A woman has shared her frustration after an ‘entitled’ passenger tried to steal her plane seat – but she managed to get the last laugh with a cutting response on the flight
A woman has hit out at an ‘entitled’ passenger who stole her plane seat and tried to pull it off with ‘main character energy’. She detailed her experience on a nine-hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Bali, which had two economy sections.
The first section was described as “big and crowded”, but she had the foresight to pre-book a seat in the second section where every seat boasted extra leg room. Taking to Reddit, she shared: “Guess which one I booked? Yep, the smaller one, because I actually planned ahead, paid the higher fare, and got the perks (priority boarding, luggage, and that sweet legroom).
“Boarding finishes, and the woman next to me slides into the empty window seat, leaving the middle empty. Dream scenario: me on the aisle, her on the window, and glorious space in between.
“I’m snuggled up under a blanket, headphones in, hoodie up. Universal ‘do not disturb’ mode activated.”
Once the aircraft reached cruising altitude and the seatbelt sign went off, the woman felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see a woman in her late 20s to early 30s grinning at her.
The woman continued: “She starts with, ‘Wow, you look so comfortable!’ Translation: she’s about to make me uncomfortable.
“She explains she wants me to swap seats with her so she and her friend (currently seated in the sardine can section) can take my aisle and the free middle seat.
“Her seat? Somewhere back in the busy main cabin, absolutely not extra legroom. I just smiled and said: ‘No thank you.’ Her jaw dropped.
“She tried to argue, so I spelled it out, ‘This is a paid extra legroom cabin. I booked it in advance, it wasn’t free, and I’m not giving it up so two adults who didn’t plan ahead can sit together’.”
She says the entitled woman looked at her as if she’d just “slapped her across the face” before walking away with a sour expression.
She added: “I put my headphones back on, hoodie up, and turned toward the window. Curtain closed on that conversation.
“The absolute audacity of people never ceases to amaze me. Pay for your seat like the rest of us.”
Commenting on her post, one user said: “I can’t believe the hide of some people.”
While someone else added: “My brother is tall so he always books the extra legroom seats. He also travels pretty often.
“He has told me that on almost every flight he is on someone will try to get him to swap with them to some squished no no-legroom seat. He has mastered the ‘f*** off’ and ‘what part of f*** off don’t you understand?'”
A third user said: “My come back line as always is….. ‘sure for $1,000 (£743) cash, you can have the seat, that’s my price.'”