favor, and don’t marry a woman like that “young woman” complaining about the kid and the mother.
If people want to do this, I have no problem sitting in the middle so long as they both plan to travel as if they were solo passengers.
Once, I had a pair of ladies tell me they were traveling together. I offered to switch if they wanted to sit together. They declined, but then one of them said, “We’re probably going to be talking over you but…” At this point, I cut her off and said, “Absolutely not happening. This is a 3 hour night flight. If you two want to talk, one of you has to switch or this flight will be extremely unpleasant for all three of us if you try talking over me.” One of the working flight attendants was walking by right when I said that. She nodded in approval, raised her eyebrows and said, “What will it be, ladies? Switch or a nice, quiet flight?”
I didn’t hear a peep out of either of them once after that point until deplaning time.
Many movie theaters do not allow the purchasing of seats that will leave lone empty seats. I wish the airlines would stop allowing PAIRS of travelers to do this.
People making some good points about potentially tweaking the system, although I don’t mind it as is — it gives someone the chance to play the game which in itself is fine. The problem is the people who do play with fire complaining when they get burned.
Common courtesy is so important in the skies. While we’re all enclosed in close quarters can we all have empathy for one another? Too much to ask for some sadly.
I have no respect for any passenger demanding a fellow passenger relinquish their reserved seat. Your lack of planning is not my emergency.
You could say “I’m willing to surrender my reserved seat for $XXX hundred in cash. If that’s not agreeable to you, we have nothing further to discuss.”
Somehow I can’t shake the felling that the young lady saw the mom was such a bitc$ to the gate agent that she decided to hold the middle seat. Not because she wanted the middle seat
If the human race dies out, please attach a copy of this article to our tomb.
Why can’t we all get along?
Paul Kennedy wrote: “There are still people calling them stewardesses? Really?”
Why would one not refer to a stewardess as a stewardess ?
“Stewardess,” however, is an outdated term that has been replaced by “flight attendant” on all airlines. Whether fairly or unfairly, stewardesses became associated with the negative impression of being little more than models in the sky.