The problems involved with families not sitting together have been going on for as long as airlines have required people to pay to choose their seats. Either people don’t realize their super cheap seats don’t give them the option of sitting together (this was a real issue in the earlier days of Basic Economy), or they just don’t want to pay to guarantee sitting together. It’s an issue that’s come up time after time:
- Passenger wouldn’t give up the exit row seat they paid for
- He wouldn’t switch seats, then got yelled at for ignoring her kids
It’s gotten to the point where the federal government has been telling airlines to make accommodations so families can sit together for free, but so far only 4 airlines have made that commitment for fee-free family seating (but hey, one of them is a legacy airline – THAT was a surprise!).
Meanwhile, that leaves a lot of families trying to switch seats with other passengers, so young children can sit next to their adults.
There have been several incidents where this sort of situation made the news, usually when someone isn’t willing to switch for one or more reasons. Their reasoning usually revolves around legroom, air sickness, claustrophobia, paying for said seat, etc.
Tammy Nelson, CEO of a global jewelry brand, posted on TikTok about arriving at her seat only to discover that a woman was already sitting in it. The woman asked if Nelson would be willing to sit in her seat so she could sit with her kids, also in Nelson’s row, who appeared to be about 11 and 15. Nelson said she’d be happy to, as long as it was a window seat.
The woman’s seat was a middle seat, so Nelson refused. Here’s Nelson’s video:
@myconquering Having had only 90 minutes of sleep the night before and knowing I had to give a presentation to 500 people, I desperately needed some sleep, so I did not agree to switch seats. 🤷♀️ Before anyone comes after me… the kids looked like they were about 11 and 15 years old. And the mom was in arms-reach of both of them from the middle seat in the row behind us. The mom proceeded to complain for at least 15 minutes to the person next to her loud enough for me to hear. But the woman actually defended me – several times. It was so kind and I appreciated it so much because I was feeling really guilty. 🤦♀️ #airplaneseat#seatswitching#airplanekarens
From Nelson:
Having had only 90 minutes of sleep the night before and knowing I had to give a presentation to 500 people, I desperately needed some sleep, so I did not agree to switch seats. 🤷♀️
Before anyone comes after me… the kids looked like they were about 11 and 15 years old. And the mom was in arms-reach of both of them from the middle seat in the row behind us.
The mom proceeded to complain for at least 15 minutes to the person next to her loud enough for me to hear. But the woman actually defended me – several times. It was so kind and I appreciated it so much because I was feeling really guilty. 🤦♀️
Lots of people saw the video, many commented on it, and some made their own videos in response to hers.
Fast forward a few weeks, and there’s a new video on TikTok, that’s written in response to Nelson’s, going over what happened to her in a similar situation.
Like most moms, Cindy Arena wanted to sit with her two kids during their flight. She didn’t specify if she hadn’t pre-arranged their seats before boarding, or had and the airline messed with it. Either way, she was seated separately from her kids, who she said were about 4 and 6 and the time.
She asked the passenger seated beside her children if they could swap. But the woman said no.
“The woman refused to get up. She refused and my two children at the time were like four and six,” she said in the minute-long video.
Arena said she was happy to sit in the seat that was printed on her ticket because hey, those were the rules.
“I said okay no problem I’m not going to argue and I went to the back of the plane and sat in my assigned seat because she wouldn’t give hers up,” Cindy said in the video.
However, it didn’t take long for the woman to realize sitting next to the two young kids could be, let’s say, less than ideal.
“It was so peaceful and finally the stewardess comes up because I know she’s coming because this b**ch is sitting next to my kids and there’s nothing fun about that.
“And she said ‘Umm ma’am, she would like to trade seats with you now’ and I said ‘Oh no, no we need to stay in our assigned seats, have a good flight.’”
Well, THOSE tables got turned pretty quickly, huh?
Here’s her video:
@cindyarenacomedy #momsoftiktok #kids #airplane #comedy #reaction #boomer #babyboomer #ComicalConversations #Questions #FunnyTalks #comedyvideos
The video got over 1.5 million views in its first week. Comments on TikTok are usually one-offs, but this one? We’re talking threads with 275+ comments!
- Was she right or wrong.
- Was following the rules that way (adjectives used: petty, manipulative, passive-aggressive) once her kids started to become annoying?
- “Sure, you can take my seat if you reimburse me the extra I paid for it.”
- Discussion about how airlines should book families together.
Lots of people (both those who claimed to have kids, and not) said she should have paid to sit them all together.
- I have 2 kids and if I can’t buy 3 seats together I will find another flight simple.
- Book your seats together. if I buy a window seat, I’m sitting there.
- Parent’s responsibility is to know ahead.
- If you want/need to sit with your family book it that way.
Arena said she thinks she won – where she was sitting, it was nice and quiet, and she took a nap.
What do you think about what she did?
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