Would you give up your plane seat?

[Tinkerblonde1]

https://www.heart.co.uk/lifestyle/man-refuses-swap-plane-seats-mum-baby/?fbclid=IwAR1sZIyQoCtwBcGd5iCtn7U6YLstt_H9sPDd9UkiSej-6Qwq2qWvvB0xqL4

It has been done before but with holidays happening again this seems to keep appearing over the last few weeks.

To me it depends but if its an airline where you pay for seats and you choose not to. Then surely its on you if you are seated away from husband/wife while you have the kids.

I’d swap with someone to an equal seat happily - so if the same amount of leg room (or better) and if it’s another aisle seat. No power on earth would have me swapping to have less room or a non aisle as I’m claustrophobic and that’s that.

This has been done to absolute death recently.

I wouldn’t swap. She was sat with her child, she didn’t need to be sat with her DH, their wants don’t matter more than anyone else’s.

No way! Can’t believe she had the gall to ask, tbh. And not only ask but then get the cabin crew involved. The sense of entitlement of some people beggars belief.

Nope, and I'd never expect anyone to do it for me either. It was important that my kids sat with me on my flights in the past so I've paid for seats. Suck it up!

No way. I'm staying put.

Is it the case that nowadays some parents with babies are a bit more entitled about this (and therefore don't plan properly etc)? E.g. they think if they stamp their foot harder they'll get the seats etc they want because 'I'm a parent with a young baby and my needs are greater than your legroom'.

I had this once when our family travelled with DB's FIL who's a paraplegic and a mother with a baby and her husband asked if DB's FIL's DW wanted to swap seats - well seeing as FIL can't move much by himself and his DW can help then no the DW wasn't going to move. It was only them and the baby not another child too. On a shorter flight but still. FIL and DW had booked seats and paid well in advance for this.

No I wouldn't. I travel with someone with extra care needs and wouldn't be prepared to move away from them. They would struggle on their own. Even if they weren't there, I'd want to stay with my own group who I'd have paid to sit next to me.

When I've tried to book legroom for myself and dc in the past I was never allowed those seats with a baby or child, have the airline rules changed now?

On long-haul flights these seats tend to be at the front of the economy section and they're not by an emergency exit. There is a fold-down table in front of these seats that a baby cot or sleep seat provided by the airline can be placed on so the DC can sleep and the parent then doesn't have to hold them the entire flight. I'm guessing that's why the woman was so unwilling to give up her particular seat.

Nope.

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross - getting cabin crew involved is an even lower way to do it - its like the mother (parents) then think that cabin crew will think they have priority as parents!

In this exact circumstance then nope, not for a 10 hour flight or because the lady needed her husband next to her. I thought this was going to be about a toddler being sat on their own in which case yes, I recently took a flight with my baby and toddler where you pre book your seats but the system wouldn't let me sit my toddler next to me because I had the baby on my lap, I was a bit worried we would be separated and have to ask people to swap but the airline sorted it at check in.

If I was travelling alone, I would happily move to a seat that was either the same as, or better than, the one I'd booked. But I wouldn't move to a worse seat. And if I was travelling with my partner I wouldn't move seats just so someone else could sit with their own partner instead, baby or no baby.

The bloke in the article had paid extra for his seat because it was a seat with more leg-room, so if he moved, he'd have wasted money on paying for something he couldn't use. Of course he shouldn't have moved. It was a 10-hour flight. Why should he have to be uncomfortable for ten hours when he'd paid extra to avoid that exact thing?!

Also, it's not like you cannot possibly 'help with the baby' unless you're sitting next to someone. If the mum wants to have a kip for a couple of hours while the dad holds/feeds/entertains the baby, she can ... just get up and hand him the baby?

Basically, in this man's case I'd have said no to the passenger and then, when asked again by the steward I'd have suggested that my partner and I would be happy to move if they upgraded us to business class, but otherwise absolutely not.

This is cheeky and entitled, to expect someone to give up their seat. I wouldn’t.

Have once but it was the cabin crew who asked my exH to swap with someone. Then they came and asked me to swap. We both ended up sat together again at the front of the Plane so neither of us minded as we had more leg room. Now when I go we just book and all hope for seats together but if we don't get them none of us are that bothered. We've done Flights to Florida all sat on different parts of the Plane. We tend to just watch films or sleep so it doesn't make a difference anyway

I take multiple flights each month for work - 95% of the time I'm flying alone so no children to worry about etc.

Short haul, seat similar to what I already have - sure, I will swap. I've swapped before even after paying for it, if there's a parent in distress, clearly ill children, grandma with a broken ankle. I don't mind much because all seats on narrowbodies are basically the same.

Long haul - no way. I pay for my seats (and they're not cheap), they're strategically booked so I can get first choice of meal and be able to eat something that way after the airline forgets to load on my vegetarian pre-booked option. I very often also have short connections in countries like USA where being in a strategically chosen seat near an exit can save you 1 hour at the immigration queue. Then there's legroom for an 8/10/14 hour flight. So no, I won't miss my connecting flight or go without food just so someone can sit with their husband. I will always offer my seat if the crew suggest an upgrade for me instead, though.

I've booked seats for me and dd for a holiday next month, I've paid for the seats we wanted with extra leg room and won't be moving.

I've had this before, whole families don't need to sit together, they always put at least one adult with any dc, the adults can swap mid flight if the one with the dc needs a break.

When this happened to me she didn't want to give the better seat next to me to someone in the middle of the row at the back where her partner was sitting with the dc they wanted me and dd to move to the middle of a row at the back of the plane so her partner and dc could sit in our better seats, I don't think so.

Why are there so many of these threads lately?

The answer is it depends. The only thing I care about is that I have an aisle seat so swapping to another aisle seat (if not next to anyone who looks obnoxious) would usually be fine with me. But if I'm knackered, settled in and the person asking is rude, I might not anyway. I wouldn't swap to a middle or window seat though.

Those extra legroom seats cost more, he was right to refuse to move. If I had booked a flight last minute in an emergency situation and didn't have a seat next to my child I would expect someone to swop so we could sit together but this wasn't the case here - she should have been more organised.

Not a chance. I usually need a hand getting up and out of my seat and DH is v. tall so we pay to make sure we are seated together with extra legroom. Someone else's entitlement is not my problem.

I would if I was a solo traveller or not seated next to my party anyways.
I've very short legs so am quite comfortable in any seat, don't need to be near to an exit or toilet etc.

If I was flying with DH and was a short flight, I probably would too. I just read on the plane so DH doesn't get any chat from me anyways.

If I was with DS however or my DM, I wouldn't as they are both scared of flying and need to be near someone they trust.

I can’t imagine booking a 10 hour flight without pre-booking my seats. Is this even possible? So the woman presumably chose a seat away from her husband (perhaps these were the only two left on the flight but then in that case I would have booked a different flight)…?

Nope! And wouldn't ever have expected anyone else to when I flew with my kids. I sorted my seats out in advance.

Nope. Not a chance, if I've paid for my seat, I'm staying in it.

Would not even consider it.

Exactly!

I would.

There is no way in hell I would want to be sat next to a lap baby for a long flight. I would pay a decent amount of money to avoid this. It's not even like a toddler where the parents can plug them into a tablet for the flight.

That said, I would ask the parents to refund the money I spent on booking the seat.