A plane passenger has sparked furious outrage after she revealed she refused to switch seats with a 10-year-old boy who was left in economy by his parents so they could lounge in first class.
An unnamed frequent flyer, 23, has taken to Reddit to share she declined to swap seats with a child after she and the kid’s parents were upgraded to first class – resulting in the 10-year-old being left by himself in coach.
Her confession reignited a heated conversation surrounding airplane etiquette, just days after a pharmacist revealed she refused to give up her place so that a mom and her teen could sit together while traveling.
The anonymous woman took to Reddit to question if she was in the wrong for declining to give up her first-class seat for the young boy in a thread titled, ‘Am I the A**hole’ – prompting people on the social-media platform to slam the parents of the boy who left him alone in the first place.
A passenger has sparked furious outrage after she revealed she refused to switch seats with a 10-year-old boy after his parents left him in economy so they could lounge in first class
The woman began her post by sharing some background information about herself and her 13-hour trip.
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She said: ‘Background info, I (23F) have been planning a trip to San Francisco for around a year at this point and had booked my tickets a year in advance. Around about a month or two before the trip, the airline called me saying they’d like to upgrade me to first class due to my points and being a member.
‘I had never flown first class before so to say I was so excited was an understatement.’
Once she arrived to her seat, she made herself comfortable and was looking forward to taking off.
However not long after takeoff, a flight attendant came to her with a request.
‘About an hour into the flight, a flight attendant comes up to me and asks me if I’d be willing to swap seats with a 10-year-old boy who was in economy so he could sit with his family in first class,’ the passenger explained.
‘From what I was told the two parents were both members and had also received upgrades also not realizing that their son wasn’t able to be upgraded with them. So they got their first-class tickets but he was stuck back at economy.’
The passenger went on to note that the flight attendant had been discussing the situation as if she had ‘no choice but to move,’ adding that if she moved she would receive a free upgrade in a future flight or could even get a full refund.
The anonymous woman took to Reddit to question if she was in the wrong for declining to give up her first-class seat for the young boy – prompting people to slam the parents (stock image)
‘I asked her if there was any chance I could stay in my seat because I genuinely thought I was being kicked out and she said that the two parents and I were the only upgraded passengers on the flight and there were no other first-class seats available so if there was to be any chance for the boy to sit with his family it would only make sense for him to sit in my seat,’ she added.
The frequent flyer noted that if the situation had been ‘different’ she may have considered it, but she received the upgrade because of how much she traveled with the airline.
The woman ultimately refused to swap sweats and noted that the attendant was ‘very polite’ and accepted her decision.
‘I did get shamed by an old woman in the seat next to me who told me that I made a child sit on their own for 13 hours. I get a 13-hour flight alone for a child is the scary part but I saw him walk up and down the isles like every hour to meet his parents so it wasn’t like he was alone,’ she said.
At the end of the post, she questioned if she was an ‘a**hole’ for not switching seats.
People on the social media platform immediately came to the woman’s defense and blasted the parents of the boy for leaving him alone
People on the social media platform immediately came to the woman’s defense and blasted the parents of the boy for leaving him alone.
One person said: ‘I’m sure two people in economy would’ve been glad to swap with the parents!’
Another person said: ‘Yeah that is the wild part – if it’s a little kid so you feel like you must sit together… one of the parents needs to switch.’
‘Yep, and the parents could have taken turns sitting with the kid. It sounds like the parents were totally unconcerned about the whole situation and it was the flight attendant who was worried about the kid being alone,’ someone else wrote.
Another person wrote: ‘Exactly. Why are the parents selfish and then expected a stranger to make up for it?’
One user commented: ‘Why should I sacrifice for a random kid when one of his own parents won’t do it?’
‘This was my thought. The kid isn’t being forced to sit by himself. The parents are choosing to make him. One of them could take his seat,’ another user said.
‘OP said the flight attendant told them first class was fully booked. We also notice the old lady who shamed her wasn’t volunteering to switch, ‘ wrote someone else.
One user said: ‘This right here! This happened to me and I sat in economy while my wife and kiddo enjoyed the first class treatment. Those parents were major a**holes.’
‘Or, wild idea, one parent sits with kid in first class. One parent sits in the quality of seat that they paid for,’ commented another person.
‘This is exactly it. You are not responsible for their child or their child’s comfort during a 13-hour flight. If the parents wanted the kid to be supervised they should have asked the other two people in the kid’s row if they wanted first class seats so they could sit as a family.
‘The fact that the parents were unwilling to do that; and the fact that the flight attendant even asked you publicly to trade makes this whole situation unacceptable. Your seat wasn’t even near the parents so the kid would just have been on their own closer to their parents,’ commented someone else.
Another person wrote: ‘As a parent, my first thought would have been to ask if my child was also getting upgraded.’
Her confession comes just one week after a passenger was praised online after refusing to give up her first-class seat for a woman who wanted to sit closer to her teen.
Dr. Sabra, a TikTok creator and pharmacist, racked up almost 10 million views after she shared her elated reaction to the confrontation.
The short clip, captioned: ‘POV: Flight agent asks me if I want to give up my 1A seat so a child sits with their family,’ saw her grinning from ear to ear after denying the mom.
The denial comes months after one man sparked furious debate when he refused to give up his first-class seat for his boss, despite using his own credit card points to do so.
In the past, DailyMail.com’s Jaci Stephen even offered up her view, and confessed that she ‘absolutely refuses’ to swap seats, no matter how angry the passenger requesting to switch may get.
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