November 18, 2025 at 6:47 pm

A Traveler Gave Their Mom Their First-Class Seat On A Flight, And Their Younger Brother Thought They Deserved It More Than She Did

by Matthew Gilligan

woman on an airplane

Shutterstock/Reddit

People seem to turn into wild animals when it comes to first-class seats on flights.

And, can you really blame them?

People in first-class are living in luxury while the rest of us peasants have to be cramped in the back.

The person who wrote this story on Reddit knows all about that…and now they’re getting blowback from their brother.

Read on to see what went down.

AITA for giving my mother my seat on the plane?

“We (me, my mom and my 2 younger brothers (aged 12 and 14) decided we were going on a trip because it was summer break and my mom could move around her work days with her coworkers to fit the trip.

Since I had turned 18, my mom decided that it’s a great idea for me to plan the trip to kickstart my independence (I’m well traveled and I know how to do this properly and for relatively cheap because I grew up watching my mom do it).

They were flexible about this.

I asked them to pick a country they want to go to because I don’t care about the country, I can have fun anywhere. They picked The Netherlands because an uncle of mine lives there and they wanted to have their fun and then visit him for a day before going back.

I was like ‘…okay? sure’ and did all the work and applied for visas and after confirming for the billionth time that no we’re not planning to stay there for the rest of our lives, we got the visas.

After it was confirmed that we would be let into the country, I planned a pretty good trip.

They had it all worked out.

I had stuff included for the kids, I had stuff for all of us as a family, and I had stuff that only me and my mom could do (after we handed the kids to my uncle).

On the flight back, there was an empty seat in the first class section and they somehow gave me a free upgrade. I was pretty happy because like it’s FREE. HELLO?! WHO DOES NOT LOVE FREE UPGRADES?!

They thought about their mom…

Anyways, I was about to sit, but then my brain started working a bit more and I realized my mom probably should sit in the first class because she never sits in first class because she thinks it’s a waste of money, but she always has wanted to.

She is obviously way older than me and her joints would appreciate the extra padding on the seat. She is pretty tall and she always tries to sit in the emergency row so she can stretch her legs and the first class had even more leg space than the emergency rows.

I gave her my seat and I sat next to my brothers back in economy. 12 got kinda upset because mom had promised him a round of those sorting games where you match up 3 of the same object and they disappear, but I played tic tac toe for a good half an hour or so till HE got bored. And 14 seemed fine and just continued reading his comics.

They even managed to con me (ok no they just asked politely and I folded) into buying them those overpriced snacks on the plane because mom wasn’t there (each bag of candy would be a dollar at most back home, I got them for 4 American dollars each, very ripped off).

Now, someone is upset about what happened…

Anyway, now (more than 2 months later) 12 is bringing it up and saying how I should have given the first class seat to him becausae it is his 12th birthday now (he was 11 during the flight, he turned 12 this October) and how he deserved it more than mom, or maybe I should’ve stayed in first class myself so that he could talk to mom on the plane.

Now I’m confused because I KNOW for a fact that my mom has not raised a spoiled brat like this (okay thinking back and editing this so it’s legible, I am realizing that me and my brothers were not raised the same way at all).

AITA?”

Reddit users spoke up.

This person said they’re NTA.

Screenshot 2025 10 14 at 12.08.23 PM A Traveler Gave Their Mom Their First Class Seat On A Flight, And Their Younger Brother Thought They Deserved It More Than She Did

Another reader agreed.

Screenshot 2025 10 14 at 12.08.35 PM A Traveler Gave Their Mom Their First Class Seat On A Flight, And Their Younger Brother Thought They Deserved It More Than She Did

This Reddit user chimed in.

Screenshot 2025 10 14 at 12.08.42 PM A Traveler Gave Their Mom Their First Class Seat On A Flight, And Their Younger Brother Thought They Deserved It More Than She Did

Another individual shared their thoughts.

Screenshot 2025 10 14 at 12.09.12 PM A Traveler Gave Their Mom Their First Class Seat On A Flight, And Their Younger Brother Thought They Deserved It More Than She Did

And this person spoke up.

Screenshot 2025 10 14 at 12.09.46 PM A Traveler Gave Their Mom Their First Class Seat On A Flight, And Their Younger Brother Thought They Deserved It More Than She Did

It sounds like their brother needs to get a clue…

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.