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

[kipperssippers]

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?

'I have legally recognised dual citizenship, which means I am entitled to two passports, but I didn't realise you could have that in other countries.'

I have two as well, as do my children. My home country doesn't officially recognise dual nationality but doesn't prevent people from having it (or triple nationality or more).

offer them to sit there for takeoff or something? Yes I and most people would IF they ask and not just take! Again, why is it ok to do this?

Jassy

But I'd say it matters more to make a child happy than an aduly being a bit inconvenienced.

I suppose I don't get possessive about seats so wouldn't think of it as "mine"

The woman on the plane was rude and you know it cats you just can't admit you are wrong.

I don't think it was rude Lois.

Cats, you know you don't have to keep posting just because people keep arguing with you, right? I step away from bunfights all the time, once it becomes clear that I'm just repeating myself. Because I recognise that all it is is pointless arguing. Unless you like pointless arguing, which I suspect you do.

Constant repetition of goady points usually = troll.

Have not read all the thread but I am with the OP.
It is her choice if she wants to give the money she paid away to a child she does not even know.
The problem with people who just sit in others seats without asking is they are flipping entitled and what is the point in having a booking system where you can book your seat if everyone else who does not pay can just ignore it and sit where the hell they like anyway.

I HATE flying and stuff like this stresses me out.
If they had asked and given me the option to say yes or no then I might have been kind. To just take it and then be pissed off at me for asking them to move then not a chance.

I have lost count of the amount of times people have been asked to move from their paid for booked seats for families who have not booked but insist they all want to sit together (and I mean two adults with the children were they could sit apart if needed)

We always book seats because I travel with a child with special needs and another child and an elderly disabled mother but because my kids are older and dds special needs are not visible people presume we will move for them and get tetchy when we say no. Why should I pay if someone else cannot be arsed.

I don't think it was rude It was.

cats we are not racist here so you can tell us the country.

Fwiw I have direct french, german and Luxembourg heritage....

To be serious though if the child in question had such an entitled mother and was demonstrating to that child by grabbing things that didn't belong to them, like the plane seat, and was then abusive I would consider it my duty as a normal person to teach the child that grabbing, abuse and entitlement doesn't get you your own way in life.

Defiantly shift the kid.

But WHY is it not rude? You haven't really explained that.

It's just going round in circles, it'll be a 1000 posts of oh I'm not, oh yes you are .

On the whole the french (but where my parents have a second home) are charming (sympa but that means nice) but my Calais friend by her own admittance can be rude. All the Germans I have met (apart from a couple) very nice. Luxembourg no idea! And sob never visited Germany or Luxembourg to my great regret yet!

TheCatsMeow - same thing happened to my daughter in London. She was 5 and separated from us on the tube - nowhere to move. A couple of lovely lads caught my eye - asked if they could pick her up - and sat her on their knee for the entire journey entertaining her until they could return her to me. They were English.

See? Anecdote doesn't make evidence.

I have a child, I love children, I volunteer with children. I wouldn't have given up my seat either because the mother was entitled.

Had the situation gone along the lines of "I wonder, my child was really looking forward to seeing out of the window and I've totally messed up. WOuld she be able to sit there for a few minutes at some point during the flight? I totally understand if you would prefer not to" - then I might consider.

Mother plonking child in seat then having a tantrum? Nope

Cats - you're obvious in your trollery now. Zero marks for effort. No one says 'Let's all be nice' unless they are meaning to goad.

And you never did admit in your thread that you never even tried to fold your buggy before getting on the train.

You hate the cold weather here
You hate the rules regarding buggies on trains here
You hate the rules regarding sitting in your own seat on planes
You hate cold and friendly British people

Please do yourself and us a favour and convince your family to emigrate to warmer, kindlier, less petty, more considerate, friendlier and joyful climes.

I'll admit I don't fly much, but I'm pretty sure you get a boarding pass with your seat number on it, right? I doubt the mother was confused. I haven't read the full thread as it was long

In this situation I think that if the mother had appeared to have done it unknowingly and was polite and perhaps apologised, rather than acting entitled, then I'd have said stay where you are and I'll move. If she just whined then fuck off though.

A few weeks back I took DD to cinema and people were in our seats. There were plenty of other seats but as the very same thing had happened to me when I went to the cinema the week before (and I hadn't said anything but sat somewhere else. I'm not that precious, but I like an aisle seat so can take DD to toilet if required with minimal disruption to others!) I was fed up with it. I said they were in our seats, showed the tickets. They insisted they were in the correct seats. Turned out they were, but in the WRONG SCREEN. So, they were missing their film. Just as well I mentioned it in that case. They were torn between being grateful and thinking I was petty, I think

Jassy because that's how some of the posters are coming across. I paid for it so it's mine etc. in your case I don't think that's spiteful but I think you could at least offer them to sit there for takeoff or something?

Maybe, but that's half an hour or more that I lose. There's disruption to me later, and having experience of children I'm aware that said child may kick up a stink when asked to move later, thus further inconveniencing me.

Everyone who pays for a seat booking has a reason for doing so. It is in no way aimed at making a child unhappy. It's not about the child at all, and that's fine.

Oh, I love the Germans. A lot of people find them rude. I don't. I like the Dutch, too.

Would you let your kid take someone's sweets without asking? Walk into their house without knocking? Play in their garden without asking?

a child's joy

Fuck that. No way would I have moved. If mummy wants her precious darling to have a joyful experience, she can bloody well pay for it, like the rest of us have to.

private there is a flogged to death horse at my feet.

"...we can all trade anecdotes. I asked my mum what she'd do and she was horrified some people wouldn't move..."

TheCatsMeow - please ask your mum if she'd be equally 'horrified' if you left your buggy in the vestibule on the train, so that other people had to climb over it - as you said you'd do, on your train thread.