Flights are already expensive just for the fare itself, even if you’re flying Basic Economy. Any perks you add, such as checked bags or assigned seating, are extra costs that most passengers are mindful of before purchasing.
As such, those perks become very precious to passengers. If asked to switch their assigned seats, for example, most would hesitate before accepting.
According to one passenger flying from Atlanta to Kansas City, one mom not only asked people to switch, but demanded it. Commenters agreed with the way she handled it.
What did the mom ask passengers to do on this flight?
In her TikTok video, which was viewed over 125,500 times, creator Kelly Sites says she was flying from Atlanta to Kansas City, Missouri, on Labor Day after a long journey back from Malta.
She had booked an aisle seat, while her friend booked the window.
“I booked an aisle. I always book an aisle,” she says. “My friend who I’m flying with, she booked the window. That’s how we do it. She likes the window, I like the aisle.”
Their strategy also left the middle seat open. If nobody booked it, they got some extra space. If someone did, they could always offer that passenger the window or aisle if they wanted to sit together.
“And if they don’t want to, who cares?” Sites says. “That’s not the issue.”
During this flight, she says that across the aisle, another woman had the aisle seat and an older man had the window. That left the middle seat open there, too.
Then a young mother boarded with her 4-year-old.
“She’s probably in her 20s with a small child,” the TikToker says. “And she was like, ‘Oh, who’s gonna switch me? They didn’t put us together.’”
According to the creator, nobody immediately volunteered.
“And we’re all looking at her like, ‘No, that’s not how it works,’” she says. “She just walked in immediately… wasn’t frantic like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s nothing we could do, we’re on the last flight.’ She was just like, ‘Who’s gonna switch with me?’”
Then the mom made an unexpected comment.
“She had the audacity to say, ‘If not, who wants to babysit a four-year-old for the flight?’” she recalls.
Eventually, the woman sitting in the aisle seat across from Sites agreed to switch.
“I was like, ‘That was really nice of you, ’cause I would not have done that,’” the creator says.
But according to her, the passenger had another reason for agreeing.
“She was like, ‘Yeah, ’cause the man is being so creepy,’” the TikToker says. “So we put the baby by the creepy man.”
Viewers don’t think it was her responsibility to switch
In the comments, some parents said they make a point of arranging seats with their children ahead of time.
“I fly with my child (now 7) 6x a year. I’ve never had this problem because I pay extra for together seats or call weeks ahead to get it sorted out. I would have no sympathy for her,” one commenter wrote.
Another viewer thought airlines shouldn’t allow families with minors to end up separated in the first place.
“It needs to be required to assign seats with anyone under 18,” they wrote.
One parent shared a different perspective.
“Had this happen to me, due to our connecting flight being delayed. Delta rebooked us the next day and didn’t put us together my son was 4 at the time. Everyone passed responsibility from reservations to check in to the flight attendants,” they wrote. “Nobody wanted to switched so I dropped him off in his assigned seat next to the guy who didn’t want to switch, after about five minutes of hearing my sons Nintendo he had a change of heart.”
Do airlines have to seat young children with their parents?
There are no federal laws that demand airlines seat families together. However, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has a Family Seating Dashboard which lists airlines that provide fee-free family seating.
According to the dashboard, Alaska, American, Frontier, Hawaiian, and JetBlue guarantee adjacent seating for a child 13 or under and an accompanying adult. Other airlines such as Delta, Southwest, United, and Allegiant do not.
The DOT advises parents traveling with airlines that don’t provide adjacent seating to contact them before boarding the flight. If they still don’t get a resolution, parents can also speak to airline staff who generally rearrange seats so at least one adult sits with a young child.
@kellysites
Subplot News has reached out to Sites via email for comment.
