An Aussie traveller’s nightmare nine-hour flight has sparked a debate online over whether it’s ever appropriate to ask someone to swap seats.
Sarah Button was travelling from the United States to Australia last month when an awkward ordeal with another passenger took place.
The content creator had pre-selected a back-corner business class seat for the journey home, and was just settling into her spot when she noticed another passenger looking directly at her.
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In a Tik Tok video posted to her 180,000 followers, she explained how a couple wanted to sit next to each other having not booked adjoining seats in advance.
“A couple on the plane asked me to switch seats with them and I said no,” she began, later telling Yahoo Lifestyle: “She said ‘Oh you wouldn’t mind moving [seats] would you?’”
Having recently swapped seats to accommodate a family on another flight and having a bad experience, Ms Button declined the woman’s suggestion, explaining that she always pre-selects her seats when travelling to ensure a comfortable flight.
She continued: “After I said no she sat down next to me and goes ‘it’s going to be a very long flight for you’”.
Shocked, the Aussie went on to message her sister about what she had just heard when the woman “pops her head round” and doubles down on her earlier warning, saying: ‘Yeah, it is going to be a long flight.’
“It was just so rough, and the whole time, she was leaning over to her husband, and she was pointing at me and taking my photo,” she said.
Ms Button became so uncomfortable that she even asked the flight attendant to intervene and get the woman to stop, but that did nothing to help the situation.
When the Aussie took photos of herself during the flight, the woman leant over and started heckling her before later going on to stop Ms Button from going to the bathroom.
The content creator said there wasn’t much she could do about the situation as she didn’t want to draw more attention to herself, instead opting to “just be passive” towards the woman’s behaviour.
Wrapping up her video on Tik Tok, Ms Button told her followers: “My point is always say no when someone asks to swap seats on a plane because prior planning prevents poor performance.”
The clip has since been watched over 600,000 times with people flocking to the comments to share their own experiences, sparking a conversation over whether people should ever ask to swap seats in the first place.
“Her lack of planning does not make it an emergency for you,” one person commented, while another said: “Unless they are offering you a better seat or at least the same seat in a different row. It’s always a no from me.”
One user said: “I think it’s ok if someone asks nicely to swap, it’s a yes or no, but when you get a no and you have an attitude oh hell no!!, with another chiming in: “If the seat swap is equal (aisle seat for aisle seat) then you’re just being a pain.”
Another explained there are sometimes extenuating circumstances, sharing: “I once asked someone to swap with me but I was 3 months pregnant and I had the middle seat and I was like I’m sorry but I’ve been throwing up a bunch and I don’t want you to have to get up for our 10 hour flight every 20 min.”
Let us know in the comments what your thoughts are over swapping seats on a flight.
