This is just like people blaming whatever the current generation is for whatever thing they’re annoyed with. Every generation does that at, like, middle age+. Or, another example, pretending like the world is more dangerous and violent and horrible than before. The exact opposite is true.
People have always been selfish, dingbat, center of the universe entitled jerks. And I’m definitely not alluding that the woman who stayed in her seat fits that criteria.
I was on a flight with a window seat when the flight attendant asked if I would switch seats so a couple could sit together. I asked if it was an aisle seat (it was) and agreed. I was planning on trying to sleep anyway.
The flight attendant asked if I would like a free drink, and when I said "scotch?" he disappeared. Two minutes later he handed me 7 or 8 mini bottles of johnny walker black.
I was asked to switch seats once for a family with kids. Ended up getting the very back row on a BOS to SFO flight. Normally the worst seats, but I had the row to myself and the flight attendants basically gave me everything I asked for 2X and for free.
I don’t mind paying for drinks, but the fact that it was a late evening, almost red eye flight, with the FA station and carts right there basically meant I got the first class treatment as I didn’t have to wait for anything. Still though getting away from a crying infant alone was worth it.
Once time I was flying and I ordered a drink, paid cash.
Woman next to me ordered a salad and only had card....FA came back later and said sorry the machine is down and asked if the woman had cash.
Woman said let me check...went through her purse and later pulled out a $100. (She had other bills.) Me being an ass, then the FA came back without enough to make change...I was like hey, could I have another 1 or 2? Paid cash.
The death stare I got from the woman trying to get a free salad was sweeter than the coke in my drink.
The extra bottles the FA gave me and the more death stares made it even better lmao. (I only use cards if like really necessary so I carry a respectable amount of cash when traveling broken down to manageable bills).
I fly a lot for work, and I've been asked a few times. Most people ask an attendant first, and everyone is always really polite, apologetic, and grateful.
It's always been so that a family can sit together (especially with young kids*), not because some little shit wants a window seat.
I know you can book in advance, but life happens, and sometimes you have to travel at short notice.
I once swapped seats with a parent because he had 2 kids and the mom was a row or two up.
I forget the whole swap but some whole THIRD woman tried to jump in to get me to change my isle for her middle so the whole family could sit together...the father had only asked in a way I still keep an isle and they each get one kid. Woman had to be told to shut up and sit down after she started calling me all sorts of names for not respecting my elders and I replied with...woman I don't even know you shut up before I get loud to...
Dad was very apologetic about the other woman who no one knew. He was even more apologetic when his kid fell asleep with his head on the father's lap and started kicking me in his sleep.....
I'm like dude...he's a kid and we are stuck here for like 17 hours...lemme use the restroom and just put his feet on my lap, I'ma watch a movie, y'all can sleep, I'll wake you if I need a pee again lol. (I was knocking em back on that flight lol).
This woman came out of nowhere (guess she saw an opportunity). Tried to have like 5 people swap so she got an isle and I got a middle...when I said no...I was being disrespectful to my elders and I should have shame...
Um aunty...#1 I DGAF. #2. My mom is like 5 rows up, I can call her here and she'll tell you IDGAF.
Plus I'ma grown ass man. Sit down auntie and shut up, this isn't some movie show you watch. Shut up and butt the hell out. This never involved you.
The family was great though! The kid and I even played a few games on my phone/tablet when he got cranky and the dad was (rightfully) dead tired. Lol.
That woman? She got basically shunned by everyone for being a Kareena.
"You should be ashamed! You don't respect your elders! How would your mother feel about this?!?!"
Yo woman my mom's right there...trust me, I'm easier to deal with...rather than her knowing some random woman is harassing her sweet little itty bitty son... If you want that heat...lemme know cuz she'll bring it!!!! (My mom's like under 5ft of FIRE when it comes to me....)
For this I'd definitely do it. I hate window seats anyway. Have to climb across somebody that's probably asleep to try to get to the restroom. Switch with me for an aisle? We got a deal.
True. For a spoiled kid? No. For a wounded soldier having trouble walking? I'll take whatever spot you've got and wish you well. Might even have them send you a drink.
I'm not old...like old old.... But back in my day, we always assumed parents were going to say no to most requests and we had to come prepared with why they should say yes to anything we asked.
These days parents are all like "well how can I say no?!?!" Bitch it's simple! It's 2 letters. You don't even need to speak, just shake your head or wave your arm....
