AITAH: Woman refuses to give her first-class plane seat to a child

'I felt really awkward,' says a woman who refused to give her first-class seat to a child. Photo / 123rf

THREE KEY FACTS

• A woman denied a child her first-class seat on a plane after her boyfriend had given her the tickets as a surprise
• She claimed that a mum asked if she could swap seats with her son as they couldn’t sit together due to a booking error but wanted him to enjoy first-class
• The viral thread on Reddit attracted thousands of comments – many of them siding with the woman

A woman who refused to give her first-class seat on a plane to a child so he could sit with his mum has asked the online community if she was in the wrong.

The woman posted on Reddit’s popular subreddit Am I The Asshole Here (AITAH) to vent about the awkward experience, explaining her boyfriend surprised her with the first-class tickets and that she “grew up lower middle class, and I had never ever flown higher than the cheapest seats on a plane before”.

She claimed that 20 minutes before the plane took off, she was approached by a flight attendant and a woman with a young boy, who looked about 6 years old.

“The woman explained that she had booked a first-class ticket for herself and her son, but due to a booking error, he ended up in economy. She asked if I would be willing to switch seats with her son so he could experience first class as well,” the Redditor wrote.

She continued: “I felt really awkward. I understand that it was disappointing for the kid, but this was a gift from my boyfriend, and I was really looking forward to enjoying it.”

The Original Poster (OP) went on to explain how she politely declined, adding that “the woman seemed pretty upset and tried to argue that her son would appreciate it more than me and that it was unfair because I didn’t even pay for the ticket myself”.

To the shock of many in the comments, the OP claimed the flight attendant appeared to side with the mum by “subtly implying that [she] should consider being more understanding”.

The top comment with almost 8000 upvotes read: “That’s a hard pass. NTA [Not The Asshole] ... That mom was trying to get a 1st class seat at economy prices. Weird that the flight attendant would be on their side. They know better.”

“The mom can sit in the back and her kid can sit [in] front. Problem solved,” another wrote.

The thread, which attracted more than 3600 upvotes and 2700 comments, ignited a passionate debate. However, Redditors overwhelmingly decided that the OP was Not The Asshole.