May 3, 2023 at 10:38 am

Everyone Has Assigned Seats On A Plane. So Why Do So Many People Feel Entitled To More?

by Trisha Leigh

Air travel is often fraught with stress and anxiety, even for people who enjoy trotting the globe whenever they get the chance. We all have a contract, unspoken though it may be, to be as tolerant of others flying with us as possible.

Or at least, that’s how it used to be.

Now, people don’t think children should be allowed on planes, and apparently, they also think they’re entitled to whatever seat they want, whether or not they actually booked or paid for it in advance.

OP is an overweight woman who booked two seats together instead of one so that she didn’t have to be uncomfortable or smashed up against another person for the duration. On her flight home, everything was fine.

I (36F) flew home for Thanksgiving this week and got an early flight this morning so I would be able to do laundry tomorrow and relax before going back to work.

I am a plus-size woman (the cause was finally diagnosed after three years of weight gain, I’ve lost 4 lbs in the last four weeks!), so when I booked my flights, I spent extra money and booked two adjacent seats so whoever had the third seat in my row would not have to be squished up in my business.

Flying out was great, the other person in my row was cool and we shared the middle seat and snacks and played pokemon on our switches and visited each other’s animal crossing islands.

On her return flight, a man tried to sit his 12yo daughter in her second seat, and when she refused, he got upset and began to shame her.

Flying home was where things became a bit more problematic.

I was settled into my pair of seats, and a gentleman tried to sit his daughter (~12, not a waif, nor was her overweight dad) in my middle seat, where my bum is taking up a good third of the middle seat. I said politely, “I’m sorry, that seat is booked. Your daughter can’t sit there,” while putting my hand on the other 2/3s of the seat.

He immediately complained that he hadn’t been able to book seats together and he needed to sit with his daughter. I shrugged and said I was sorry, but it wasn’t my problem, that wasn’t his seat.

They called over the flight attendant, who offered to comp OP’s second seat if she would give it up, but accepted her no thank you when given.

He called over a stewardess to complain, I explained my situation and showed my pair of tickets, and the flight attendant offered to comp my extra seat.

I said no thank you, I needed the extra room and waved to where my bum was partway into the middle seat.

They eventually found someone else willing to give up their seat, but when that person arrived, she began to give OP a hard time for not giving in as well.

The stewardess came back ten minutes later with a wife from a couple who agreed to switch seats so the man could sit with his daughter. But not without attempting to shame me for not be willing to help out a dad in need and commenting about how selfish I was. (Edit: the woman who switched seats was rude, not the stewardess! The stewardess was nothing but polite!)

I said, “I booked early, and I booked two seats together because to put it plainly, I’m fat. His two seats were separate seats. How exactly do you propose I split my fat a$$ in half to sit one half in one seat and the other half in his other seat?”

The woman turned red in the face and bitched at me for being “disgusting”, I replied that his lack of planning was not my emergency, and she scowled at me for the entire rest of the flight.

Her family is split on whether or not she should have done the polite thing and avoided the confrontation, but what does Reddit think?

When I told my folks about it after I landed, my dad thought it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard, but my mom yelled at him for encouraging me and said I should have been more willing to help out a dad with a kid when I had two seats.

So I want to know, AITA?

Let’s find out!

The top comment faults other people for not following the basic rules of traveling with strangers.

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Image Credit: Reddit

This person doesn’t think the stewardess should have gotten involved at all.

Screen Shot 2023 04 25 at 12.10.22 PM Everyone Has Assigned Seats On A Plane. So Why Do So Many People Feel Entitled To More?

Image Credit: Reddit

They say there was no way for OP to win here.

Screen Shot 2023 04 25 at 12.11.21 PM Everyone Has Assigned Seats On A Plane. So Why Do So Many People Feel Entitled To More?

Image Credit: Reddit

This commenter says they could not imagine being as rude as the two people OP encountered.

Screen Shot 2023 04 25 at 12.10.59 PM Everyone Has Assigned Seats On A Plane. So Why Do So Many People Feel Entitled To More?

Image Credit: Reddit

This person says there is a very simple bottom line.

Screen Shot 2023 04 25 at 12.11.47 PM Everyone Has Assigned Seats On A Plane. So Why Do So Many People Feel Entitled To More?

Image Credit: Reddit

I have no idea what makes people feel like they’re entitled to other people’s things.

You get what you pay for, not what you don’t. It’s fine to ask, but if it’s a no, you’ve got to just move on.

twistedsifter on facebook Everyone Has Assigned Seats On A Plane. So Why Do So Many People Feel Entitled To More?