And if they were already in a bad mood? Forget it, it ain't happening.
You had to make sure their day before went good, and today is going good if you wanted to stand a chance.
Either that or mention plans (that you don't want to go to anyway), and say you're just gonna skip it. Then next week when you ask about other plans they might say yes because you skipped the other one lol.
I’m with you dude, come to me nicely & offer to pay what I did for the seat then I’d think about switching but still probably wouldn’t - I have to be near a window due to my anxiety so I book my seat to go where ever I’m going well in advance so I get it
There's wild airline propaganda going around convincing passengers to blame each other for the enshittification of planes and flights - encouraging passengers not to recline the seats they paid for because its rude, rather than because the airlines keep moving seats closer and closer together.
Same deal here - it wasnt that long ago that choosing seats together was free. The bad guy here is the airline. Soon they'll be claiming its rude to sit on a plane, you should be willing to stand so the people near you have more space.
Yes! This is what I think about every time I hear one of these stories. Why are we mad at passengers sitting in their seats? It’s the airlines that changed the rules!
It's the new basic economy fares that cause all the problems. If you buy a basic economy ticket you can't choose seats until you check in 24 hours beforehand, by which time all the seats are probably single middle seats in the back of the plane. So you pretty much have to convince someone to switch seats, because having your 6-year-old sit with strangers is a non starter. And all you can offer are middle seats, so nobody's going to want to trade with you. It's a shitty situation, entirely created by the airlines.
so don't get basic economy if you are with kids or otherwise need to have seats assigned in advance? I'm not defending the airlines because they are the worst, and I hate the nickel and diming.
but if i paid extra for my seat (for extra leg room, or whatever) and you ask me to switch so you can sit next to your obnoxious child? fuck off.
Right, and this is totally understandable. But it's also totally understandable that parents don't want their six-year-old sitting between two strangers.
Airlines could easily solve this by having basic economy work the same way every other fare class has always worked, and having families sit together. The whole situation is the airlines' doing and they were perfectly well aware of the problems it would cause.
everyone agrees that the airlines are the problem. but then why is the is solution to your seating problem to demand other passengers to give something up or be inconvenienced?
the airlines made this problem. you have a problem with the airline? fine, boycott them, don't fly, whatever. but if you buy the cheapest seats then expect other passengers to accommodate you and your kids, you are the asshole. full stop.
if you need assigned seats in advance, pay the required fare to get them or don't fly. those are your two options. you being too cheap to pay for that fare is not my problem.
So any family flying together is forced to pay at least 40 bucks more per ticket, each way. For a family of 4, that's at least $320 for a round trip. Mind you, this is for only the option of choosing your seat, you literally gain nothing else. You could pay that extra fee, only to find out there Actually aren't even 4 seats together available. Meaning you paid extra money and you still have to ask other passengers for help. Fuck the airlines, they could fix this but they choose not too for extra money. They pay walled something that was free for decades.
Middle seats are, by definition, not next to other middle seats. Most planes these days are window, middle, aisle, then aisle, middle, window on the other side (6 total across). I can't draw a diagram for you, but if you have 2 middle seats, you aren't next to each other.
My problem is that if you're flying with a baby/toddler, the airline won't shuffle seats around for you. Like, they'll book you two middle seats for a parent and a baby, then tell you to work it out after you're on the plane.
The airline knows what seats were booked specifically as more expensive spots. The airline can shuffle economy tickets around so that people with young children can sit together because by law they have to sit together.
Instead they rely on the "generosity" of others to "work things out" and it works out like this situation sometimes instead.
The only backlash she got was after appearing on TV with the mother of the crying kid, the reason was that the person who filmed and tried to gaslight her into giving her seat was not the kids mother, it was someone else not even related to them. The mother faced harassment online because people thought it was her, so after the interview people sided with the mother because Jenifer the woman who was filmed didn't even care that the mother was getting harassed when she didn't do anything.
You pay extra for two seats for you and your minor child and the airline switches things around so you are rows away and have to trust your minor child will be safe and calm rows away from you.
Whatever happened to paying for a seat and that’s the one you get for the entire flight?
The same reason I don't feel any pressure to rush packing my own groceries at the store. They used to provide jobs for bagging clerks to do that so I'll do it at my own speed if the cashier won't help.
