Caught between his principle and his partner’s feelings, the man stood firm, unwilling to surrender his chosen window seat despite the other passenger’s bold admission. What seemed like a small act of defiance became a charged moment, revealing how personal space and relationships collide in the most unexpected places.
This happened a few days ago and my girlfriend thought I was a bit rude, but I thought I was completely justified.
So we booked tickets for an almost full flight and the only row with 2 seats near each other had someone that already booked the seat in the middle. I figured they did this because they didn’t want anyone booking next to them, but they were the only seats left so I booked the window for myself and the aisle seat for my girlfriend.
When we boarded the guy openly admits to booking the middle seat just so nobody would want to book seats next to someone sitting alone, he even stated that it usually works and he’s very proud of it.
Then he asked if I could give up my window seat to get to sit next to my girlfriend. I was admittedly a little upset that he openly admit to just taking the middle seat so nobody would want to sit next to him.
I honestly didn’t want to give up my window seat and my girlfriend didn’t want to give up her aisle seat since that’s what we both like. So we denied him, and he just comes at us with, “you really don’t want to sit next to your boyfriend or girlfriend, do you guys hate each other that much?” I answered, “no, we just really don’t want to reward you for booking your seat like a dick.”
As I said my girlfriend said I was a little harsh and we could have switched seats, yeah it would have been nice to sit next to my girlfriend, but at the time she didn’t want to sit next to me either.
So AITA here?
Conclusion
The original poster (OP) prioritized personal preference for specific seats (window and aisle) over accommodating a request, which stemmed from another passenger’s deliberate strategy to secure privacy. The central conflict lies between the OP’s feeling of justification for refusing to reward poor etiquette and the girlfriend’s belief that accommodating the swap would have been the kinder action, despite both parties initially preferring their chosen seats.
Was the OP justified in refusing to switch seats to directly counter the other passenger’s selfish seating strategy, or was maintaining group harmony and kindness by accepting the switch the better choice, even if it meant losing the preferred seat type?
Here’s how people reacted:
You didn’t have to give up your seat, though. That was totally alright. But your reasoning for it is pretty crappy. He has every right to try and get a row to himself by booking the middle seat. If he openly admits to it; good for him! Sure, it’s a bit tactless to *say* that but he probably meant no harm by it.
I think there’s a few obvious things that everyone just accepts here… Like, people are going to strategically books seats like he did, single people like to have spare seats next to them, couples usually like to sit together, people who prefer window seats want a window seat, people who prefer aisle seats….prefer to have an aisle seat.
So, if you prefer a window that’s fine. You have every right to keep it. But calling the guy a dick and refusing to move purely because he was hoping for empty seats….? Honestly….wtf??
I don’t know if you took his comment way too personally, or what. But YTA.
The OP was an asshole presumptuous about thinking booking of the seat being a dick move, and for speaking to the guy like that. People book like this all the time. Actually it usually works the other way:
Two people book aisle and window seats in the hopes no one will book the middle one. For the guy to book the middle seat is to guess that the aisle and window seats had been deliberately booked by a couple.
Its not clear to me why people booking your seat strategically is a dick move.
If you insist someone move as a result, that would be a dick move. But there is no harm in asking.
All that said, the other guy was also an asshole for the snide comment about the couple.
My other favorite trick is when somebody pays basic economy (ie can’t choose seats) and wants to trade your fine aisle seat for their middle so they can sit next to their girlfriend/sister/whatever. Uh, no thanks. I’ll trade an aisle for an aisle all day long but c’mon people. Flying sucks, don’t expect me to voluntarily make my day worse.
Recently had the same situation. I was flying with my teen daughter. She likes window, I like aisle. We booked accordingly. The dude in the middle, who obviously got stuck there, asked us to switch. We politely declined and said we are in our preferred seats. He get’s a little huffy and says “I’d want to sit near my family, even if I was uncomfortable for the flight” and I replied, “We just spent the last 6 weeks in Central America together. We can use the space” and put my headphones on to make it clear nothing was changing. He pouted the whole flight but was polite when we got off.
Just to clarify: you are not TA because you refused his proposal, but because of your comment.
He was TA for the same reason, “do you hate each other that much?”, that’s obviously a rude comment..
Your GF was fine, just to clarify too, since the “everyone sucks here” seems to be for literally “everyone” xD
I am shocked that this has worked for him in the past – most flights I’m on are 100% full. He took a risk and it didn’t pay off for him. Definitely not your problem.
(Calling him a dick was maybe a little extra – but he sounds like he was behaving like an ass)
>you really don’t want to sit next to your boyfriend or girlfriend, do you guys hate each other that much?” I