Woman refuses to give up plane seat for mom and son, mom freaks out, stewardess steps in.

Air travel is magical in theory, but the reality can be a lot more cramped and psychologically stressful in reality.

In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a woman asked if she was wrong for not giving up her plane seat to a beleageured mom. She wrote:

"AITA for not giving up my plane seat?"

I 23 (F) recently had to fly across the country to attend my sister's wedding. At the airport there was a mom (around 40) with her little son (6 or 7) and the whole time she was demanding things from the airport staff. When we boarded the plane I went straight to my seat which was a middle seat, sat down and took out my earphones when the mother and the son arrived.

They had the window seat and the seat and the aisle seat. Directly the woman demanded that she MUST sit next to her son and I MUST sit at the aisle so she could sit next to him. I don't like sitting in the aisle seat very much so I told her (friendly) that I don't really like giving up my seat as I don't like sitting there and she then started to yell that it is her right to sit next to her son.

I politely told her that I would be willing to change seats with her son (who had the window seat) and she continued yelling that she NEEDED the seat and that she won't accept that her son has to give up his seat as he is a child and deserves the window seat. In the end, a stewardess came and I got to sit in my originally seat.

The mom kept 'accidentally' kicking me the whole flight and made her son annoy me on purpose so I might give up my seat. When I went to the toilet I thought it was finally over as she might have accepted it but when I came back she was in my seat and my jacket and my bag which I left there were thrown into the aisle. I called a stewardess and they made her get back onto her place.

AITA for not giving in and just let her sit next to her son instead of politely declining and keep sitting on my seat?

Commenters had plenty to say.

kaikaradk wrote:

Honestly, we need more info on why you prefer the middle seat. You handled this situation with a lot of grace. Gave the woman an option and you let the flight attendants do their job. NTA.

And OP responded:

Well I just don't like to sit at the aisle seat and it was a row of three seats. The only empty seat was the middle seat so I booked it.

MrsChickenPam wrote:

NTA. This comes up a LOT. If she wanted to sit next to her son, she could have paid extra for seats, or reserved sooner, or a the LEAST she could have requested POLITELY. Your seat is YOUR seat and you are not obligated to switch for any reason.

Snarky-Illusion wrote:

NTA. That lady was rude and disrespectful. No one is entitled to give there seat and the way she was acting about it was very childish and immature. You bought the seat and got it. She should’ve made sure that her son and her had seats together if she wanted it that badly.

FantasticSchedule29 wrote:

Obviously NTA but why in the name of all things holy do you prefer the middle seat? The people want to know!

OP responded:

Well I don't really like the aisle seat and I don't really care if I sit on the middle or the window seat. When I booked the flight only the middle seat was available so I booked it.

OP is NTA here, that much is crystal clear.