A WOMAN has revealed how she refused to switch seats on a plane to accommodate a couple with a cat.
The pair hadn’t booked an appropriate seat to fly with their pet, who needed to be placed underneath a seat in front.
Instead, the couple were sat at the front of the row and were therefore asked to move seats.
When the flight attendant offered the woman the chance to sit at the front, so the couple could sit together with their cat, she politely declined.
The 25-year-old woman explained this was due to her and her husband, 32, being disabled and tried and didn’t wish to move from the seats they had paid for.
However, she was adamant she was in the right and took to Reddit in search of support from others.
She wrote: “A couple boarded the plane with a cat in a carrier and sat in the first row.
“After a while, the flight attendant told them that they couldn’t have a pet in a carrier in the first row because there is no seat to put it under.
“She asked the couple if one could switch to a different seat with the cat, and the couple started to argue that they wanted to sit together.
“The flight attendant came and asked us to switch with them.
“I’m typically the most accommodating person, but the trip had taken literally everything out of me and I was so absolutely done. So I politely said no.”
The woman stood firm though and refused to budge, pointing out a spare seat behind the couple, saying they would have to split up because she wasn’t moving. And eventually, she was allowed to stay.
She continued: “There was a spare seat behind them and the couple could sit one behind the other or someone else could give up their seat, but I wouldn’t be moving from the seat I paid for.
“She continued to argue with me and tell me that I would have more room for my foot if I moved. I told her that I had plenty of room as I have short legs.
“Eventually, the woman next to the empty seat agreed to switch so the couple could sit together.
“As a people pleaser, the whole situation left me feeling bad. I hate not being accommodating. But it wasn’t my fault the airline allowed them to book the first row with a pet carrier, nor that they refused to split up.”
A lot of people stuck up for the woman in the comments, with some even saying she should complain to the airline.
One wrote: “I would file a complaint with the airline. Especially when physically disabled, the stewardess was our of line telling you that you had to move.”
A second added: “Good on you for standing up for yourself and don’t let a situation like this discourage you from standing up for yourself in the future!”
Some airline professionals insist that passengers shouldn’t change seats at all, claiming it is dangerous.
Pilot Magnar Nordal explained on a Quora forum: “If the [systems are] set wrong, then the aircraft may crash at take-off.
“Four passengers seated themselves forward from their assigned seats before take-off.
“My first officer was flying, and he experienced problems when he rotated the aircraft: It was very heavy.
“This was a very critical situation, because the runway was very short, and we would not have been able to stop.”
Pilot Darren Patterson agreed, telling the BBC that someone moving 10 rows of seats can have a “dramatic” effect on a plane’s balance.
Meanwhile, this man also refused to move seats despite a mother’s plea to sit next to her child.
