In this situation would you offer to switch seats on a flight?

[Flightquandry]

Me and my husband took a flight today that was 10 hours long.

The cabin formation was
2 seats together / aisle / 3 seats together / aisle / 2 seats together.

Unfortunately, by the time we booked we couldn’t sit together. My DH was in a set of 2 seats with another woman and I was on the end of a row of three.

As soon as we took our seats the woman next to my DH went into full on chatty mode. When they were talking he mentioned he was travelling with his wife and she questioned why we weren’t seated together. He explained that we’d only been able to book what was available. She shrugged this off and then chatted to him incessantly for about 2 hours. I was seated across and behind so could see this and it stung (my problem entirely!)

I fully appreciate that she was in the seat that she booked! But in all honesty in her shoes I would have offered to swap seats with me. All seats were of the same value monetary wise. She even waved at me and then poured herself more drinks and chatted to my husband.

what would you do in her shoes? I would have offered to swap? Weirdly as well as we left the plane she followed by husband off and didn’t let me get in behind him to exit.

No I will only swap so a parent can sit with their child or vice versa.

I personally would have swapped with you but I prefer aisle seats. Many people don’t

Or he could have said,i can’t talk to you because my wife is very insecure and she will be posting on mumsnet when we land .

But you are still being unreasonable because there is no reason for you to feel upset about your partner talking to someone else. And it wasn’t a shitty situation for the op at all. Couples don’t ned to be attached to eachother all the time. Plenty of things to do on flights like watch films or read books, which i would still do regardless of whether DH was sat next to me or not.

Am I missing something? I can't see anything in the OP 's post that suggests she or her husband actually asked Window Woman to swap. Was she meant to be a mind reader?

We were on a plane with a similar configuration. Me and my two sons were in the middle 4 seats and a woman is sat in the end of our 4. The husband was sat in the aisle seat one row back and on the other side of the aisle. Oh the hysteria that she couldn’t sit next to her husband and wanted the lady sat next to her husband (who was sat next to her adult daughter) to swap with her. The lady quite rightly refused but she continued loudly complaining (whilst the husband remained totally silent). I could see she was a PITA so offered to swap with her husband (admittedly I would have got an aisle seat which is better than the one I had) but he refused 😂😂😂. I ended up thinking that he must have been the one to book the tickets because he didn’t want to sit with his wife and frankly after a 10 hour flight with her I could see why!!

If I was allocated the seat I had booked and paid for (sounds like a window seat), no chuffing way am I giving it up for grown-ass adult who feels the need to be hermetically sealed to her spouse 24/7.

As for the part about her following him off the plane, it's as if the OP has never been on a plane before (have you?)

Wow totally weird take. I wouldn’t offer to give up a window seat to someone who hadn’t asked for it. Perhaps only if it was a parent/carer with a child/someone with a disability (but I’d also expect them to ask in this situation).

If you so badly wanted your DH beside you OP, why didn’t you ask the person next to you to swap?

Totally normal to chat to others on a plane and to exit by rows.

If I’d have realised you weren’t together I would have offered and really can’t see why I wouldn’t tbh. I don’t see the attraction of a window seat on a plane. I don’t see why a bit of kindness that wouldn’t affect me in the slightest is such a drama

Well I would definitely only give up my window seat for my grandkids - possibly a random young child too, if my conscience got the better of me.

I would also definitely follow my row off the plane as it’s not the best waiting in a row with lower overhead and I’d just want to get off. I’d also assume adults could easily find each other after disembarking- it’s really unlikely anyone gets left behind or struggles to get off if they’re fine and healthy, so I would (again) only look out for children at this point.

I probably wouldn’t be chatting for 10 hours to anyone, but some people like to do so and I’d chat back for a while too.

I would, in your place, have enjoyed the peace and lack of having to engage pre the holiday but that’s really my aged anti social behaviour.

As long as he didn’t pretend you didn’t even exist then I do think you maybe are over thinking this - I hope enough pp have explained the window seat preference and row etiquette to settle you about this and you are enjoying your break properly now.

Yes.

The blatant hussy.

Probably only booked the flight so she could try to steal another woman's husband.

I'm completley baffled that women out there that are so insecure they get upset that their husband might spend a flight speaking to another women who just happens to be seated next to him. Completley innocent conversations and they will never see each other again.

also I also wouldn't swap my window seat for an aisle.

I bet the OP thought that her husband was going to leg it off the plane with the OW. That's why she was worried when the OW wouldn't let her in front when everyone was disembarking the plane.

😂

1. Book earlier to secure adjacent seats
2. He did not have to chat back
3. She was under no obligation to offer a swap
4. Perhaps she was lonely and needed somebody to talk to

and the most importantly of all

5. Whenever you are on busses, trains and plans there is always the risk that somebody might want to talk to you. So wear big fuck off headphones!

It's not as if she was rubbing her tit's in his face. Get over it.

I like a window seat so wouldn’t have swapped. I honestly would’ve thought it was nice that they were chatting, but I’m not a possessive or jealous type.

Maybe the way the foil was taken off the hot meal was a bit too suggestive

I wouldn’t have given up a window seat that I wanted, booked and paid for so that some random woman I don’t know could have it!

You sound horribly jealous!

Or maybe she wobbled her little tub of jelly at him

😂

As long as he didn't use his tray table 😀

I frequently travel alone (though by train not plane) for work and I'd be pretty miffed if someone thought they were entitled to my seat because I was travelling without a man. I don't like aisle seats, it's not so much the window as the having a solid something that's "mine" to be up against, rather than having a stranger on one side and people travelling through the aisle on the other. So I would not offer to swap and I'd be offended if asked.

I am a person who is entitled to be comfortable and to take advantage of the things I have paid for, regardless of whether I am with my husband or children or not.

Totally agree. My point was that it wasn’t the other woman’s fault - it was also her husband’s choice to chat. You’ve taken it the wrong way.

did you ask person next to you to swap if it was that important to you? Or did you decide it was not for you to sort and it was for this passenger to do..

I might've been a bit jealous that he was sitting next to someone who was obviously friendly and interesting, and got a bit of FOMO that I didn't get to chat to her myself!

I tend to assume that if DP is getting on with someone, they're worth getting to know. He has good taste in people (eg me).