Flying can be annoying enough without other passengers doing their utmost to make your life more difficult. A woman turned to the internet for advice when a family attempted to guilt trip her for demanding they get out of her seat. Instead of the father moving to the seat he paid for, he was insistent on sitting in her place.

The barrage of passive aggression and dirty looks she got from the family later was enough to make her second guess herself, so she went online to see what other people thought about the entire situation. Readers shared their own stories with entitled fliers.

Air travel can bring out the worst in people

Image credits: Gerrie van der Walt / unsplash (not the actual photo)

A woman went to the seat she paid for only to find it occupied by a man who didn’t want to move

Image credits: Jason Toevs / pexels (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Nicole Geri / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Anon

Air travel is a blessing and a curse

Image credits: John McArthur / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Many of us have a love-hate relationship with air travel. On the one hand, it’s an incredible marvel that allows us to literally reach most of the globe. On the other hand, it can be tiring, expensive, and frustrating. For example, let’s think about OP’s situation. Not her finding her (paid for) seat occupied, no, from the start of her trip.

After all, air travel means getting to the airport in the first place, which is often easier said than done. Airports are generally outside of town, requiring an expensive taxi ride or a longer trip on public transport. And that’s just before you check in luggage, if any, get through security and any other lines that might be in place.

This can always be quite annoying, as some folks treat airports as a sort of free-for-all, complete with week-old socks, screaming babies, and line after line, plus that incessant, bizarrely incomprehensible voice telling random, late passengers to please get to their gate. If you are too early, congratulations, you can pay an ungodly amount of money for a burger, if you are late, congratulations, you get to run in a public place.

Flying brings its own list of discomforts

Keep in mind, at this point, you have not even stepped foot in the airplane yet. But at long last, it’s time to board. Which means waiting until the folks in first class get on. Interestingly, both this wait and literally walking past the first class section has been shown to increase a passenger’s frustrations, which can at times manifest in what is now sometimes called “air rage.”

This is all to say that OP would have every reason to be in a conflictual state of mind, particularly after paying extra to avoid a certain seat, only to find her more costly seat already occupied. It’s worth noting that the fact that OP paid extra to avoid the middle seat indicates that she might have a worse relationship with flying than the majority of us. So if she really is this uncomfortable on a flight, depriving her of a small, expensive luxury is pretty entitled.

Let’s face it, flying can be uncomfortable. There is a constant noise, dry air, it’s either too hot or too cold and there is simply never enough legroom. Other passengers (particularly the younger ones) make all sorts of noise, your ears might pop or clog up at some point, and, remember, this is all only after the hustle and bustle of the airport.

OP did the right thing by remaining calm and collected

Image credits: Sofia Sforza / unsplash (not the actual photo)

There already have been cases of this sort of anger spilling over into fights, arguments, and just general disruption that make the experience worse for everyone. So OP should not feel at all guilty for summoning a flight attendant to get this man to move. She herself states that it was a short flight, the child could live without their parent in sight for that long, unless, somehow, they had yet to develop object permanence.

Fortunately, most readers agreed and told OP as much in the comments section, some examples of which can be found below. If anything, given the fact that air travel perhaps gives her more stress than most, she can be applauded for keeping her cool and not contributing to another tale of air rage.

Most folks sided with OP

Others shared similar stories

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