A Woman Tried to Steal My Seat for Her Child, and the Flight Attendant’s Reaction Shocked Me

A woman faced a dilemma, caught between societal expectations and her desire for own comfort. The issue emerged during a flight, where the expectation to be generous conflicted with her need to maintain personal space.

This incident took place aboard an airplane.

I am overweight.

I’m headed across the country to spend Christmas with my brother and his husband. Knowing that comfort is important, especially considering my size, I decided to book an extra seat for the journey. It’s not the most pleasant thing to pay extra, but it is what it is.

Things went smoothly during check-in, security, and boarding initially. However, a bit of a situation arose when a woman approached my row with her approximately 18-month-old son. She insisted that I squeeze into one seat so her son could have the other. Instead of asking, she told me to do so. I politely declined, explaining that I paid for the extra seat for my own comfort.

This caught the attention of the flight attendant as the woman made a fuss, claiming I was taking the seat from her son. I showed my boarding passes to prove that I had indeed paid for the extra space. The flight attendant asked if I could try to make room, but I firmly asserted my right to the seat I paid for.

The flight attendant eventually instructed the woman to have her son sit on her lap, as is common for children of his age during flights. Throughout the journey, I endured dirty looks and passive-aggressive remarks from the woman, but I stood my ground in prioritizing the comfort I paid for.

People showed their support for her in the comments.

• You paid for your seat. This woman was trying to steal a free seat for her kid. If it’s too hard to have him on her lap, buy a seat for him. Plus, airlines literally demand larger customers purchase two seats and god knows if you were in one seat and that entitled mom was next to you, the same dirty looks and comments would be the result. © katchoo1 / Reddit
• I am sickened that someone who paid for a seat, whether their own seat or an extra seat, is just expected to let some entitled person have it for their child? That they didn’t even pay for?! Then I question the flight attendant. How can she even ask someone to let them use it after they show her it was paid for? Unbelievable. © Ok-Cap592 / Reddit
• A woman who paid for 1 seat wanted to use 2 seats. She asked you, a person who paid for 2 seats, to only use 1 seat. Essentially, she’s asking you to pay 4-times as much as her just because she has a toddler. © UteLawyer / Reddit
• I’ve taken 9-hour flights with an infant in my arms and shorter flights with a toddler in my lap, who was capable of sitting in his own seat and very much did not want me to hold him. Did it suck? Yes. But it was my problem alone, and as long as my child was under 24 months and I didn’t have to pay for his seat, I chose to hold him. I swear, not all of us parents are this entitled! © paprikastew / Reddit

• You paid for that seat, it’s yours. An email to SWA asking them to remind their FAs to enforce the seat policy would be warranted, too. You asked the FA for help, and she told you to “squeeze into one seat” for the unticketed child. You might even get some miles or goodies for it. © uhhh206 / Reddit
• This is why I hate traveling during the holidays. I fly all the time, but during the holidays, people just go nuts. That woman was both rude and wrong. You did exactly what you should have done, and I’m surprised the flight attendant didn’t just tell her to pound sand. © trailer_trash_dreams / Reddit
• The flight attendants on my most recent flights have started announcing during boarding, “If the answer is no, do not ask again.” The idea was that if you had a real need, you would settle it at the ticket booth instead of putting it on another passenger to accommodate you. It was incredibly refreshing. © BadTanJob / Reddit
• You did exactly what you were supposed to do to accommodate your size. If you didn’t do this and were spilling over into the seat next to you, you would be getting dirty looks. It’s a case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t. But in all honestly, you did what you were supposed to do. If that kid needed a seat of their own, it was on their parent to pay and book a seat for them. © AdGreedy8386 / Reddit

Another woman declined to give up her first-class seat to a child on a flight, sparking a heated debate. Read more about it here.