Was I wrong to move to the spare seat next to my husband?

[Inastatus]

I’m just after opinions on a situation I had on the plane yesterday. 5 of us flying - only 3.5 hour flight so didn’t pay to book seats. Airline put 3 of us together but split the other 2 - me and DH volunteered to sit away from each other. No problem with that, that’s the chance you take if you don’t pay to reserve seats.

However, before take- off someone moved seats leaving an aisle seat right next to DH’s aisle seat so I asked one of the cabin crew if it was ok for me to move there and he said yes once we had taken off. As soon as seatbelt lights turned off I moved and started chatting to DH. The woman I sat next to tapped me on the arm and said quite rudely ‘our son is coming to sit there - we asked’. I was a bit taken aback so just mumbled ‘I asked too’. Obviously I didn’t want to cause a fuss or get cabin crew involved as I didn’t want to sit next to disgruntled passengers for the rest of the flight so I went back to my original seat. The mother immediately put her rucksack on the seat to save it and eventually her son, who was in his 30’s, wandered down to sit there.

Am I right in thinking that they were no more entitled to the seat than me and her rude attitude was really uncalled for?

@momager22 - yes, you are right, maybe I should but it would have made the flight a bit awkward.

Possibly but TBF before the crew start getting it in the neck it probably needs mentioning that cabin crew generally aren't going to have time to coordinate requests like this across the whole team.

I've seen a few games of musical chairs played over the years and it's generally resolved on the basis of the winner being the first one to occupy the empty seat.

Double post, apologies.

“Our son is coming to sit there - we asked” isn’t “quite rude” it’s stating the fact.

You sound like the disgruntled party here, for no sound reason.

She did the exact same as you and asked crew. You were both in the exact same position. Who cares her son was an adult? It’s beside the point. But in that vein, your husband is also an adult!

As your family was split 3 + 2, did you leave your child on their own so you could sit near your husband?

That’s the first thing I thought of too? There were two adults sitting separately with their child / children. Then one adult moved to be near her husband, so her children were left without an adult.

we do not know the ages of them, they could be 2 or 15. There’s a big difference!

I was on a flight and a woman sat next to her husband and left 3 young children in a row by themself and one parent was asked to move and sit with their children. I was like ‘Watch Kirsty Alsop off’

🤣🤣

That’s not what she said.

She said 3 people (presumably an adult and the children), were sat together. Two people were split up - being OP and her husband.

Op hasn’t mentioned that any of their group were children? Unless the heat has fried my brain.

@Boobyslims - it wasn’t what she said, it was the sharp tapping on my arm and the manner in which she said it that was rude! And my ‘children’ are 19 and 21 😅

What? That’s exactly what the other woman did, even though op got there first?
I wouldn’t have moved.

Where the fuck does OP mention children? You have literally invented this.

How do these people hold down jobs?

Well not quite. The woman had the empty seat right next to her.

OPs husband was across the aisle, so the spare seat wasn’t right next to him, it was the other side of the aisle.

Im team assertive woman. It would have annoyed me if you’d have sat through the whole flight yipping to your husband across the aisle. And - in my opinion - she had a slight edge in that the seat was next to her (Not just across the aisle). Plus she was more assertive.

I know, I was the one questioning the poster who mentioned her sitting away from her nonexistent kid?

This. Stop being a doormat to other people.

Everyone jumps seats now that we have to pay for them!

The OP did nothing wrong. She was obviously out of order tapping you on the shoulder. But like the OP i would have moved as well (assuming that the son was young). But it's only (presumably) an hour or two of everyone's lives.

Regarding the possibility of kids: dd is 14 and I haven't paid for seating. She'll be on a device for a 2 hour flight. She'll survive the flight being able to ignore a stranger next to her rather her parents.

@CarpetofBluebells - your posts make no sense! The seat did not remain empty - she had her adult son next to her! And it looks like lots of people agree with me that she had no more rights than I did to dictate who occupied the seat next to her. Clearly they had not paid to reserve the seat either.

You were in the right. She was in the wrong.

@Flatinbed - I said in my OP that the son was in his 30’s - not a child.

A breezy ‘Oh, I’ve already cleared it with the cabin crew’ would have put a stop to that. Her adult DS had no more right to the seat than you.

@AImportantMermaid - yeah, that would have been a good thing to say. I love your username - you must follow the guy who sings his toddler’s stories 😅

OP, you weren’t out of line - you asked. If she tapped your arm and said her son was coming to sit there, I’d have wanted to know where he was, and I’d have stuck to my guns and said well, I was told I could sit here. I would only move for a child.

Where did she mention a child?!

And what would you do once I'd plonked my arse in it? Tough shit. First come first served.

would HAVE

See also; could have, should have and may have!

Stephen Spencer! Yes, I love him 💕