An Airline Passenger Refused To Swap His Middle Seat & It’s A 'Petty' Vs. 'Principle' Debate

From flying with crying babies to passengers being kicked off a plane, tourists can experience all sorts of uncomfortable situations when boarding their flight, and one that airlines don’t save themselves from is the seat swap controversy which is always generating debate among travelers.

Redditor u/dankyou420 shared a story on the AITA subreddit, which was about a recent interaction with two airline passengers who didn’t immediately let him take the middle seat he paid for.

"I was recently flying home on a budget airline, and as I was checking in on my phone the night before, I saw that it was only $40 to upgrade to a front-row seat," the Reddit user wrote, describing that the airline did not offer first class but extra leg room instead. "All that was left was a middle seat, but after the flight out there was so hot and cramped, I decided to go for it."

As the 35-year-old traveler stepped onto the plane, he shared that he saw a couple sitting in the first row, and the woman had taken the middle seat — the Redditor’s seat — while her husband was in the aisle.

"I immediately realized that what they did was they purchased the window and the aisle upgrades in hopes that nobody would buy the middle seat, thus giving them the full first row to spread out," the man shared. "It’s 7 a.m., I’m two hours into Adderall, and for some reason, I decide on the spot that I’m not letting them choose where I sit on this flight."

The Redditor added that the woman told him he could have her window seat, to which the man said he would take the aisle seat. The woman declined and told him for a second time that they’d give him the window seat.

"I don’t want the window seat. I’ll take the aisle seat, or I’ll sit in my own seat. Did you two really not purchased tickets next to each other?" the Redditor asked the couple.

After the woman’s husband confirmed they didn’t buy seats next to each other, the Redditor told them he wanted to take either the aisle seat or the middle seat, which caused the wife to tell his husband that she couldn’t believe the Redditor was saying that.

The 35-year-old followed to tell the couple to "move over" so he could take the middle seat. The woman’s husband declined, telling the Redditor he was going to take the middle seat so he could be next to his wife.

"I went to put my bags in overhead a couple of aisles down, came back, and offered to sit window," the Redditor wrote. "They declined and said it was fine. They looked a little confused at what had just transpired. I put my headphones on and did work on my laptop for the entire flight."

The social media user added that the situation was "petty" but that his stance was more about "etiquette and principle," and so many other Redditors agree with him.

"NTA, I have done the middle seat trick with my husband before (when we could see the flight was undercooked), but it generally doesn’t work out," one person shared. "When you pull that trick, the gamble is the stranger gets to choose any seat in the exchange for the chance to have the whole row."

"NTA. They chose to take the gamble. It backfired on them. If they want to sit together, they should have offered you your choice of the aisle or window," someone else wrote.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.