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.

Sorry that should have read:

But the couple that refused the PP's offer to swap with one of them so that the couple could sit beside each other

I've travelled with a friend and we did just that - booked window & aisle, in the hope that there'd be no 3rd person

I’m astonished that booking systems allow this.

of course you can - you just go in & select the seats! This was an established airline, not a charter package

Travelling is a luxury and not a necessity.

You've clearly never had to work abroad regularly. Paying my rent is not a luxury, thank you.

She wouldn't have been sat there in the first place. There's usually only one extra oxygen mask per block of seats so only one infant allowed.

I'd absolutely love adult-only flights. I'd pay more to book those.

Even with the most chilled babies and competent, involved parents, there is always going to be a certain amount of fuss involved with a baby on a flight. I'd have to be quite tall for extra legroom to compensate for putting up with that.

I agree that child-free flights are an excellent idea. If I'm travelling without my DC, I'd definitely pay extra to avoid sitting next to anyone else's!!!

I've booked extra leg-room seats only to find someone else sitting in them. When I said these are our seats, they moved sharpish. I think they were chancers hoping that hey weren't booked or allocated.

On the Euro-Tunnel the same thing happened.

At the theatre, I booked two seats in from the centre aisle. Whenvwe arrived the people in first two seats had booked more seats on the other side of us. They asked if we would swap with the people further along the row. I said I'd swap for their seats, in the centre.They weren't interested in that and expected us to have worse seats. If it had been just two seats, I would have done it but was four seats. Some people have a bloody cheek.

Nope!

People need to book. I flew with my DH who is blind. Woman next to me became very upset when we declined to swap so her 9 yr old wasn't across the isle. Started on about children being a priority until the stewardess explained disability trumps kids and that he had to be accompanied! She was very taken a back!

Absolutely not I wouldn't move or feel guilty it's the parents fault.

The mum should have offered her seat to the person sat next to her husband. More likely they would swap as they would get extra room and she could then sit next to her husband.

I would also pay for that

I would, but only because I don't really want to spend 10 hours sitting next to someone else's baby!
In general if I hadn't paid extra for the seat, was travelling alone and it was for another aisle seat I would but I'm short so don't need extra legroom.

Just wow. Some people are so entitled

I used to often fly alone and if asked, was always fine in principle to switch seats so others could sit together - and I was asked quite a few times, as the cabin crew understandably approaches someone young, able-bodied and travelling solo first.

Two incidents taught me to ask a few more questions before agreeing though 😋

1. Was asked if I would swap on a flight from Melbourne back to London; added incentive that I would have an aisle rather than current middle seat. Agreed, but it wasn't until after the happy family had been reunited, I was led right to the back of the plane, and we had taken off, that I discovered my new aisle seat hardly reclined and was next to the loo, so had the door banging the whole time, plus a queue of people desperate for the loo jiggling around right by me - for 26 hours, or however long that miserable journey took....

1. Was on last leg (Qatar Airways, Doha to London) of a convoluted journey home, after being stuck on a work trip to India for an extra 10 days after that Icelandic volcano erupted. Was knackered and just relaxing into aisle seat when was asked if I could swap to the seat behind me, as a family had been split up due to all the volcano-related flight changes. The Dad and two adult sons were in the row behind, the Mum alone next to me, so if the aisle seats swapped, they would at least be two and two.

Quick visual check that the seat looked fully functioning and not near any loos (ref. lesson 1), and I said "No problem".

The cabin crew and I were then completely taken aback when BOTH the Dad and the son next to him stood up and indicated that I should squeeze past them to the middle seat of the row of five, now vacant, as the other son had exited on the far side and was hovering ready to take my seat next to his Mum. Basically none of the men wanted the middle seat!

There was then a long and loud argument between the Dad (who seemed genuinely puzzled as to why he or his sons would not take precedence over an unmarried female, particularly on their national airline) and the cabin crew (saying I was doing them a favour and either he and son agreed to budge up, or I went back to my seat next to his wife).

The wife and I were equally embarrassed to be the subject of interest for the entire plane by this point, and could probably have happily remained next to each other, but the Dad did ultimately compromise (on his son's behalf, not his 😁), taking the aisle seat next to his wife, and leaving me the aisle seat next to the sons - although of course all three males transmitted simmering resentment my way for the whole 7hr journey...

Had totally forgotten the whole thing until this thread, and it does make me laugh now, but I'm glad there were no smartphones then, as someone would have definitely filmed the whole ruckus 😁

Nope. I don't know why people think mothers and babies trump everyone else.

If she paid me for it then maybe.

Agreed here: that's a well-known travel hack and the people who practice it know perfectly well that this is the risk you take. It's another situation entirely from refusing to pay for allocated seats and then expecting other passengers to give up the seats they paid for (likely as not with an inferior seat in exchange and without offering to reimburse the poor passenger they're trying to railroad out of their seats the difference in cost). Offer me the choice of a window or aisle seat in exchange for the dreaded middle and I'll bite your hand off!

Hell, no! I suspect I got the beeline made for me because I was travelling alone and therefore deemed less 'deserving' of my allocated space. I'm also female, which I don't think is a coincidence. Women are socialized to be polite at all costs, and many of us are anxious not to be regarded as 'rude' or 'selfish' (two of the major cardinal sins in a woman). It took me years of practice to be able to say 'no' and mean it. Shows the extent to which women are socialized to instantly capitulate to others' wants or to humour them with politeness. That couple seemed genuinely surprised at my refusal.

Boarded a flight to find a family in our seats. I was polite and said excuse me, you are in our seats. They were like yes, but we are a family and want to travel together. I was like so are we so hoppit. They soon moved.

I have had to travel for work. But never with my baby.

I would too but it’d need to be cast iron. I’ve a colleague who always books the quiet carriage for her four noisy children as she doesn’t think they’re loud or disruptive. I think you’d end up with families doing sob stories about why they needed to take this flight in particular and their child would be no bother at all………..

Ugh sound like the type of parents who’d let a child constantly kick the back of a seat tbh

What a cheeky bitch! No way would I have switched, so bloody entitled!