We hear a lot of stories about people who take flights and they have neighbors on the plane that are not exactly the best neighbors. It can lead to a wide variety of problems, including what the woman in this story went through.
She had saved up and purchased a flight well in advance and, thanks to her long relationship with the airline, she was moved to first class. This was going to be something special for her because she had never experienced this in her life.
That is when she got quite a shock when a stewardess came up and made it seem as if she had to move her seat. It was for the benefit of another family, but was she wrong to refuse?
Background info, I (23F) have been planning a trip to San Francisco for around a year at this point and had booked my tickets a year in advance. Around about a month or two before the trip, the airline called me saying they’d like to upgrade me to first class due to my points and being a member. I had never flown first class before so to say I was so excited was an understatement. I made sure to do everything possible in the lounge before my flight and I was welcomed with such a comfortable setting for the 13-hour flight. About an hour into the flight, a flight attendant comes up to me and asks me if I’d be willing to swap seats with a 10-year-old boy who was in economy so he could sit with his family in first class.
From what I was told the two parents were both members and had also received upgrades also not realising that their son wasn’t able to be upgraded with them. So they got their first-class tickets but he was stuck back at economy. The flight attendant began giving me some options as if I had no choice but to move and she was saying things like I’d get another free upgrade in another flight or I could get a full refund for the flight. I asked her if there was any chance I could stay in my seat because I genuinely thought I was being kicked out and she said that the two parents and I were the only upgraded passengers on the flight and there were no other first-class seats available so if there was to be any chance for the boy to sit with his family it would only make sense for him to sit in my seat.
If this was a different situation such as they’d overbooked the first class and the boy had purchased a ticket it would be a different story but I got this upgrade because of how much I fly on the airline. Also, I may have considered it if the parents had bought their tickets but they hadn’t either. No hate for the flight attendant she was very polite and respectful during the entire ordeal. She accepted my decision and was very nice and said that everything was ok and they were going to figure it out. Never saw the parents they were sitting far away from me. I did get shamed by an old woman in the seat next to me who told me that I made a child sit on their own for 13 hours. I get a 13-hour flight alone for a child is the scary part but I saw him walk up and down the isles like every hour to meet his parents so it wasn’t like he was alone.
So AITA, because supposedly this is what an a-hole would do?
