Passenger Refuses To Trade Seats With A Kid And Their Mom Is Furious, Wonders If They Were Really A Jerk
Interview With Author
Flying is a ton of fun! There’s very little that comes close to the happiness we feel deep inside our hearts when we take off and watch the world shrink, as the plane enters the Kingdom of Clouds. The other passengers are always great to talk to. The flight staff is incredibly polite. And maybe the captain even comes out to say a quick ‘hello’ to everyone. If you haven’t noticed yet, Pandas, some of us might have a very romantic view of flying even though some of us might be super afraid of heights. And YES, we LOVE having the window seat.
However… so does pretty much everyone else. That’s where redditor u/Sillymau5’s story comes in. They asked the AITA community for a verdict about a situation that happened on the plane. You see, the OP finally racked up enough points to get a free first-class seat. They chose the window seat. Naturally.
However, on the flight, a woman from first-class came over and asked them if they’d be willing to switch seats so that one of her kids could sit near the window. The redditor refused. Scroll down for the full story and to read what other members of the AITA community had to say. Meanwhile, share your own thoughts about what happened in the comments, Pandas. What would you have done in this situation? Do you enjoy flying? What would make you give up that super special window seat? Let us know what you think!
Bored Panda reached out to u/Sillymau5, the author of the story, and they were kind enough to share their thoughts about the situation with us. Read on to see what they told us during a friendly chat.
Flying can be a lot of fun and many people feel like sitting by the window is the best place to be
Image credits: Paul Hanaoka (not the actual photo)
One passenger shared what happened when a kid wanted to take their window seat, in first class
Image credits: Hanson Lu (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Steven Coffey (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Sillymau5
In all fairness, redditor u/Sillymau5 was perfectly polite and simply refused to give in to someone else’s guilt-tripping attempts. They’d booked their seat well in advance. Something that everyone can do.
They also pointed out that they’d be willing to switch seats if it’d been someone from economy class who’d asked. However, seeing as the mom and her two kids were also in first-class, the OP thought it was privileged enough for them to stand their ground.
However, one of the author’s friends thought that they behaved like a jerk. Which is what prompted them to reach out to the AITA community in the first place. The AITA crowd overwhelmingly supported the OP and said that they did nothing wrong.
The author of the story, redditor u/Sillymau5 told Bored Panda that it’s “entirely possible” that the mom from their story was exhausted from traveling, frustrated that her kid was throwing a tantrum, and that they were simply the easiest person for her to take all of those feelings out on.
“It’s no excuse but we all have bad days. Maybe she wasn’t tired at all and is simply just an entitled ass to everyone. At the end of the day, she’s a stranger and I can only speculate. I wouldn’t do anything differently in hindsight,” the OP told us.
In the author’s opinion, when setting boundaries with strangers, simply using the word, “No” can be very effective. Though putting that into practice, we feel, is always pretty hard (yours truly might have a hard time with that.) “It’s not always easy to say ‘no’ but once you learn the art of using it, it pays off,” they said.
Just like us, the redditor loves the window seat. “For me personally, you can guarantee I’ll be glued to the window the entire flight, whether it’s 25 minutes or 16 hours. I love looking at landmarks, borders, storms, etc. Most people don’t get to see the earth from 30k+ feet every day. Plus, you have something to rest on and slightly more arm room,” they shared the biggest pros of sitting by the window.
Bored Panda was also curious to find out a bit about the OP’s passion for geography which they mentioned in their AITA post. “Ever since I was a little kid, I found atlases very intriguing. Even now, at 30 years old, I still discover new things in maps, such as the border between the Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau. Just search it on Google maps and you’ll see what I’m talking about. You won’t be able to tell which country they’re in! There’s all sorts of things like that in the world that I find very fascinating,” they shared a bit of what keeps them interested in the subject.
The OP was pretty happy that out of the 500+ comments that were left on their post, every single person supported them. That, for the redditor, was a huge relief. “The only debate I noticed on the thread came down to whether or not it was rude for the lady to ask in the first place. Some say yes, others say no.”
Redditor u/Sillymau5 opened up to Bored Panda that they personally found it rude of the mom to even ask them to switch seats with her kid. “I spent the rest of the flight feeling guilty instead of enjoying my treat to myself. Even after the flight it still bothered me enough to write a Reddit post about it. However, I’m grateful for the overwhelming support from the folks who have commented.”
They added a question for all of you, Pandas: “My question for readers now would be, is it rude to even ask a stranger to switch seats?”
Very recently, Bored Panda spoke about the importance of boundaries with Suzanne Degges White, Ph.D., from Northern Illinois University. The professor told us that it’s very helpful to have clear boundaries in all aspects of our lives.
“When we continually ‘give in’ to others’ requests, we set up the pattern and expectation that we are willing to sacrifice our own needs and resources for that person,” she explained what happens when we—and others—are willing to give up our boundaries for one reason or another.
