Solo flyer refuses to give up middle seat on plane for mum and child

The debate on whether a person should give up their plane seat so a family can sit together has long raged on – but this woman’s unique dispute is baffling social media.

A 23-year-old solo traveller has refused to give up her middle seat for an aisle. Picture: iStock

The plane etiquette debate on whether a person should give up their seat so a family can sit together has long raged on.

But it usually involves a solo traveller not willing to give up their window or aisle seat.

Now, a fresh twist on the debate has emerged on Reddit, with a solo flyer refusing to give up her middle seat and instead opting to sit between a mother and her child.

The 23-year-old said she was travelling to her sister’s wedding when the controversial situation unfolded with the woman and her son, assumed to be about six or seven years old.

“When we boarded the plane I went straight to my seat which was a middle seat, sat down and took out my earphones when the mother and the son arrived,” the traveller explained in the popular ‘Am I the A**hole’ subreddit.

“They had the window seat and the aisle seat. Directly, the woman demanded that she MUST sit next to her son and I MUST sit at the aisle so she could sit next to him.”

A 23-year-old solo traveller has refused to give up her middle seat for an aisle. Picture: iStock

The solo flyer said she didn’t like sitting in the aisle seat and told the mother she didn’t want to change seats.

She claimed the mother started to yell that she had a right to sit next to her son.

“I politely told her that I would be willing to change seats with her son (who had the window seat) and she continued yelling that she NEEDED the seat, and that she won’t accept that her son has to give up his seat as he is a child and deserves the window seat,” she said.

A flight attendant intervened and decided the woman was right to keep her original middle seat.

She further claimed the mum “kept accidentally kicking” her during the flight and the son was encouraged to annoy her.

Reddit users believed the solo flyer did the right thing, and said the mother and child should have taken up her offer to swap for the window seat. Picture: istock

When she went to the toilet, she came back to find the woman in her seat, with her own belongings tossed into the aisle. The flight attendant was forced to intervene again.

Reddit users were baffled by the woman’s preference to sit in the middle seat.

“Well I just don’t like to sit at the aisle seat and it was a row of three seats. The only empty seat was the middle seat so I booked it,” she offered as an explanation.

Some speculated the mother probably booked the window and aisle seat, hoping nobody would book the middle seat between.

Many were on the solo traveller’s side.

“You have the patience of a saint. If she HAD to sit next to her kid, she would have bought two seats next to each other,” one top comment said.

“You handled this situation with a lot of grace. Gave the woman an option and you let the flight attendants do their job,” another comment read, with more than 3000 upvotes.

“NTA [Not the A**hole], but fighting to keep a middle seat makes you a unicorn,” a third added.