I was on a 6-hour flight and paid extra to choose my aisle seat because I have long legs and get claustrophobic. When I boarded, everything was fine… until a couple came up and told me I was sitting in *one of their seats*. Turns out, they had booked middle seats in different rows and were hoping someone would switch so they could sit together. They asked if I would move to a middle seat several rows back.
I said no and explained that I paid extra specifically for this seat. They kept pushing, saying it was “just a few hours” and that they were celebrating an anniversary. The flight attendant came over and asked if I was willing to switch “to be kind.”
I still said no.
The couple spent the entire flight making passive-aggressive comments about “selfish people” loud enough for me to hear, and I definitely got some dirty looks from nearby passengers.
I feel bad, but also… I paid for my seat and followed the rules.
AITA?
NTA
“You can be away from each other. It’s just a few hours as you said”
NTA. You paid for the seat. If they cared about sitting together they could have made those arrangements when they booked their flight. Frankly, the flight attendant kinda sucks to for making it seem like you are being unreasonable
Why do I see this post 5x a week here
If you’re on any of the airline subreddits, you’ll see this post twice a day… at minimum.
please go away.
Not an asshole – you paid for the seat, you can sit in the seat. They could have paid to sit next to each other.
The only exceptions I will make is for children if they somehow get separated from a parent. That’s more for safety than anything else. Two grown ass adults can deal with it.
YTA for posting a retired subject
It doesn’t even matter if you paid extra or if your legs are long or short. You were assigned that seat and “No.” is a complete sentence. Perhaps if their anniversary was that big a deal *they* should have paid extra. NTA.
NTA. Do not feel bad. They paid for cheap middle seats hoping that some pushover would give up their more expensive seat.
And the biggest offender is the flight attendant, IMO. They shouldn’t enable this entitled behavior.
This kind of shit really pisses me off. Ugh.
Separation of seats on a plane makes the heart grow fonder is the correct response.
NTA.
NTA- and you shouldn’t feel bad over the rantings of a manipulative couple.
They actually tried to get you to upgrade them at your personal expense. Middle seats are the last to be sold for a reason, and most people know why.
Standard seat change rules- if you need to sit together, especially if the airline has separated an adult from their minor child, the trade is either like for like or an improved seat for the person being asked. Those chuckleheads didn’t do that.
NTA. If they wanted the seat that much they should have offered you cash for it.
NTA. If it happens again, say LOUD AND CLEAR: “I PAID FOR THIS SEAT!” Then tell them they could have paid for seats to sit together if they weren’t such tightwads. I am one of those who pays extra to choose a seat with leg room even though I am not tall. No one moves me.
The story is so obvious that it doesn’t deserve an actual response.
The OP is an asshole for asking the same question that is asked a hundred times a day already – if they had bothered scrolling a few posts down the sub they would have found the answer in an identical post and saved themselves the bother.