Plane Staff Pressures Woman To Give Her First-Class Seat To A Kid, She Refuses And Faces Backlash

Smoggy Lobster is an idiot. A six year old kid would NOT appreciate first class. The ticket was paid for by the boyfriend - I would be beyond ropable if a seat I'd paid for for someone was given away to a stranger. This seat swapping business is beyond BS.

GirlFriday

GirlFriday

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I was talking to someone the other day who told me that when she flies with her family, she only pays to choose two seats. Those for her and her husband and she books those in business class, and then once on the plane, she makes others move so the children can sit them. She says it works 100% of the time because her children are 4 and 6. That wouldn't work with me because I would let those kids sit with strangers and never once look up from my book.

Yes, absolute rubbish. Mum has a First Class ticket and son Economy and both go back to Business Class? Apart from that, no flight attendant would ever behave like that in first class. One complaint from a platinum customer about something like that is enough to make them push the coffee through economy again.

Seems all the mother had to do was offer to switch her first class seat w the person sitting next to her kid in economy. A stranger gets a nice upgrade and she can pretend to be a mother who puts her kid first for once

Fake. Stewardess would be sacked for this.

This was made up by someone who knows nothing about air travel, first class or the job of being a flight attendant. It is so unlikely it is silly. Nobody risked their job to try to get a child into first class. I'm surprised it didn't end with everyone clapping for the boyfriend.

Fake.

In my opinion, The only reason why the flight attendant even agreed with the mother is probably because she knew her, or because she was a higher up of some kind. But even then NO she should not have given up HER seat for someone else's child. It was the mother's responsibility and SHE made a mistake and if it bothered the mother soo bad. SHE could have switched seats with HER kid. NTA

Pure rage bait. More holes than a sieve.

If it's real, and I'm always skeptical that on stuff like this, as it's usually just people making stuff up that cannot be proven for social media likes, she did nothing wrong. "Booking error", right. BS. If it is real, I hope the boyfriend complained to the airline for the unprofessional actions of the flight attendant

WTF! You should give up your seat because you didn't pay for it yourself? What kind of reasoning is that? *Excuse my while I go and trash every gift I ever got*

I don't understand why she was the only one being asked. Why didn't the flight attendant make an announcement to first class asking if anyone would switch. Her boyfriend was right beside her and he wasn't asked to switch. I'm betting she was the youngest in first class and they were trying to intimidate her into moving.

If Mom so badly wanted the kid to experience First Class, she could have trundled herself down to Business Class and let the kid have her own First Class seat. There are 8 billion people on this planet, and - this may surprise you - I don't give a flat f*ck about your kid.

They got bumped back to Business or to Economy? Which is it? Because Business is a closer experience to First than it is to Economy. That's the first inconsistency. The second is that the boyfriend both defended her AND was told about it after the fact? Which is it? Beyond the fact that *those* mistakes don't happen in First, especially an international flight. I call bulļśĥït on the whole story.

Why should a 5 yo get such an expensive gift from a stranger if the mother is not willing to pay for her son's first class ticket herself? Why did the FA target OP seeing as she was there with her partner. The mother's problems are her own to deal with. The FA was way out of line.

NTA. If this woman had the nerve to ask another passenger to give up their first class seat, she's also the kind of woman who would have raised holy hell if the airline had messed up her reservation to this extent. She didn't because she knew darn well there was no mix-up. She had bought her son a cheaper seat gambling there might be an empty seat in first class.

I flew when I was 5, my sister was 6. We found a row in the back, and sat on the floor, and had a great time. I remember see the lady's ankles in front of where I had flopped on the floor. Kids don't even sit in their own seats given the choice.

In the remote case that this really happened, OP should dump the YTA friends. Mummy made an error? Then mummy should shut up and not bother others. A 6 year old does not care whatever class. Mummy should do the locigal thing and ask somebody from economy to swap. You need others to solve your (unbelievable) mistske? Then the helpers should better better off, not you.

Completely ridiculous. Never should of asked. Shame on flight attendant for their attitude

If I knew what airline expected this, and treated a customer so in appropriately….I would NOT fly with them. It was very wrong of the flight crew to ask the woman to give up her first class seat. The parent of the kid could have switched out with the kid…split up the time, etc. versus expecting someone else that had paid for this to give it up!!! This use of the child to promote an entitled attitude is even more outrageous. I am glad it wasn’t me….. I would not only have kept the seat my boyfriend paid for….but challenged the woman who was trying to intimidate me into giving it up!!!

The obvious retort to these scammer is, "Why don't you go sit back in economy with you son? I'm sure somebody back there will be happy to switch seas with you! But I am going to stay here in the seat I PAID FOR!"

The mother sounds like one of those initial pos that the world owe her whatever she thinks it's best for her.. She can go and suck an egg, on my account.. I'm also glad the boy friend backed her up. That flight attended should be fired.

