A flight passenger was praised for how they handled a difficult situation in which a fellow flyer argued about changing seats.
The Reddit user, who did not wish to share their name, described how they were forced to deal with a woman who didn't want to switch seats on a Delta Air Lines flight, even though she was sitting in the wrong one.
The post, titled "Another seat squatter," has received a great deal of attention, with 23,000 upvotes and over 1,000 comments.
In the post, the passenger explains that an older woman was sitting in their seat and refused to move because she wanted to sit next to her husband.
As the passenger says the woman is sitting in their seat, she gestures to an empty middle seat across the aisle.
"Full line of folks backed up the jetway waiting to board," the Redditer wrote. "I back up and loudly say, 'I'll wait for you to get to your seat so that I can get to mine.'"
The woman reluctantly gets up from her seat. Because boarding was backed up, a flight attendant had to come to the scene and to find out why boarding had stopped.
The passenger told Newsweek: "Initially, folks go quiet. Like whenever there's a human conflict, the murmuring goes quiet as folks direct their attention on the drama."
The poster continued: "When I ask this lady to get to her seat so that I could get to mine, there was a subtle gasp from a few because I said it loudly so everyone could hear. Once she realized I wasn't backing down, she began to grumble and bluster with a few different argument points, and I chose to not engage at all. A few folks started to agree with me with some subtle comments like 'Just get to your correct seat, lady,' stuff like that.
"After her third for fourth dramatic attempt to get her way, a few others started to get more vocal about her squatting on my seat. I would say five or six people contributed to the crowd...urging this lady to just get to her correct seat, with no one taking her side."
Delta shared its guidelines for selecting a seat with Newsweek. The airline said passengers can change their seats using the online seat map or during check-in.
The passengers' exchange occurred as millions of people have flown this year. Statista reports that 38.7 million flights worldwide are forecast for 2024.
Other Reddit users shared their thoughts on the interaction, with many backing up the poster.
"Last time I had a squatter the people behind me in line started yelling at ME to just take another seat. No way," said u/ImprovementFar5054.
"Deciding to take something of someone else's and acting dumb is an egregiously antisocial act and must not be tolerated under any circumstances," u/joemangle commented.
User u/ComfortableCaptain61 wrote: "That happened to me recently, except the woman sitting in my seat looked at me with kind of an annoyed expression and asked "Did you want to switch?" No, I want the window seat I paid for."
User u/WickedJigglyPuff wrote: "She's done it before and someone let her get away with it so she thinks she can do it now."
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