When boarding a flight, there are typically a few passengers that you don’t want to end up right next to. If someone is sneezing and coughing, sitting a few inches away from them for hours would be anxiety-inducing. And if you’ve noticed one passenger complain to the flight attendants a handful of times before they even find their seat, they’re probably not going to relax during the flight either. And of course, if you see a baby, the last thing you want is that adorable infant screaming in your ears for the entire journey.

But apparently, you don’t have to sit next to an actual child to be in close proximity to a tantrum. Below, you’ll find a story that one traveler recently shared on Reddit after they refused to swap seats with an entitled mother’s son on a flight, as well as a conversation with airline pilot and bestselling author, Patrick Smith.   

Traveling by plane is exhausting, especially if you’re seated next to a difficult passenger

Image credits: ijeab (not the actual image)

After this traveler refused to swap seats with a woman’s son, the mother had a massive meltdown

Image credits: Getty Images (not the actual image)

Image credits: WineCountsAsFruit

Later, the passenger provided some more details about the situation

Passengers are allowed to ask others if they want to swap seats, but they’re under no obligation to agree

There are a hundred different reasons why you might be stressed when traveling by plane. You probably stayed up late packing the night before, woke up at about 4 a.m. to travel to the airport, barely made it through security in time and sprinted to your gate just to find out that your flight has been delayed 2 hours. Now, you get to hang out in the airport, buy a $10 cup of burnt coffee and eat the most mediocre breakfast you’ve ever had.  

But once you finally make it onto the plane, the hard part is over. You can sit back, relax and let the pilot and flight attendants handle getting you to your destination safely. Well, this should be the easy part, as long as your fellow passengers don’t try to start drama!

To find out more about this situation, we reached out to Patrick Smith. Patrick is a Massachusetts-based airline pilot, bestselling author, and the host of Ask the Pilot. He was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda and discuss swapping seats and passenger behavior on planes.

“Seat-swapping is fairly common, and often enough, the person being asked to swap will agree to do so,” the pilot says. “He or she is under no obligation, however, and keep in mind that people often pay extra for a particular type of seat.”

We also wanted to know if a meltdown like the one described in this story can get a passenger thrown off a flight. “Absolutely,” Patrick shared. “Especially if the altercation becomes in any way physical, verbally abusive, or if a person does not obey a crew member’s instructions.”

So how does the airline staff typically try to calm down upset passengers? “De-escalating these situations isn’t always easy, and hysterical or irate passengers may or may not be responsive to requests to stay calm,” the pilot noted. 

Image credits: dmytro_sidelnikov (not the actual image)

Unruly behavior can even get passengers removed from flights

“The captain may choose to get involved, but when a plane is at the gate, flight attendants and customer service staff usually handle it. If need be, law enforcement will be called,” Patrick continued.

Thankfully, the situation in this story didn’t escalate to the point of the woman being removed from the flight. But unruly passengers certainly aren’t unheard of. According to the International Air Transport Association, there was one incident of inappropriate passenger behavior reported for every 480 flights in 2023.

And when it comes to airline etiquette, not everyone agrees on what’s appropriate, even if certain behaviors are technically allowed.

A 2024 survey from YouGov found that the vast majority of travelers do not consider it acceptable for passengers to let their children play in the aisles, get drunk during a flight, leave their seat during turbulence, watch a movie or show without headphones and leave trash in their seatback pocket when exiting the plane.

However, Americans are split on whether it’s acceptable to bring a small dog onboard a plane, silently pass gas during a flight, unlock their seatbelt when the seatbelt light isn’t on, leave their overheard light on when the cabin lights are off and lie down on the seats when sitting in an empty row.  

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We will never all be able to agree on what’s proper airplane behavior, but throwing a tantrum as an adult should probably be considered off limits. We would love to hear your thoughts on this situation in the comments below, pandas. Do you think this person should have moved for the mother? Feel free to share, and then if you’d like to check out another Bored Panda piece featuring airplane drama, look no further than right here!  

Image credits: EyeEm (not the actual image)

Many readers assured the passenger that they didn’t do anything wrong

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However, some thought that both the author and the mother made questionable choices

And others thought that the passenger should have been more polite

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