Absolutely justified. I don’t care what the woman wanted. Her son, her problem. She could have offered up her first class seat to a passenger next to her son if it was so important.

I think the mother should have given up her seat for her son and allowed him to experience first class She should have humbled herself

If the mom was concerned her 6 yr old was alone she could have given the economy seat adjoining her seat to 1st class and sat with the child in economy .

I would have said, "Why don't you ask everyone else? Why are you targeting me? Younger female, an easier pushover?" The whole thing is bs.

NTA!!! If Mom was so concerned about her child, she would have given up HER seat for her kid!!! Was anyone going to reimburse your boyfriend for that money? What about you? Are you not allowed to enjoy first class your first time? Where does Mom get off in asking for your seat? She should be calling the airline not bothering you. And shame on the flight attendant!!! Hell, just have the child sit in the cockpit, since it was so important for the flight attendant to seat the child in first class.

I find it funny that a number of people claimed the story was false because of the line about the 6 yr old appreciating it more. I desperately want to catch a foul or throwaway ball at a baseball game. I'm an uberfan! But if I even try for a ball nearby a kid (not on, standing next to, pushing, or taking from a kid), I hear disgusted noises or comments behind my back about how the kid deserves it more. You mean the little kid that won't remember the game? The 3 or 4 yr old a player hands a ball? I didn't deserve one at the few games I attended as a little kid. The second that ball is in my hands, it'll have that player's name, the game, and the date on it. Just one. But I can't even stand up at my seat if a kid is nearby w/o hearing how the kid deserves it more. So I would not discount this story for that alone. The other stuff yes. Alright attack me for wanting to take candy from a baby who's never had it than the laughable comments about the *one* line making the story false.

How would anyone know who'd enjoy the seat better? Women need not be gaslighted as being inept to enjoying something less than a boy or any other person would enjoy it. The airline needed a better way to please the boy for their mistake, one way may be to publicly ask if anyone would be willing to move, let it be with no responses, and keep it as civil as possible with the boy and his parent(s). There's compensation as in money or a first-class seat coupon for a next flight for one parent and the child or two parents and child if both parents were supposed to be with him, other parent not involved in the matter must book and pay same time to be with or near the parent and child, though it may not matter officially which parent gets the coupon and who pays.

Turn that flight attendant in. They're trained not to do that. I'd say that the mother was either a friend or family member. Booking error my backside.

The boyfriend was there so why should they split up?

Business class is not the same as economy. BC is perfectly suitable for a child. NTA.

I think I might have said something along the lines of - well, your kid sits here and you go back to economy. No way would there be that much of an error that someone who had paid for first class be bumped back into economy (without giving major compensation let alone the price difference refunded). Good on this woman for staying put and her boyfriend for backing her up,

The entire story sounds like "and then everybody was supposed to clap". First, the boyfriend's "speech" was over-the-top. Second, sorry, no "high rated first class" has only 8 seats in two rows for a 12 hour flight. Even the most mediocre business class for those flights have at least 16 seats. In fact, if the business class ws halfway luxurious, the "seats" would be flat beds, in three rows - singles next to the windows, and pairs in the middle, not two rows of 4 pairs of seats. The woman has definitely never flown in a supposedly "high rated " business class in her life. She cannot even invent a convincing story.

She should have just said no and ignored the mother. She owed that woman no explanation about why she wouldn’t switch. No is a full sentence. I hope she or her BF put in a complaint about that stewardess.

Either way, if it's a hoax or truth, I definitely will not give up my seat, even if it was a gift to me to enjoy on a long flight, so Hell No would I given my seat up to anyone, and even a child. Never ever would I do th hat and no one should feel guilty of it or made to feel bad, it's your seat whether you paid for it or it was a gift to you. It was given to you to enjoy and so you should without feeling bad, hell no would I give up my seat 😳🤭🤭🙂

It was your right to sit & take the advantage of your 1st class seat. But don't expect karma points or angels singing your praises etc. This happens all of the time. Someone does something that is just for themselves but want to talk about it as if they can get a response to prove that their actions were not just advantageous but noble too. Move on and don't milk a cow with no milk.

She should have never been asked, to give up her by the woman with the child and especially the Flight Attendant.

The story tried to seam plausible, but simply wasn't. We're supposed to believe that the mother and son checked in, the mother immediately saw the "booking error" (as their tickets clearly showed them having seats in two separate locations), then chose not to address it until they literally boarded the plane? On top of that, somehow the OP was singled out, out of all the other people in first class? The story was already fishy when it went from "my boyfriend bought me a first class ticket" to realizing both of them were taking the same flight to the same place. So, everything was supposed to be completely normal with her sitting in economy for that long a flight while the bf sat in first class until his generosity changed the circumstances? None of this math is mathing.

Other passengers' problems are not my problem. I'm not switching seats for anyone. Though to be fair, I've not flown in years and have no plans on flying again, mostly because of the kinds of problems within the airline industry these days -- maintenance, rude passengers ... Nope, she is NTA.