Mom Asks Fellow Passenger to Move From Economy Plus to Coach So She Can Sit With Her Son, Then Cries When Told No

Mar. 15, 2025

A passenger on a flight (stock image).Photo:Getty

Getty

Anairline passengeris rethinking their decision to not swap seats.

Reddit user WineCountsAsFruit turned to the platform’s“Am I the A——”forum to detail an in-flight confrontation with another traveler and to ask fellow Redditors which passenger was in the wrong.

“So, I board the plane, settle in to my economy plus seat,” the passenger began, before explaining that a woman then approached her to ask to switch seats to 32B so her 9-year-old son could sit with her.

“I ask how much cash she has to repay me for the money I spent on the seat,” the passenger recalled responding during the airplane incident. “She says I’m cruel for leaving her son with anxiety sitting alone.”

A mom and son sitting behind other passengers (stock image).Getty

The Redditor suggested that the woman try to sit with her son in coach as opposed to having him join her in themore expensive seats, to which she said she “needed the leg room.”

“I said clearly she cares more about her own comfort than her son’s well being, [and that] if she cared she would give up her seat and move to the back,” the passenger continued.

That’s when the mother apparently got emotional.

“She breaks out in a screaming wail filled with ‘HOW COULD YOUs,’ ” the passenger noted, adding that “10 minutes later a smiling man sits down next to me grinning about his sweet upgrade.”

However, now the Redditor is rethinking the decision to not give up the seat, concluding the post with, “My partner says IATAH [I am the a——-] for questioning her parenting in public and making her cry … am I?”

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A sad person at an airport.Getty

“NTA [not the a——-]. She’s in the wrong for not being able to plan and book ahead of time so her son isn’t left alone, not being able to put aside her comfort ahead of her precious son, and thinking that anyone owes her anything for being a poor planner,” one person commented.

In response to the comment, the OP provided more context, writing, “When I booked my seat, hers was already taken so she booked first. Didn’t look like poor planning, looked like she only wanted to pay for one premium seat and wanted to guilt me into giving up my seat.”

Another commenter said that the woman was definitely in violation of basic seat-swapping etiquette.

“Everyone knows that if you’re looking to swap seats, you always offer the better seat to the person you’re inconveniencing,” the person wrote.

source: people.com