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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask someone to move their child out of my plane seat

1000 replies

kipperssippers · 13/01/2016 20:00

more of a WWYD then AIBU but...
i booked the seat by the window as i always do and when i got to my seat a child around 8 was in my seat with her mum beside her.
When i got there i told the mother that the window seat is my seat and she said her child wanted the window seat to look out, i then replied then you should of booked one.
I didnt want to cause a scene but the women made out i'm an arsehole for asking her kid to move as she had never been on a flight and wanted to look outside.
I did give in and stayed pissed off for 7 hours in my non window seat.

what would you of done in this situation?

OP posts:
maybebabybee · 14/01/2016 10:28

Really? I think it's miserable

We'll agree to disagree then. I assure you I am not remotely miserable Smile

TheCatsMeow · 14/01/2016 10:29

. A child flying for the first time and excited, I would have let her have the seat. The child was probably too excited to be aware of seat allocation rules and just went and sat straight by the window.

Glad it's not just me who thinks that

goodnightdarthvader1 · 14/01/2016 10:29

Fuck's sake. Cats, do you really think you're going to change people's minds, or is this thread just another vehicle for you to shout about how amazing you are? I bet you're a nightmare on Facebook.

TheCatsMeow · 14/01/2016 10:29

maybe it just seems negative!

maybebabybee · 14/01/2016 10:30

What does? Being a grump? I love grumpy people, they're way more fun than relentlessly sunny people, IMHO.

goodnightdarthvader1 · 14/01/2016 10:30

he child was probably too excited to be aware of seat allocation rules and just went and sat straight by the window.

If only children had people to direct towards the best course of action in social solutions! Oh, wait, they do, they're called parents.

No one is blaming the child, just the mother.

TheCatsMeow · 14/01/2016 10:30

goodnight no, I probably won't. I just find the attitudes towards a child spiteful

maybebabybee · 14/01/2016 10:31

The child was probably too excited to be aware of seat allocation rules and just went and sat straight by the window.

I don't think anyone is blaming the child here - it's the mother's responsibility to teach her DC she can't have what she wants all the time, as many pps have said.

maybebabybee · 14/01/2016 10:31

x post with darth there

TheCatsMeow · 14/01/2016 10:31

maybee really?! Oh no I'd rather be with positive people!

maybebabybee · 14/01/2016 10:32

Being a grump doesn't mean you're a negative person, look a bit deeper!

Roussette · 14/01/2016 10:33

Float The OP did give up her seat. For a whole 7 hours and numerous toilet breaks and being disturbed in the aisle seat she was forced to sit in.

Redglitter · 14/01/2016 10:33

Ffs is this still going on

Surely we must be due an Underground travel thread by now Hmm

TheCatsMeow · 14/01/2016 10:36

maybe it comes over that way to me. Perhaps it doesn't mean you're negative but you appear that way

TheCatsMeow · 14/01/2016 10:36

Not you personally Blush

goodnightdarthvader1 · 14/01/2016 10:40

Surely we must be due an Underground travel thread by now

We've covered planes, trains ... next one should be automobiles.

LilaTheTiger · 14/01/2016 10:40

Can you 'pre-book' or do you just 'book'?

maybebabybee · 14/01/2016 10:43

Surely we must be due an Underground travel thread by now

I would love one. I spend half my life seething at inconsiderate people on public transport Grin

maybebabybee · 14/01/2016 10:43

I am an evil London commuter though.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 14/01/2016 10:43

Cats So you were born here, and yet you hate the English? I imagine that's very confusing.

People who are genuinely kind don't tend to keep a tally, expecting payback.

You made yourself look bad on the train thread, and honestly this thread is making you look worse. Netmums may be more your kind of thing - everyone is relentlessly nice over there although perhaps not so much with accusing people of being miserable

And FFS nobody is being 'spiteful' - if the seat had been the child's and the OP had picked said child up and drop kicked him up the aisle, then THAT is spiteful.

Still pissing myself about 'a child's joy' - sounds a bit like that bit that Johnny Mathis says in 'When A Child Is Born' Grin

SuperFlyHigh · 14/01/2016 10:45

Still didn't or couldn't ask people to move could you cats.

The parent in my opinion should stop child sitting or move child from non allocated seat. Then when person who has allocated seat arrives she should ask them nicely if her DC can sit in their seat for a short while. Allocated seat person has right to refuse this.

Behaving like some entitled arse won't make the parent any friends.

grannytomine · 14/01/2016 10:46

A friend was in a similar situation, when the attendant came round she smiled and explained why she wasn't in her seat. She got moved to first class for being such a nice person.

BiddyPop · 14/01/2016 10:47

In my case, I would have made the child move. ESPECIALLY if I was travelling alone as, with DH and DD, I inevitably end up either in the middle or on an aisle. And I love window seats. If a fee is paid, you are entitled to it.

I have also had to move people from pre-booked seats on trains here. Pre-booking seats is relatively new (compared to UK), but I have had to ask people to move on more than 1 occasion.

The best was, after DSIL's Hen weekend and I was on the train alone (single car at the time and DH needed it). I had been looking forward to a window seat, looking at the scenery, on the way home. As well as doing some work I needed to catch up on. It being Sunday, I knew it would be busy so had prebooked seat as well as ticket. And it was! I got on, to find a GM, Mother and 2 Daughters in the pair of seats (just settling in - got on same station), and refusing to move. I made them move from the inside one (I HAD booked it) and got smart comments all the way about "my poor mother having to sit on her own" and how the children were finding it hard to move between us. The daughter sitting on Mum's knee kept kicking me and knocking my papers, while the GM was only across the aisle and 1 row back, so hardly a trek, she had a seat - and there were so many standing the not just the door areas but the entire aisles of the carriages were full as well (a longer-distance train rather than commuter type).

TheCatsMeow · 14/01/2016 10:47

Livia

I don't hate the English but I think the culture is very unfriendly in comparison to other countries. It's very anal people get upset about non issues

I don't keep a tally or expect pay back, but I can recall things I've done when asked and I expect people to be kind to me because it's the nice thing to do.

NM does seem nicer than MN. MN seems like a cliquey school gate at times

I think it is spiteful. Being kind to children isn't entitled

Samantha28 · 14/01/2016 10:48

I blame the mother who didn't get to check in early so her precious child could experience the joy of travelling long haul from a window seat.

Did she feed her fruit shoots and Gregs sausage rolls as well ?

Did the child have a Yoonique first name ?

expat you have definitely gone native if you use the word " bam " . Extra points for posting it on MN

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