Plane seat disagreements are far from unusual. When booking a flight, travellers are often given the option to select their preferred seat for the journey ahead. Depending on the carrier, this service may come at an additional cost, and those who decline to pay extra for seat selection will receive a randomly allocated spot.
For the majority of passengers, the perfect plane seat is either by the window or on the aisle. Nearly everyone has a strong preference between these two options, and even those without particular feelings likely wish to avoid the notorious middle seat, which frequently becomes the default for those who haven’t secured advance reservations.
One female traveller on social media who had pre-selected her seat found herself incensed when approached by a male passenger requesting a seat exchange, as he desired her aisle position in return for his middle placement.
In a post on X, the woman explained the man had been allocated the middle seat adjacent to her paid-for aisle spot, whilst his wife and child occupied the aisle and middle seats on the opposite side. The father consequently sought the woman’s aisle seat to enable conversation with his spouse across the walkway.
The woman refused his proposal, and rather than accepting his assigned position and proceeding quietly with the journey, the man became “petty” and chose to repeatedly lean across the woman to communicate with his wife.
She wrote: “I hate the middle seat. I paid for my aisle seat in advance. He huffed and puffed the whole flight. Kept reaching over me to signal to his wife some bulls**t I wasn’t paying attention to.
“Listen, I don’t care if you booked this flight last-minute and didn’t get the seat you wanted. Stop making your problems other people’s problems, too.”
In a subsequent post, the woman revealed she always purchases an allocated seat when travelling, and typically flies approximately 2-3 times monthly, making her “well versed in flying and travel etiquette”.
She claimed the gentleman became “frustrated” after she “politely” declined to surrender her aisle seat, and proceeded to behave in a “petty” manner by “constantly reaching over” her following her refusal. She even mentioned he grew so irritated by her decision to retain the seat she’d purchased that his wife “told him to relax”.
WARNING: The below X post contains strong language.
She continued: “Whether they were unprepared or not, I’m not giving up my comfort for a 4.5-hour flight and a seat I paid to secure, for a stranger.”
Responses to the post overwhelmingly supported the woman, with numerous commenters maintaining that having reserved a seat – regardless of additional cost – entitles passengers to retain that seat throughout their journey.
One individual remarked: “Plane seat switching is a big no-no for me. Should’ve booked a different flight or [booked] earlier.”
Another contributor stated: “I NEVER give up my aisle seat. You as well might be crawling through the aisle, but I still won’t.”
A third user opined: “People shouldn’t expect others to solve their problems and then get angry when they don’t.”
