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.

Wouldnt give up my window seat for anyone 😂 my husband is that chatty woman - he talks to whoever is the third person on the row. Gives me a chance to watch a movie/ catch up on sleep.

Presumably you will have plenty of time to talk to your husband at your destination - it’s only 10 hours apart.

This sounds more like a you problem than a seat problem. Would you be saying all this if she was a man?

You sound jealous.. I mean I woukd hate to sit next to a chatty person on a plane for 10 hours personally, but if he was happy to chat then I don't see the issue.

So your husband didn't offer to swap with the person in the middle seat next to you? Odd.

I wouldn’t have swapped either. On a 10 hour flight I’d like to sleep and use the window to lean on. Sounds like they were being friendly which is normal on a long flight otherwise it would be awkward. Are you upset he didn’t speak to you much?

This is such an unhinged way of thinking! Are people not supposed to talk to married men? If this happened to my husband on a plane all I'd be thinking was that I dodged a bullet being seated next to the chatty person and enjoy my book.

If I book a seat, it's probably because it's one I want so I wouldn't. If you want my seat then ask if I'd happy to swap. What have you got to lose.

Separately, your attitude's a bit OTT. Didn't your DH have his own book and headphones to entertain himself? You could see your DH and the person he was sitting next to. What did you think was going to happen.

I'd only offer if it suited me too. I wouldn't chat incessantly at a stranger though. That is the off part of this scenario.

Why haven’t you included in your four posts the type of seat she had?

No way would I swap a window seat for an aisle seat.

You’re overthinking this. She probably just wanted some company and a few drinks on the flight made her even more chatty / extroverted.

All you had to do was be organised and book your seats together EARLY.

And so had she.

Your husband must have fancied her.

Well presumably she wanted to be by the window, so no I wouldn’t have in that situation. I hate being on the end of a row of three, especially next to a stranger as I can’t nod off (nothing to lean on)

You have a jealousy /late booking seat problem not a woman/seat swapping problem.

You are blaming someone else for your issues and trying to rationalise what she should have done when the problem was entirely your own making.

If it was that important to you to sit together you book together. You can choose seats before you pay so you would have known this.

Hope you didn’t give Dh shit for this
No wouldn’t offer
we never pay for seats we’re not joined at the hip waste of money so not seeing the problem
are you normally like this with your husband

It’s normal to disembark row by row. If she started waiting for people in the rows behind her to go where does it end? Just be a grown up and get yourself off the plane ffs

If my husband wanted to spend all of a 10h flight talking, if have been thrilled that it was someone else in the conversation!

(We don't hate each other haha, just he's the chatty one whereas I like to zone in on a book on long flights.)

She was able to book earlier than you and paid for the seat she wanted. In her position I wouldn't have offered to move.

I’d have swapped, OP, as I’d much rather have an aisle seat than a window! I also think you’re getting a lot of unnecessary (IMO) stick on here: I can, of course, survive quite happily without sitting next to my DH for a ten hour flight — but I’d still prefer to sit next to him.

So i presume this is why you would book so you sit together?

YABU she had a window seat. I wouldn’t have moved either.

and normal to exit by row

No, I never think I have an automatic entitlement to someone else's seat. I always keep in mind that people book a seat specific to their needs - not always, but a lot of the time this is the case.

Did you even ask her, or did you just sit there quietly seething and hoping/expecting her to jump up for you?

The OP said that the seating was 2x3x2 and that her husband was in the aisle seat of a group of two. The only seat that the woman sitting beside him could have is a window seat.

Id have taken one for the team and switched seats with him because hours of being talked at would have driven my husband crazy but he's too polite to ignore someone whereas I dont give a fuck and would have happily put headphones straight in.

Did she have a window seat?
Also, she was chatting to him she wasn't performing a lapdance. Some people are just chatty

I'm an aisle seat person and I wouldn't be swapping for anything else. I also wouldn't offer to swap in this situation anyway, because I don't assume couples necessarily want to sit next to each other. (DP and I aren't bothered - we're either going to be spending 24/7 with each other on holiday for the next 10 days, or we've just done that, so we're not short of each other's company. And both of us just have headphones in on flights anyway.)

I'm not a habitual plane chatter so 10 hours of talk wouldn't have been up my street but I did once have a very enjoyable chat with the man next to me - we happened to share a particular interest and had been to a few of the same places in the city we were leaving.