A woman has shared how she refused to give up her plane seat so an almost two-year-old boy could sit down on a flight – and people agree she was right to keep it to herself
A plane passenger has sparked a debate after refusing to give up her extra seat for a toddler. The 34-year-old explained how she is working towards losing weight – but admits she has a long way to go until she gets down to her dream dress size.
But to ensure her comfort onboard her flight, and to not bother other passengers, she booked two seats as she knew she would struggle to fit into one. She said on Reddit: “I’m going over to see my brother and his husband for Christmas across the country and because I’m fat, I booked an extra seat so everyone can be more comfortable. I know it sucks having to pay for an extra seat but it is what it is.”
She went on to explain that everything went smoothly from checkin in, to getting past security and boarding. However, a woman with an almost two-year-old boy spotted her ‘spare’ seat and decided to take advantage of it. The mum told her to “squeeze into one seat” so she could sit her boy down in the other. She added: “She told me, not asked. I told her no and that I paid for this seat for the extra space. She makes a big fuss over it, which got the flight attendant’s attention.
“She told the flight attendant I was stealing the seat from her son, then I showed my boarding passes, proving that I, in fact paid for the extra seat. The flight attendant asked me if I could try to squeeze in, but I said no, that I wanted the extra seat I paid for. The boy, who the mom said is 18 months old was supposed to sit in her lap so he could do just that. The flight attendant eventually told the mom to put her son in her lap. “
After putting up with “direct looks and passive-aggressive remarks” from her throughout the flight, she has started to second-guess her actions. She asked Reddit users: “I do feel a little bad because the boy looked hard to control so am I the a***hole?”
Commenting on her post, one user said: “She’s the a***hole for not buying a seat for her son and assuming someone else would give up a seat they paid for. Odds are she was hoping there’d be extra seats on the flight so she didn’t have to pay and used the lap thing as a loophole. Classic case of you snooze you lose.”
Another user added: “You are a little bit of an a***hole (to yourself) for how apologetic you are in this post about your size. You should always do what you can to be as healthy as you can, but being fat isn’t a character flaw or a moral failing.
“We all have our own challenges in life, and you deserve to not be ashamed of your body and yourself even if you aren’t currently meeting your goals. If mum wants an extra seat for her kids, she should have purchased one. She’s not entitled to a seat you purchased, and you don’t need to feel bad for her bad behaviour.”
A third user said: “Some people are so entitled you paid for the seats, you should not have to give one of them up. The Cabin crew should have stopped this straight away once they saw you had booked both seats, it should have been obvious why. They should not have asked you to squeeze in to one seat. The mother was an a***hole and So was the member of cabin crew.”
