“She Said She’d Sue Me”: Flight Attendants Have To Get Involved Twice As Boomers Explode On A Mom

Every plane ticket comes with a seat number. It’s literally right there on the boarding pass, impossible to miss.

But for some reason, air travel apparently makes people forget how to read. Instead of sitting where they’re supposed to, they’ll park themselves wherever they feel like. And heaven forbid they actually ask someone nicely if they’d be willing to swap.

One Redditor found herself dealing with exactly these kinds of passengers, so she went online to share how the whole drama played out. Read the full story below, as well as our chat with international etiquette expert Diane Gottsman about the unwritten rules of flying.

One woman was sitting in her assigned seat when another passenger walked up and tried to claim it as her own

Image credits: friends_stock (Not the actual photo)

When that didn’t work, chaos followed

Image credits: thichas (Not the actual photo)

Image credits: gayblobofgender

Air travel comes with its own unspoken etiquette

The way the woman and her husband handled the situation after they didn’t get the seats they wanted almost feels like a sketch from a bad comedy show. But as ridiculous as it sounds, this kind of thing really does happen on planes. Where they got their manners from, however, remains a mystery.

To learn more about the best way to handle a situation like this, Bored Panda got in touch with Diane Gottsman, an international etiquette expert, leader in etiquette training, and the founder of The Protocol School of Texas.

Gottsman says there is only one acceptable scenario where it’s okay to ask a fellow traveler to trade seats. And even then, you should first exhaust all other options, like speaking to the airline, a flight attendant, or a travel agent. Ideally, before you even board the plane.

Image credits: Pixabay (Not the actual photo)

You need to have a good reason to ask someone to switch seats, according to the expert

“If you were traveling with a young child, and for some reason, your seats were separated, you can politely ask to make a switch, but ask someone with the same seat in a different aisle,” Gottsman told us.

But passengers should only do this if they planned their travel properly and found there was “no possible way” to make it happen. They also need to remember that asking another passenger directly can put that person in an awkward position.

According to Gottsman, “You don’t ask a passenger to swap seats with you because you don’t like the location of your seat on the plane, or two of your friends are together and you want to be close. It should be for a good reason, or you should have made seat arrangements in advance.”

It also goes against travel etiquette to offer someone a worse seat than the one they have

As the travel blog The Points Guy explains, “Generally speaking, the unspoken rule when it comes to seat swaps is that only better or equivalent exchanges should be offered. Maybe you lose an aisle seat, but gain some leg room in a bulkhead seat, or you trade your window seat next to the toilet for a middle seat at the front of the main cabin.”

Gottsman agrees: “You never just sit down and wait for the passenger to arrive that you want to occupy their seat. When the passenger arrives, you politely ask if they would mind changing seats, in other words, window for window, aisle for aisle, etc. But never an aisle for a middle seat.”

Image credits: Jason Toevs (Not the actual photo)

Having a meltdown on a plane is the worst thing you could do

Sure, flight attendants are specially trained to de-escalate drama between passengers. But forcing the situation to get to that point is completely unnecessary. And depending on how badly someone behaves, it could also come with unwanted consequences.

“There should never be a public outburst, profanity, or physical violence on an airplane,” said Gottsman.

“If you are really unhappy with your seat, and there is no way to change it, rather than an outburst which will end up on social media, either take a seat or opt for another flight,” she added. “Common courtesy and understanding are always the best options when dealing with strangers, friends, and family members.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, tensions were understandably high, and conflicts between passengers and airline staff became much more common. Since then, things have improved, but the problem hasn’t disappeared completely.

For example, the rate of unruly passenger incidents has dropped by more than 80 percent since the record highs of early 2021. Still, in 2024 alone, airlines reported more than 1,240 unruly passenger cases.

According to Explore, “Many experts also think that people have become more entitled and less able to tolerate stress after the COVID-19 pandemic. Things got so bad during that time that the FAA introduced a zero-tolerance policy against unruly passengers, which has been extended into our post-pandemic era.”

This is a good reminder that a plane is one of those places where, as difficult as it can sometimes be, it’s best to keep your temper under control. Not only for the sake of everyone around you, but for your own sake too.

What do you think about how this story went down? Was the situation handled well? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Many people felt the airline didn’t do enough and that the elderly couple should have been removed from the flight

Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda!