Alright, let’s get straight into it. Would you give up your seat for a parent to sit next to their young child?
Personally, I think it’s a no-brainer - I don’t care what seat you’ve got, you can’t let a kid, let alone a toddler, take a flight on their own.
Don’t be a douche, move.
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Although, it seems not everyone has my nurturing mindset - in fact a lot of people don’t, we know this because someone took to Reddit to complain about this exact situation.
They wrote: “Had a woman ask me to change on a TPAC [trans-Pacific] flight from Japan. I was bulkhead window and her toddler was in the middle next to me while she was in the middle seat in the row behind me.
“She asked me - and just me - to switch with her so she could have my window seat (next to her daughter) and I’d take her middle seat a row back.
“Hell to the f*** no. Not my problem they didn’t book together.”
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Alright, that’s a bit frosty.
They continued: “Worse is we were surrounded by others from her tour group that she could’ve asked for a three-way trader instead. Or the tour operator.
“The audacity to just ask me and expect an inferior trade on my side.”
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Okay, I kind of get their point now, it would be annoying having to switch to sit in the middle row wedged between two strangers especially if someone next to you was overflowing onto your seat.
But still, imagine refusing to swap your seat on a plane with a mom wanting to sit next to their kid - come on.
The post went viral on social media and users flooded to give their take on the situation.
One person slammed the original poster’s views calling them dumb.
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They commented: "As a parent of a toddler, I’m surprised that you preferred to sit next to someone else’s unaccompanied toddler, vs just moving. sure, someone else could move, but either someone has to move or someone has to sit next to a flying toddler.
"I honestly don’t know which is more annoying for the other passengers.
"It’s not always possible for families to book seats together for some reason, and go figure, sometimes they need to fly places. Idk what the answer is here but being infuriated about a mom trying to watch their own kid is dumb."
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Surprisingly, people actually agreed with the original poster's views.
One person added: "I just started refusing altogether. Unless it’s for an upgrade. I’m sick of entitlement from people, and it seems elevated on planes and even more so of late.
"I don’t know you. I don’t generally care about you beyond reasonable human compassion. And I am certainly not responsible for your poor planning. Don’t talk to me again and go away."
Which side of the fence do you sit on?
Topics: Parenting, Social Media, Reddit, Viral, Japan
Joe Yates