Flight passenger stands firm against entitled seat swapper's demands: 'I'm not moving'
In the "r/americanairlines" forum on Reddit, a user titled a post, "Finally happened to me."
The person wrote, "Maybe I should stop reading about seat swappers … because it finally happened to me. Get in my 2A seat and I tell the woman, 'Hey, before you get settled, I'm at the window.' And she goes, 'Well, my husband and I are apart in separate aisle seats.'"
The user continued in the post, "I go, 'OK, well, I'm not moving, so I hope you figure it out.' She goes, 'Well, it's still business class.' No."
The Reddit poster added, "To clear this up, I'm on an airbus 2x2. No middle. And it was my seat that I paid for. Moving to an aisle when I booked a window months ago is not the same … otherwise [I] would've obliged," the flight passenger clarified.
The post garnered over 1,000 reactions as people took to the comments section to discuss the issue and share their own encounters with seat swappers on board flights.
"I'm not at all for seat swapping. It's ridiculous," wrote one user.
Another user wrote, "Returned recently from Munich and the lady across the aisle kept asking me to switch seats so she could sit next to her husband."
Another person wrote, "I mean, there's no harm in asking, but if the answer is 'No,' politely drop it and move on."
"Unless a person has some sort of illness where their traveling partner needs immediate proximity, there's no point in this," wrote one user.
Many users addressed fellow flyers' need to be near their spouses or family members on planes.
"Why can't grown-ups just suck it up if they are not next to one another for a few hours?" commented one user.
A Redditor wrote that she and her spouse "fly often, and sometimes we can't sit next to each other - big deal. We never ask someone to trade seats."
A user admitted, "I am one of these seat swappers any time I travel with family. We reserve a row and the window and aisle seat … hoping no one gets the middle … If we happen to get a middle [seat]er, we ask them if it's OK if they get the window instead or aisle. Haven't had a complaint yet … Hoping it stays that way."
California-based etiquette expert Rosalinda Randall weighed in on the situation, telling Fox News Digital that "no one has the obligation to switch their seat."
"The person making the request has no right to expect [this] or make a scene when they don't get their way," said Randall.
Randall said there may be some circumstances in which it would be a minor inconvenience to switch.
"It's a short flight, you can find a similar seat in another row, or anyone would be an improvement from the passenger [you're currently] sitting next to," said Randall.
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