Passenger Who Refused to Give Aisle Seat to ‘Overweight’ Traveler on Flight Is Second Guessing Her Decision

Mar. 15, 2025

Seats on a flight (stock image).Photo:Getty

Getty

Anairplanepassenger is still up in the air about her decision to not give up the aisle seat she purchased to anothertraveleron her flight.

The woman recalled her travel story on U.K. parenting forumMumsneton Feb. 22 and then asked the forum if she behaved unreasonably.

“I booked (and paid for) an aisle seat and a middle seat,” she began her post. “The flight was full so we knew that someone would be sat on the window seat. The man arrived after us and it was very obvious that he was going to really struggle to squeeze across 2 seats and into his seat. He was very, very overweight (no judgement, just stating the facts).”

A lavatory on an airplane (stock image).getty

getty

Then, the man asked them if he could have the aisle seat.

“It was a 4.5 hour flight and I had chosen the aisle seat so that I can get to the [toilet] easily — weak bladder,” she wrote. “The stewardess got involved and also asked us if we could ‘just move over.’ It was really embarrassing for all concerned, but I stood my ground and politely refused.”

“The man duly took the window seat but it took him a while to shuffle over,” she continued, adding that the man, unlike her, did not pay for a seat in advance, meaning his was chosen for him based on the remaining seats that hadn’t been purchased on their flight.

A man holding a plane ticket (stock image).vm / Getty Images

vm / Getty Images

She noted that she had no ill intentions and that “he was a nice man.” She preferred the aisle seat because she often uses the lavatory, and whenever the man needed to go to the bathroom, they “happily let him out.”

“I don’t believe I was unreasonable as I’d paid for the seats but it’s left me feeling a bit bad for him,” she admitted, before asking the Mumsnet forum for their opinions. “There isn’t much point in paying for seats if you can’t actually sit on them. Was I unreasonable?”

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“He was clearly in the wrong,” one person responded. “He should have prebooked if he had special requirements. If it was a last-minute emergency flight then he should have at least offered to reimburse the cost of your seats if not offered that and to buy you a drink or something too.”

Meanwhile, another Mumsnet user said the man “wasn’t in the wrong.”

“He asked a question, which would make something easier for himself, [you] said no (also not unreasonable), he took his seat and there were no bad feelings,” that reader wrote. “Doesn’t sound like it escalated into a big drama where someone is right and the other is wrong.”

A third reader replied, “Don’t feel bad about it, you also had a genuine reason for wanting the aisle seat. Feel proud of yourself.”

source: people.com