I booked two plane seats but was told to squeeze into one for a toddler

"Because I’m fat, I bought an extra seat so everyone can be more comfortable. I know it sucks having to pay for an extra seat, but it is what it is," the woman said.

A woman has faced criticism online after revealing she refused to give up the second plane seat she had bought so that a fussy toddler could sit next to his mum.

The 34-year-old passenger said she had booked two seats on the domestic flight due to previous experiences of being uncomfortable in one.

However, things didn't pan out how she'd imagined when a mum told her to 'squeeze into one seat' so her child could sit in the other. 

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Plus-size travel influencer Jae’lynn Chaney says airlines should create policies to make travel more comfortable and accessible for everyone. Image: Instagram: @jaebaeproductions / IStock

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"She told me, not asked"

"I 34F am obese. I’m actively working toward losing weight and I’ve made progress but I’m still obese as I’m typing this," the anonymous woman began her thread on an advice forum. 

"Because I’m fat, I booked an extra seat so everyone can be more comfortable. I know it sucks having to pay for an extra seat but it is what it is," she continued.

"Everything goes smoothly from checking in to security and boarding, at least at first. This woman comes to my row with a boy who appeared to be about a year old. She told me to squeeze into one seat so her son could sit in the other. She told me, not asked. I told her no and that I paid for this seat for the extra space."

After the mum made a "big fuss" over it, the OP got the flight attendant involved, but she didn't take her side and asked her to try to squeeze into the seat as well.

"I said no, and that I wanted the seats that I paid for," she said.

"The boy, who the mum said is 18 months old, was supposed to sit in her lap so he could do just that.

"So the flight attendant eventually told the mum to put her son in her lap. I got dirty looks and passive-aggressive remarks from her for the entire flight and I do feel a little bad because the boy looked hard to control so am I in the wrong here?"

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"If you're so fat that you need to do this - you are selfish"

Down in the comments, many users condemned the flight attendant and mum's behaviour. 

"What's even the point of the extra seat if the flight attendants are going to let entitled people bully others into giving it up?" one person asked. 

A second wrote: "People buy entire seats for high-end musical equipment. Not even people. Their lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on your part."

And this person added, "The mum is an a**hole for not buying a seat for her son and assuming someone else would give up a seat they paid for. Odds are she was hoping there'd be extra seats on the flight so she didn't have to pay and used the lap thing as a loophole."

But not everyone was so kind or empathetic.

One user insensitively said, "If you are so fat that you have to have more than one seat on a plane then you are selfish. Flights are overbooked all the time - how can you justify having two seats to yourself?"

And this person asked, "How much room does a kid take up, seriously? Yeah, the mum should've bought a seat but that doesn't mean you have to be selfish and cause two people discomfort."

Ultimately, the woman had bought the second seat, and was entitled to it - with no other reason needed.

Originally published as I booked two plane seats but was told to squeeze into one for a toddler