Airport chairs and angry pregnant women

[Champagneponies]

I'm at a major European airport for a changeover. I'm 8 weeks pregnant and have been having constant nausea and some lightheadedness.

Came off my plane a few hours ago and was feeling really really awful and thought I'd faint. Some airport staff showed me through the airport into the gates, were really lovely and put me on some airport chairs and told me to lie across them with my feet up. The staff were so helpful, remained with me for ages and eventually when I kept insisting I was fine, told me to stay there for as long as needed and to make sure I eat etc.

That was about three hours ago. I've had a good nap and I've just woken up to a woman with two children, and she was pulling my legs off the chairs and talking to me in another language. I looked around and there were free chairs across the room and (still kind of in a blur) asked what she was doing. She said she needed the three seats next to me for her and her children. I said I'm really sorry but I'm pregnant and have been feeling unwell, and that I actually haven't been upright for a few hours. I was starting to slowly gather myself and sitting up, honestly the nausea was HORRENDOUS and I constantly feel on the edge of vomiting. And the woman comes out with 'Im pregnant too and need a seat, god not everyone has to be so dramatic about it!'

I wasn't refusing to move btw, I was just awoken in a fog and stirring myself upright while feeling awful.

She looked livid and started huffing, tutting and ranting in another language at me.

Then someone nearby actually intervened and pointed out there were other seats (for three people) just a short distance away, so she walked away still ranting in another language.

So I laid back down and spent the next 10 minutes with her children running back and forth between us and jumping on my seats and shouting. She seemed full of rage that I dare be laid in the seats and didn't immediately jump up when she was literally lifting me out of her way.

I've removed myself, had a cry as I feel awful and full of hormones and am now trying to eat something. But the more I think about it, the more I'm so so angry at her.

I was literally put there and told to lay down by airport staff, and it's quite normal to see people sleeping at the airport. The space wasn't crowded and there were plenty of available seats in the area. I was polite and said sorry and was literally trying to move.

Not sure if I'm flooded with hormones but it feel she's totally unreasonable.

YABU - she's being reasonable and I should have moved quickly

YANBU - she shouldn't have moved my legs and could have given me some grace

Perhaps you should have vomited all over her. Whem I was pregant I literally had to barge people out of the way to get to the front of a long queue for the loo. I tried to explain en route I needed to be sick and I was sorry but they were not having it. I ended up puking in the sinks which served them all right.

She must have had a very good grasp of English if this actually happened: "And the woman comes out with 'Im pregnant too and need a seat, god not everyone has to be so dramatic about it!'"
So she wasn't actually speaking another language at all?

I don’t think I did say they have tranquil rooms for a three hour nap, actually. I said ‘non-public space/ medical attention’. Either you are well enough to be out in public or you’re not. How do some people on mumsnet get through the day? I do not know.

Although some airports do actually have bookable private spaces for sleep - I believe Newark airport had some last time I flew out from there. I think they come at an extra charge though. Still more appropriate than a three hour nap across a load of chairs though.

Have you heard of people who speak more than one language? A lot of people in the world can do that, just not the arrogant English who expect everyone else to speak their (our) language! I have a very good friend who is bilingual. She is from Lima (Peru fyi) but lives here. When she wants a rant it is in her native language, but she could quite easily say that in English.

But she wouldnt because she isnt a bitch.

I can't imagine just physically moving someone who was sleeping somewhere like that, unless it was too save them from physical harm. It's such a bizarre thing to do, regardless of anything else. Sounds like she's a weirdo.

You're both right. Danish people can be super rude if you contravene some rule they have in their head, but the French can give any of them a run for their money.

Non, les français sont les bons gens

I speak 4 languages myself with varying degrees of fluency, not sure why you're being snarky about my comment.
The turn of phrase "god not everyone has to be so dramatic about it!" is not very typical of a non-native English speaker which I why I said she must have a very good grasp of English.

But op told her she wasn’t well. But she dismissed op calling her dramatic. Not sure why you and other posters are now siding with other woman and gaslighting op. Clearly that lady was rude.

A lot of Europeans now speak very good English. There are also a lot of resources online teaching you how to speak like natives.

What a nasty, weird bitch. I’m pregnant and have a startle reflex, she’d have got a kick in the teeth if she’d grabbed me out of nowhere.

