Flying is often a journey through the skies fraught with a cacophony of tiny agonies. From the delight of TSA lines to the unending joy of cramped legroom, it’s truly a festival of discomfort. But some people, they prepare like they’re going into battle. They know what they want and how to get it. Not everyone, though, oh no, not everyone is so considerate.

Meet our lady of valor, who knew she needed extra comfort for her big trip across the country. She had to face an existential conflict between societal expectations and personal comfort, a dilemma as old as air travel itself.

You see, our heroine was heading home for Christmas, and she knew that she needed that extra seat to ensure a decent flight experience. She’d paid extra for it, and why not? Comfort comes at a price, and she had shelled out the cash to make her journey bearable.

Everything seemed peachy keen as she breezed through check-in, security, and boarding. Then, the plot thickened. Enter stage left: a woman with an 18-month-old child, eyes locked on that beautiful, empty seat. Cue the dramatic music.

The hopeful mother did what anyone desperate for convenience would do—she asked our protagonist to squish into one seat so her darling toddler could have a throne. But let’s be real: our lady had paid for that seat and wasn’t about to give it up.

Naturally, an audience formed—because who doesn’t love a good airplane soap opera? The flight attendant, sensing the brewing drama, swooped in. The attendant politely requested if our lady would mind making room for the little one. The answer, unsurprisingly, was a firm no. And thus, the flight attendant ruled that the mother would have to keep her child in her lap, where, let’s be honest, kids that age often behave like wiggle worms.

The rest of the flight? Oh, delightful. The scorned mother issued death glares and passive-aggressive comments like they were going out of style.

Questioning her resolve, our lady took to the oracle of modern conscience, that echo chamber known as Reddit. She asked, had she been the jerk in this scenario?

The internet weighed in. One sage mom said, “I’ve taken 9-hour flights with an infant in my arms and shorter flights with a toddler in my lap, who was capable of sitting in his own seat and very much did not want me to hold him. Did it suck? Yes. But it was my problem alone, and as long as my child was under 24 months and I didn’t have to pay for his seat, I chose to hold him. I swear, not all of us parents are this entitled!”

Another netizen chimed in with, “She’s wrong for not buying a seat for her son and assuming someone else would give up a seat they paid for. Odds are she was hoping there’d be extra seats on the flight so she didn’t have to pay and used the lap thing as a loophole.”

Reddit was on fire, “I’d go so far as making a complaint to the airline about their employee supporting another passenger harassing you,” one user fumed.

Then there was the voice of weighty wisdom: “You should always do what you can to be as healthy as you can, but being fat isn’t a character flaw or a moral failing. We all have our own challenges in life, and you deserve not to be ashamed of your body and yourself, even if you aren’t currently meeting your goals. If the mom wants an extra seat for her kids, she should have purchased one. She’s not entitled to a seat you purchased, and you don’t need to feel bad for her bad behavior.”

So, while some could see why the mom wanted a little more breathing room, the consensus was clear—she should have bought that extra seat if it was that important. Case closed, at least in the court of public opinion.

So, dear reader, what say you? Who’s right in this airborne battle of wills? Sound off in the comments below! And don’t forget to share this—after all, everyone loves a good debate about flight etiquette.

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