A mum has shared her fury after a woman refused to sit next to her and her baby on a flight – but she ended up getting the last laugh after the woman swapped seats
Travelling with a child can be challenging. While the sound of a crying baby might be irksome to fellow passengers, it’s often more taxing for the parent attempting to manage the situation. Many travellers express a preference not to sit next to a baby on a flight.
However, if there are spare seats available and you choose to swap to one, you may find yourself in a less favourable spot than you would have had if you remained next to the young passenger. This was precisely the predicament faced by a mum on a recent flight. After several passengers declined to sit next to her, she ended up with more room than she’d anticipated.
The mother, known as Daisy, shared her experience in a TikTok video. She was queuing to board the plane with her daughter, Lavender, when she noticed another woman glaring at her as though she had “two heads”.
Despite the woman’s stares, Daisy boarded the plane and took her assigned window seat. Then, the same passenger from before approached her.
Daisy recounted: “This lady stops with a face like a slapped a**e. She’s clearly seen me from the front of the plane, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting there?’.
“I say yes, and she goes, ‘How am I supposed to sit in the middle seat next to you and your baby?'”
Daisy mentioned that the flight duration was only two hours, so she didn’t anticipate it being a significant issue. However, the disgruntled passenger ended up swapping seats with her husband, who was seated several rows back.
With her husband squeezed into the middle seat next to her, the area felt incredibly tight as he was “6-foot something” and took up considerable space. The cramped conditions left the woman worried about how she would manage to breastfeed their child without enough space to manoeuvre.
However, a lucky break came just 10 minutes later when the husband’s spouse returned, announcing that there were spare seats at the rear of the plane – a revelation that suddenly gifted Daisy an entire row to herself.
She recounted with relief: “He stomps off, and the other lady in the aisle seat also finds another seat. So we’ve now got the whole row to ourselves.
“I was winning because Lavender fell asleep the whole flight. I had the whole row to myself, and they were squashed in like sardines at the back of the plane.”
Opinions among commenters on the story were mixed, though. Some said they’d rather not sit beside a baby during a flight either, but many sympathised with parents who have no choice but to travel by air with their little ones.
A sympathetic commenter suggested: “Take some headphones if you don’t want to hear a baby. People are so rude. I’m taking my 18-month-old on a plane for the first time in three weeks. If someone says this, I’ll be livid.”
An ex-airline crew member reflected: “I used to be crew and I had more well-behaved babies and children than I did adults who would argue over putting seatbelts on or overhead locker space.”
On the opposing side, one individual expressed support for the first woman: “I am with the other women on this. Parents expect everyone to love their kids as much as they do.”