When it comes to seating arrangements while traveling, whether by bus, rail, or, more frequently, plane, it seems like someone is experiencing trouble virtually every day.

Comfort on a plane is crucial, especially for long-haul flights, and airlines are known to exploit this fact by charging more for seats that are more comfortable. Some people are prepared to spend more because they view the added costs as a little price to pay for comfort. Others don’t find this to be the case, and they instead depend on the goodwill of random people to get the seats they want.

But even when it comes to things that can be planned ahead, the goodwill of strangers is never a guarantee. One mother on a flight across the Pacific learned this the hard way while flying with her two young children.

The man who had reserved that seat prevented her from taking the window seat that she had wanted to take.

He turned to Reddit to get feedback from the community on what happened and how effectively he handled the circumstance.

“I was traveling from New York City to London on a red-eye trip. I had purposefully reserved a window seat because I can only fall asleep on an aircraft with a window seat, he wrote.

When he got on the plane, he discovered a surprise waiting for him.

“When I go to my seat, the first three seats in the row are occupied by a mom and her two small children, who are between 4 and 5 years old.”

The issue slightly escalated once he told her that he had reserved the window seat.

She persisted after he informed the mother that he owned the window seat.

He wrote: “She claims that she had booked the aisle seat in the row on the opposite side of the plane, as well as the other two seats in the row, and asked me if I would mind switching with her so that she could sit in the same row with her two children.

But he too was adamant, telling the woman why he had to take that particular seat.

“I explained to her that I expressly reserved the window seat so that I could sleep on the flight, and that I wanted to keep my seat,” she recalled.

The man claimed that after then, everything worsened.

She even called the flight attendant over to protest and yelled about how I wouldn’t switch with her. The flight attendant told her that they had to honor the ticket and requested her child to relocate, after which she started to make a bit of a commotion. Then, as she instructed her son to take a seat on the opposite side of the plane for the flight, she gave me a pretty intense look.

He blogged about it on Reddit to gather comments from the community because even after everything seemed to have been addressed, he wasn’t sure if he had made the right decision.

While many users supported the man and praised his resolve to stick to the reserved seat, others expressed sympathy for the woman and shared their own experiences traveling with young children. On the r/AITA board, there are far too many posts concerning “seat flipping,” and many users have pushed administrators to crack down on them.

In response to the woman’s “request,” Redditors supported the man’s choice.

“She didn’t ask, she took it first, and when confronted on it, she tried to pawn off a worse seat. That’s not asking, in my opinion,” one commenter wrote. This is a typical “scam” that people use. Another commenter stated, “They’re depending on others feeling bad for them so they can take advantage.

Third user: “She could have paid for seat selections instead of relying on another passenger being willing to trade if she wanted to guarantee she and her kids had three seats adjacent to each other.”

Others shared their experiences while traveling with their kids.

The airlines are the true AH in this situation because they compete for our business by pitting us against one another. Recently, we paid an extra fee to reserve our seats so that our child wouldn’t be separated from us. We were on our way to see family. Even though they can’t afford it, some people still want to visit their relatives, a user wrote.

“The airline put my 9-month-old son and I in DIFFERENT ROWS when I travelled. That was obviously unacceptable. I’ll admit that under the pressure, I started crying because it initially seemed like the issue would not be resolved. … I will always remember the kind man who switched places with us so I could sit next to my infant. Another comment stated, “Airlines shouldn’t allow this to happen.

Many others, though, appeared irritated at having to read yet another article about changing plane seats.

“I sincerely wish that these kinds of posts were prohibited. There are usually two of these per month,” a frustrated Redditor said.

Another user commented, “I feel like I read this exact post like at least twice a day; I’m exhausted.”

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