However, the scenario often involves a solo flyer not wanting to give up their much-preferred window or aisle seat.
Now, a new take on the dilemma has been shared on Reddit, with a solo traveller refusing to move from her middle seat and, instead, insisting on sitting between a mum and her kid, reports news.com.au.
The 23-year-old woman revealed she was on her way to her sister’s wedding when the controversial situation played out with the mother and her son, assumed to be about 6 or 7 years old.
“When we boarded the plane I went straight to my seat which was a middle seat, sat down and took out my earphones when the mother and the son arrived,” the woman shared in the popular ‘Am I the A**hole’ subreddit.
“They had the window seat and the aisle seat. Directly, the woman demanded that she MUST sit next to her son and I MUST sit at the aisle so she could sit next to him.”
A cabin crew member intervened and informed the woman she had the right to stay in her middle seat.
The solo traveller revealed that she didn’t enjoy sitting in the seat on the aisle and told the mum she would prefer to not change seats.
She alleged that the mum began to scream that she had a right to sit next to her child.
“I politely told her that I would be willing to change seats with her son [who had the window seat] and she continued yelling that she NEEDED the seat, and that she won’t accept that her son has to give up his seat as he is a child and deserves the window seat,” she shared.
A cabin crew member intervened and informed the woman she had the right to stay in her middle seat.
The traveller then alleged that the mum “kept accidentally kicking” her during the journey and the child was encouraged to irritate her.
When she got up to go to the bathroom, she came back to find the mum in her middle seat, with all of her belongings thrown into the aisle. The cabin crew member then had to get involved again.
A solo traveller refused to move from her middle seat and, instead, remained sitting between a mum and her kid.
Many Reddit users were confused by the woman’s choice to sit in the middle seat.
“Well I just don’t like to sit at the aisle seat and it was a row of three seats. The only empty seat was the middle seat so I booked it,” she reasoned.
Some people guessed that the mum probably booked the window and aisle seats, hoping that someone wouldn’t mind swapping out of the middle seat.
Many social media users were on the solo flyer’s side.
“You have the patience of a saint. If she HAD to sit next to her kid, she would have bought two seats next to each other,” one person wrote.
“You handled this situation with a lot of grace. Gave the woman an option and you let the flight attendants do their job,” another comment read, which received more than 3000 upvotes.