She pointed out that we may sometimes have to be flexible with our boundaries in order to accommodate others’ requests. Especially if they’re close family members. However, as a rule, there’s nothing wrong with needing privacy, focusing on your emotional well-being, so long as it’s not the only thing you’re doing. Part of communicating new boundaries to someone may involve starting out with a small disclaimer, that it’s not about them: the boundaries are meant to fulfill your own needs. This, in turn, can make it easier for the other person to accept your terms.
Though the vast majority of people are likely to be neutral or even nice when they interact with you, you have to accept for a fact that sooner or later you’ll run into someone rude and entitled. Whether it’s at work, on your commute, or while you’re out on the town. Bored Panda had a chat about this with Alexander Kjerulf, from Positive Sharing, a while back. He noted that not everyone who’s rude is a bad person; though some individuals definitely use it as a weapon to get what they want.
“Keep your cool and remember that whatever abuse they’re giving you is no reflection on you as a person. That customer doesn’t even know you, so there’s no way it could be. But on the other hand, don’t be subservient. Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself and tell customers that abuse is not tolerated. And if it persists, hand them over to a manager as soon as you can and let them deal with it,” he explained how someone who’s facing rudeness in the workplace would ideally react. Of course, this is applicable to most other situations. Whether someone’s rude to you on public transport, on the plane, or even at a store.
“You have to remember that in many cases a customer who behaves badly is not necessarily a bad person—it can be a good person having a bad day and that’s why they’re acting out. But the sad truth is that some customers act this way because they’ve learned that it works and will get them discounts or preferential treatment,” Alexander told us that the least that anyone can do is to try and be nice to everyone they meet throughout their day.
Most AITA community members were unanimous in how they felt about the travel drama
I have yet to see an AITA post where a person is in the wrong for refusing to give up something they bought and paid for in order to fix someone else’s lack of planning.
Seriously. Every time I see an AITA post I'm generally like "why are you even asking? Common sense should tell you you aren't the AH." Sorry he can't look out the window but the kid would probably look for 3 minutes then get bored and start moving around annoyingly anyway. Entitled, crazy, rude, annoying and flat out ridiculous people in all of these AITA posts.
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As a mum- OP is 100 percent NTA. And this is after literally dealing with a huge tantrum following my child hearing the word no. My kid, my responsibility. Never understood why some parents feel so entitled.
My daughter struggled with planes when she was about 3yrs, she was quite scared. She had some of the plane food on the way over to Egypt, a terrible "croque monsieur" (ham and cheese sandwich, toasted) but she loved it. So we used it as the reward to get her to look forward to the plane journey whenever she felt scared of the return trip. By the time the cabin crew came around there were no toasted sandwiches left. After 5 hours in a very hot airport I was nearly having a tantrum. It was the ONLY time I can remember her anywhere close to a tantrum, but some kind soul donated their meal from a few rows behind, and we never got to that point. I always try to make it easier for parents whenever I can, even the best kids and parents can have a bad day. A stressful airport/plane ride is not the place for me to take a stand, or make judgements, so I try to be kind. But yes, it is always my responsibility.
Load More Replies... It was a yes/no-question and "no" is a valid and polite answer to that. You don't even have to justify it. Better if you don't, because a lot of people think they then can argue with you about your reasons. "No, thank you'." :)
I agree. It's not the question that is rude if it is done politely, it's the reaction to the answer that is incredibly entitled and rude. Anyone that asks should understand that the answer can be a "no" and it is totally valid.
Load More Replies... I have yet to see an AITA post where a person is in the wrong for refusing to give up something they bought and paid for in order to fix someone else’s lack of planning.
Seriously. Every time I see an AITA post I'm generally like "why are you even asking? Common sense should tell you you aren't the AH." Sorry he can't look out the window but the kid would probably look for 3 minutes then get bored and start moving around annoyingly anyway. Entitled, crazy, rude, annoying and flat out ridiculous people in all of these AITA posts.
Load More Replies... As a mum- OP is 100 percent NTA. And this is after literally dealing with a huge tantrum following my child hearing the word no. My kid, my responsibility. Never understood why some parents feel so entitled.
My daughter struggled with planes when she was about 3yrs, she was quite scared. She had some of the plane food on the way over to Egypt, a terrible "croque monsieur" (ham and cheese sandwich, toasted) but she loved it. So we used it as the reward to get her to look forward to the plane journey whenever she felt scared of the return trip. By the time the cabin crew came around there were no toasted sandwiches left. After 5 hours in a very hot airport I was nearly having a tantrum. It was the ONLY time I can remember her anywhere close to a tantrum, but some kind soul donated their meal from a few rows behind, and we never got to that point. I always try to make it easier for parents whenever I can, even the best kids and parents can have a bad day. A stressful airport/plane ride is not the place for me to take a stand, or make judgements, so I try to be kind. But yes, it is always my responsibility.
Load More Replies... It was a yes/no-question and "no" is a valid and polite answer to that. You don't even have to justify it. Better if you don't, because a lot of people think they then can argue with you about your reasons. "No, thank you'." :)
I agree. It's not the question that is rude if it is done politely, it's the reaction to the answer that is incredibly entitled and rude. Anyone that asks should understand that the answer can be a "no" and it is totally valid.
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