Fascinating how many people have compassion for this rude woman because she’s travelling while pregnant, while also telling OP she shouldn’t be travelling while pregnant.

Maybe this woman shouldn’t be travelling if she can’t cope. Or maybe - just maybe - that’s a messed up, misogynistic thing to say, and our society should support pregnant women like we do other people with temporary and permanent disabilities. I wonder if OP would be getting the same shit for elevating her legs using vacant seats if she had a broken ankle?

There are few things more annoying than someone at the gate you need taking up all the spaces laying across the seats

While she was a bit rude I think you are too lollygegging all over the chairs. She prpbs just wanted to sit down close to where she and the kids needed to board and try resting too

Think your being a bit hurty

FWIW in thirty years working at/through via various Heathrow Terminals I can't say I saw any private spaces for those slightly unwell...there might be the odd clinic tucked away airside but can't even swear to that (some other airports definitely do have that sort of facility)

If someone was actually seriously unwell at Heathrow it was a case of get the paramedics involved and/or really ill ambulance to the local hospital.

As a result I can easily imagine a situation where your standard non paramedic airport staff might suggest a slightly ill passenger rest on one of the seats in the public areas.....but of course that doesn't give the other passenger an excuse to assault them.

@Undahpressurah

Although some airports do actually have bookable private spaces for sleep - I believe Newark airport had some last time I flew out from there. I think they come at an extra charge though

Yep.

I'm afraid I saw enough of the travelling public over the years to believe in the 10% rule.

If an airport offered free rooms airside for transit passengers who said they were feeling slightly off/unwell the facility would be overwhelmed within minutes of opening.

Yeah did people not read that she literally pulled ops legs off!

Both women were rude.

Lying down on 3 chairs is fine for a short time. The airport staff were aware that the OP was feeling faint so suggested she lie down. They probably assumed she’d be OK after 10 minutes and didn’t think she would need all the chairs for 3 hours. If she hadn’t been woken up, would she had lain there asleep for 4 hours? 5 hours?

I agree the other woman shouldn’t have touched the OP, though given that she was in a European country the fact that she was speaking in another language was hardly a surprise!

People are ruder at airports and on planes, I've noticed that. It's the stress of long journeys, and knowing if you get something wrong, you're potentially in trouble.

Im surprised that nobody has suggested before now that perhaps the staff thought OP was also being a bit dramatic and wasnt in such dire medical need to warrant bringing her to first aid.
If they genuinely thought she would pass out/faint, there's no way they would put her lying on seats as she could faint, roll off and be injured, and the airport would be at fault.
If they thought she was going to throw up, again they wouldn't put her in a public space because this causes a hazard .... staff have to come and clean it up, area cordoned off etc. So I think that perhaps the staff thought the OP was being overly dramatic, told her to lie down for a while, and the rest is thread history.

Ranting foreigners crack me up...
Get some anti nausea tablets and forget the stupid woman.

THERE…WERE…PLENTY…OF…EMPTY…SEATS.

Got that now?

that is what I thought. Sounds made up

An 11 hour layover feeling rough? Why on earth wouldn’t you go and check into a hotel at the airport and get a proper sleep???

If there were plenty of other empty seats and yet she choose to target you then she was wrong.

I have so much sympathy for you, the first trimester is always horrendous for me. I can barely keep any food or water down and struggle to function on any level, it's pure survival. And yet there's no sympathy, because you don't look pregnant. It's seen to be making a fuss.
And yet in the second half of pregnancy right up to 41 weeks plus I feel as strong as an ox, full of energy, minimal discomfort and that's when people make a fuss of you.. I don't need any allowances made for me then! Ask me to stand and wait without a seat at 41 weeks pregnant and I will very happily do so. But at 8 weeks, I'd probably collapse onto the floor.

The staff should have brought you into the airport lounge or somewhere private not have you draped over seats in a main terminal where people are not to know whether you are ill, drunk or just selfish. That said her touching you and trying to pull you up is actually assault.

She sounds stressed, you sound extremely precious. How was she supposed to know you were "literally put there and told to lay down by airport staff", was there a poster about it? She saw someone taking the whole row of chairs, she is pregnant and had three kids in tow. No need to go and cry in corners about it, things happen, here you met someone who also had certain needs and here came a clash.