A United Airlines passenger reports lucking out with an empty middle seat next them right as the doors closed before pushback on a four hour flight. There’s few better feelings, because the single greatest determinant of whether or not you have a good flight is lucking into that extra space. The food tastes better. Flight attendants seem friendlier. You’re just in a much better mood.
Except it wasn’t to be. A woman with her toddler came over and plopped themselves down in that middle seat. She explained that she didn’t have enough space in the middle seat she’d been in further back in the aircraft – so she self-upgraded to “economy plus” extra legroom seats.
That way, she said, she’d be “more comfortable” with her kid – while her husband remained in an aisle seat farther back.
The passenger in the aisle offered to switch seats with the husband, even though it meant less legroom for him.That way the family could be together, he wouldn’t be seated next to the toddler, and he’d still have an empty middle next to him. Sometimes elbow room is more valuable than legroom.But the husband declined. He was happy sitting in back (1) with the empty middle, and (2) away from his wife and kid.He was literally being offered an upgrade to the extra legroom section, but “[h]e flat out refused no matter what I said or asked.” He didn’t want to sit next to his family.
Then it became clear why the husband did that,
Turns out the reason why is this kid is a nightmare…. Throwing tantrums the whole flight. Kicking, screaming, throwing things at me.
Here’s that middle seat at the end of the flight.
Commentbyu/spidermonkey2947 from discussioninunitedairlines
Live and Let’s Fly offers several suggestions,
Tell a flight attendant that the mother self-upgraded into extra legroom seats. United sells those for more money, and generally doesn’t permit free switching in flight to those.
Move your own seat away from the mother and child, next to the husband. Two can play at that game!
Actually, the wife should have left the child behind with the husband.
I disagree with the passenger’s conclusion here, though, that “Lap Babies should be banned if not just for a safety reason as we had turbulence and the kid was bouncing and flailing around like it was possessed.”
Requiring families buy an additional seat makes travel unaffordable for many families – and encourages more driving and less flying. That compromises safety because driving is far more dangerous. That sort of rule falls under the concept of ‘statistical murder’. You’re actually costing lives in ways that aren’t directly seen.