Earlier this week I (40F) was on a flight from LA to San Francisco. After I boarded the flight and was comfortably settled into my window seat in premium economy I got a notification that my seat had been upgraded to first class — seat 4F, another window seat.
I gathered my stuff and got up to move, trying to work quickly because I assumed it was an overbooked flight and someone had been given my original seat. As I made my way to the front, along with another guy who had been upgraded from coach, the flight attendant (35F or so) told us to take any open seat. The guy (65M or so), who had been upgraded from an aisle seat, took the window seat.
I asked the flight attendant, in what I thought was a quiet voice, if I could have my assigned window seat. I explained that I’m a very nervous flyer and prone to nausea if I’m not next to a window. She said no because they were “about to close the door.”
(For context: I don’t mean to be high maintenance, but I witnessed a small plane crash as a kid and I’ve been scared of flying ever since. I work with a therapist on how to deal with it, since I need to travel a couple times per month for my job, and my coping method is Xanax + a window seat. When I’m scared my stomach churns. I don’t love it. But it’s what happens.)
The guy in the window seat overhears and gets up to give me the seat, but instead of doing it with kindness he rolls his eyes and loudly sneers “I’ve never heard of anyone throwing up because they’re not in a window seat.”
At this point I’m super embarrassed, and don’t want to sit next to this guy, so I said “oh this is clearly going to be a thing, can I just have my original seat back?”
Luckily the seat was still open, so I sat back down next to the window. I truly didn’t care about not sitting in first class. It’s a short flight. The interaction has been bothering me for days though. Was I the AH? Am I an entitled person in the eyes of the other passengers? Was the guy? The flight attendant for not just asking us to sit in our assigned seats?
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Earlier this week I (40F) was on a flight from LA to San Francisco. After I boarded the flight and was comfortably settled into my window seat in premium economy I got a notification that my seat had been upgraded to first class — seat 4F, another window seat.
I gathered my stuff and got up to move, trying to work quickly because I assumed it was an overbooked flight and someone had been given my original seat. As I made my way to the front, along with another guy who had been upgraded from coach, the flight attendant (35F or so) told us to take any open seat. The guy (65M or so), who had been upgraded from an aisle seat, took the window seat.
I asked the flight attendant, in what I thought was a quiet voice, if I could have my assigned window seat. I explained that I’m a very nervous flyer and prone to nausea if I’m not next to a window. She said no because they were “about to close the door.”
(For context: I don’t mean to be high maintenance, but I witnessed a small plane crash as a kid and I’ve been scared of flying ever since. I work with a therapist on how to deal with it, since I need to travel a couple times per month for my job, and my coping method is Xanax + a window seat. When I’m scared my stomach churns. I don’t love it. But it’s what happens.)
The guy in the window seat overhears and gets up to give me the seat, but instead of doing it with kindness he rolls his eyes and loudly sneers “I’ve never heard of anyone throwing up because they’re not in a window seat.”
At this point I’m super embarrassed, and don’t want to sit next to this guy, so I said “oh this is clearly going to be a thing, can I just have my original seat back?”
Luckily the seat was still open, so I sat back down next to the window. I truly didn’t care about not sitting in first class. It’s a short flight. The interaction has been bothering me for days though. Was I the AH? Am I an entitled person in the eyes of the other passengers? Was the guy? The flight attendant for not just asking us to sit in our assigned seats?
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I think I might be the asshole because I asked that a person be moved from a seat they were already sitting in so I could take my assigned seat, and it clearly made them angry enough to publicly embarrass me
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA. You were discreet and respectful, and those involved lacked care and compassion. You did wat was best for you in the end. Maybe you want to file a grievance with the airline about how the attendant handled it, but that is your call.
NTA, but personally I would’ve parked my scrawny ass in the first class seat and ignored Mister Whiner. The flight attendant’s first responsibility at that moment was to make sure the plane could depart as planned, so I don’t fault her at all.
NTA. You were asking for your assigned seat. You made the right call to just forget the upgrade and go back to your original seat.
No, the guy’s just an AH.
NTA
NTA at all
You probably whine a lot wherever you go, I’m thinking
NTA there are at least two of us in the world who get nausea if we don’t have window seats. I would have stayed in the aisle and puked on the eye roller tbh. But really, you weren’t TA here, the dude was.