Pregnant mom expecting strangers to give up their 'gold member' seats in flight gets a reality check

Traveling with a child on a flight can be challenging. Parents who don't plan ahead might annoy fellow passengers when rearranging seats last minute. One pregnant mom, Deekaytwo, sought the internet's opinion on whether it's reasonable to ask strangers in the front row to move so she could sit with her toddler. The candid responses she received offered a reality check she wasn’t expecting.

In her Mumsnet post, the mom explained, "We've got row 7A and C seats booked on our upcoming four-hour flight. The middle seat is blocked off, and we always use it for our nearly 2-year-old son after take-off and before landing." Usually, she books the first-row seats for convenience, but this time, she missed out and wound up stuck in the 7th row causing her to be concerned about managing her son. "According to the seat map, 1C and F are empty (typically reserved for gold members), and these usually open up just before the flight," she added.

Eyeing the first-row seats, the mom wondered if she might move her family there. This would require one passenger in rows A or F to swap seats so she and her partner could sit together. "Am I being unreasonable to move us to the empty seats in the front row and hope/expect 1A or 1D to move so we can sit together? They'd still have their aisle/window and avoid sitting next to a baby, so I think it's a win-win," she asked. Being 5 months pregnant, she wanted to know if her request was unreasonable. 

She presented two options to the users: "Stay in your current seats and let the fancy gold members keep the empty seat next to them!" or "It doesn't make any difference to them and will make your journey more comfortable, probably everyone else's too, as her son will have more room to be contained." Over 200 replies flooded in, with most suggesting the mom "was being unreasonable."

"No, you cannot expect someone to move for your convenience. Book seats that work for you and assume that any that are already booked will remain occupied by someone else," said BreakfastAtMimis. "Don't set out to make someone else feel annoyed. Choose seats that are already available for you to sit next to each other. It's only a four-hour flight, you should be able to manage your own child for that time," noted HoHoHoliday. "Only book it if you're prepared to travel in the seats you've booked! I wouldn't book on the provision you need someone to swap with you, personally, I'd keep your current seats sat together," added ThanKyoualMee.

This article originally appeared on 5.22.24.