In the world of air travel, likely no day passes without an entitled person demanding a fellow passenger’s seat for one reason or another. Unfortunately for the redditor u/XXX_MavsFan, they weren’t exempt from facing such a situation.

They told the ‘Entitled People’ community about a mother demanding that they give up their seat because her son “should get to experience” what sitting by the window feels like. Her argument didn’t seem to convince the OP, and the commotion she caused got the aircrew involved.

Some entitled parents believe their child should be equally important to others as they are to the parent themselves

Image credits: Oleksandr P (not the actual photo)

This woman demanded that a passenger give up their window seat because her child “deserved this experience”

Image credits: Pew Nguyen (not the actual photo)

Image credits: XXX_MavsFan

Not every passenger is equally eager to pay for an assigned seat

Passengers have assigned seats on a plane for a reason; whether it is a prepaid choice or karma doing its job—for those in the middle seats, at least—it allows passengers and aircrew to avoid any misunderstandings or chaos (in addition to the aerodynamic-related matters). However, there’s always that one person causing trouble by requesting special treatment or demanding that someone give up their seat.

Quite often it’s parents traveling with children that are seeking preferential treatment or—as in the OP’s case—specific spots on the plane. But their demands are often met with an argument that preferred seats should be bought in advance.

USA Today pointed out that airlines started implementing seat selection fees in 2008; but nowadays such fees seem to be on the rise. In the US alone, airlines reportedly collected roughly $4.2 billion in seat assignment fees last year. According to USA Today, it is possible, though, to sit together without paying extra money. All you need to do is book your seats at the same time—the airlines are unlikely to intentionally separate a family or a group.

A 2022 study conducted by Which? found that most major airlines will automatically assign adjacent seats to you and your travel companions. The survey revealed that as much as 94% of British Airways customers—as well as 93% of EasyJet and 90% of Jet2—didn’t have to pay for a selected seat to be seated together with their loved ones. According to Which?, Wizz Air and Ryanair were most likely to separate those traveling together, as only 66% of Ryanair passengers who booked in groups or pairs (without paying for specific seats) ended up sitting nearby, as did 61% for Wizz Air passengers.

Image credits: Robert Penaloza (not the actual photo)

Some airlines might not separate those traveling together even if they don’t pay for seats nearby

Which? also pointed out that even though parents should ideally sit with their children while air traveling, they are not legally entitled to—something certain moms and dads on planes might need reminding of. It added that according to The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), “Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults.”

Back in 2016, those who wanted to sit together didn’t seem to want it badly enough to be willing to pay for it; at least 80% of those surveyed by Skyscanner didn’t. A poll of over 500 people back in the day revealed that 32% of travelers considered paying for a reserved seat a “rip off” tactic, nearly 30% thought it should be a passenger’s basic right, and one-in-five said they’d rather opt for an airline that allows travelers to choose a seat for free.

According to Skyscanner’s data, some people were okay with paying for such commodities, though: 8% said they would be willing to pay to reserve a seat, but 12% said they’d consider it only if it was less than £10.

It is unclear why the mother in the OP’s story didn’t reserve a window seat for her child in advance, if she thought her son deserved the experience, but the OP wasn’t willing to give up his place—not after he paid for it himself.

Image credits: Elizabeth French (not the actual photo)

Fellow redditors shared their reactions in the comments

Some discussed similar experiences

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