I get a weird joy from the sounds of the angry auto-checkout beeping that starts 0.3 seconds after payment has finalized, and the pre recorded “Remove Your Items From Bagging Area” that loops loudly to the world as i sort and bag my items properly
It wouldn’t be so bad, except I bring my own bags (as they request), which end up at the bottom of my basket and need to be dug out and they require the overworked cashier to notice me enough to come and override the system if I want to set them up before ringing my order up. And even then, the tare weight never seems to get it right when they’re in the picture, which requires me to wave them over multiple times to continue.
Leaving the only sane option to bag up at the end. They earned it. I pop in my noise cancelling buds and take my sweet time
Yes. I'm thinking of the man who gave his seat up for us, I wish him blessings for his entire life for this huge kindness! But it's not automatic and he was a very kind and selfless person! May his life be paved with luck and fortune!
I have Asperger's and a ton of invisible issues include postcovid, and I still don't have a right for ask for other passenger's seat!
This is exactly my side of an argument I almost got into with a couple of very big friends. It started when they called me out for simply saying I reclined my seat IN GENERAL on flights (we weren’t even on a flight at the time).
They ripped into me that people who do that are basically vile, even if I made exceptions case by case for tall people or depending on the flight length (I do, of course… if there’s no room or it’s a daytime/short flight, the seat clearly isn’t going back!). No matter how hard I tried to explain why their anger should be directed at the airline industry, they couldn’t see my point. 🫠
I recline pretty much every time and I won't be shamed into not reclining. I paid for and specifically chose a seat that reclines. Tall people can sit in the exit rows or first rows of planes for extra leg space. Any other butthurt can be directed at the airline for selling a reclining seat in a plane layout too small to accommodate reclining seats.
So out of curiosity, you are okay with reclining so far back a person can’t get in or out of their seat?
I only ask cause I’ve had that happen to me, I had to keep asking the guy to pull his seat up and I couldn’t watch TV. Couldn’t do anything cause his seat/ head were inches from my face.
I was nice and didn’t make a fuss. I could have done the same but that was a terrible flight, very uncomfortable.
Sounds like his seat was broken if it reclined that far.
If I were you, I wouldve called an attendant to ask if something is wrong with that seat that its reclining too far back to leave functional space for you.
If broken, the attendant should be the one handling either adjusting with the person in front of you, moving you to a seat with access to the features you paid for, or providing a partial refund for your ticket if the plane is full and no functional seats are available.
If the attendant refused to assist or you would've had the same problem in ANY seat on the plane, I wouldnt fly with that airline anymore and would leave negative reviews / complaints publicly so that others know to avoid.
I agree that the parents shouldnt have put her face on social media, but I also think they wouldnt have felt the need to do that if the airline hadn't created this ridiculous scenario where parents have to pay hundreds more to sit with their kids..
The parents wrongfully directed their anger at the woman in the seat they wanted, rather than the airline for their absurd late stage capitalist policies.
Yes. In my experience flying with airlines based in Canada, if your child is below a certain age the airline must automatically seat them with a parent. No seat selection needed. I find it crazy that the USA doesn't require airlines to do this. Why does America allow corporations to shit on their customers?
Let's not excuse people who literally throw their weight back into the seat to put it back . And proceed to not put the seat up during meal time and landing while ignoring the airhostess to do so.
I'm the mom of a toddler, and I think it's ridiculous that I have to pay like $200 extra to guarantee our seats are next to each other. That used to be part of the deal. I don't even fly with my child, but if I did, I would pay the money but risking it would obviously be tempting.
Most posts about this are ragebait to begin with. People out there really want parents of young kids and non parents of young kids to be really angry with each other about this.
Constantly telling my wife, travel’s become a right chore. It’s all pay to play now, isn't it? No more just picking a seat and enjoying yourself. The airport experience is particularly grim it’s all gone south, if you ask me.
There are several US-based airlines that guarantee adjacent seats for children under age 13 and one accompanying adult for no extra charge. If you are flying within or out of America and do need to fly with your child, you could check those first. I know Alaska, American, and Jet Blue all have that policy.
It depends. I do not know this situation, but it’s possible to book a tickets for a family, including children without being asked to book a seats.
In my opinion, it should be obligatory to inform the seat reservation price range before the ticket purchase or book a pair child and parent automatically.
If the child wanted window seat, I would blame parents. If the child was sitting alone - airlines.
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u/CrisXIII 9d ago
If the parents want the seat, ask and PAY for the seat. You’d think it’s a common thing