A woman recalled how she was accused of having stolen a child’s seat while on board a flight from Hawaii to New York City, with a flight attendant thankfully coming to her aid
A flight attendant rode to the aid of a passenger after she was wrongly accused of stealing a child’s seat.
There are few places better suited to raising blood pressure than a plane cabin. The seats are uncomfortable, the space is cramped, and unexpected delays are common. In that environment, it is easy to see how people bicker with one another.
Especially when accusations of seat theft begin to fly.
“I was flying from Hawaii to NY and had a layover in Chicago. The flight from Hawaii to Chicago was about 10 hours long, and I had booked my flight well in advance so I could have my choice of seats. I chose the window seat on the exit row and as I was waiting in the airport, I was excited knowing my seat was going to be perfect,” explained a woman on Reddit’s Entitled People.
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“We start boarding and I’m one of the first groups to board so I make sure I have everything I need from my bag, put my headphones on, and start my Netflix binge. About 10 minutes in the woman next to me taps me on the shoulder.”
What the woman had to say did not delight her fellow passenger.
“Hi sweetie, I’m flying with my family and my granddaughter would like to be in the window seat,” the older woman said.
Unfortunately for the grandmother and her granddaughter, the request for a seat swap was quickly turned down.
“I’m sorry, I chose this seat because I know how long the flight is going to be. I would offer to let her sit here during takeoff and then switch, but she looks really young and I don’t think they allow children to sit in the exit row,” the Reddit author recalled saying.
At this point, the young girl’s mother stepped in.
“So you’re just going to be heartless and deny my daughter her window seat?” she said. Her daughter then chimed in: “Mom you told me I could have it!! Tell her it’s mine!!”
According to the Redditor, the young passenger started “having a temper tantrum and screaming while sitting in the aisle, holding up the entire line of people trying to get to their seats.”
The grandmother then told the woman that she’d broken “that little girl’s heart!”
Having heard the commotion, a flight attendant wandered over and asked those involved what the issue was. The mum quickly provided her perspective.
“This girl stole my daughter’s seat!! She shoved her way in as I was helping my daughter with her bag, and now she refuses to give us the seat back!” she said. The grandmother helpfully added: “She stole the ticket from my grandbaby! I saw her do it!”
However, the alleged seat thief was equipped with proof showing that this was not in fact true. She showed the flight attendant her ticket along with her driving license.
The flight attendant made her judgement. “This is her seat. Also, your daughter is way too young to be in an exit row. Please don’t disturb this young lady again,” she said.
The Redditor was allowed to stay in her seat, but she did suffer some eyeballs from her flight foes.
“The rest of the flight I endured dirty looks from the family, and at one point the grandma tried to spill a drink on me as the flight attendant was handing it to me. Hopefully, on the next flight I can just sit in silence,” she concluded.