Man refused to switch seats for elderly couple on plane because he 'paid extra to sit there'
A man refused to switch seats for an elderly couple on a plane because he 'paid extra to sit there'.
Now, even at the best of times, flying can be bit quite the faff what with screaming babies, dodgy onboard toilet facilities and the chaos of duty-free fanatics so it's understandable that the last thing any of us want to be dealing with is is a last-minute seat switcheroo.
However, this was exactly the case for one bloke who outright denied an 'old couple's' request for his seat and he has a fairly good reason as to why.
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The man took to Reddit to share the awkward encounter and titled the post: "Old couple try to take our seats on a plane."
He started off by explaining that he and his significant other planned a three-month-long trip all around the world.
Their first flight, from New Zealand, was a mammoth 12-13 hours so the man took some extra precautions ahead of time to ensure the journey was as cushty as possible.
"We booked and paid for our flights and I added the premium economy seats as I'm 6'3 and wanted the extra leg room," he continued.
The 'premium economy seats' ended up costing an 'extra $60' but hey - I guess you can't put a price on comfort and not being plagued with insufferable leg cramp for half of an entire day.
He went on to explain that the flight in question was with Air New Zealand - an airline which has a screen showing a passenger's 'name on it when you get to your seat'.
The jet-setter and his partner board the plane but notice their seats had been commandeered by another couple.
"[We] find our seats and there is this older couple sitting there (mid 70s). I ask them if they got confused with their seat numbers," the man penned. "They hadn't."
He then showed them his ticket and seat number and 'point to my name on the screen'.
"They then ask me just sit in their seats which was 10 rows back," the man wrote, adding that there was 'no leg room' in the proposed new seats.
He then relayed the following interaction he had with the 'old people' and it's definitely not the smoothest one in the world.
Explaining the conversation, he began: "Me: you want me to sit in your seats?
"OP (old people): Yes that would be nice thank you.
"Me: I paid extra for these seats and would like to sit in them. Please move to your seats.
"OP: Oh it's not that bad there's plenty or leg room.
"Me: Yeah there's plenty of leg room in my seats because I paid for it. I'll help move your bag if you need."
It was at this point that a flight attendant then joined the scene after noticing the line in the aisle was 'getting long'.
According to the Reddit user's recollection of events, the old couple told her: "This man wants us to move seats!" only to be told by the staff member to go return to their 'allocated seats'.
The man explained: "Here is my ticket, these people are sitting in my seats. I paid extra because I need to leg room."
The flight attendant then told the old couple: "Excuse me, you will have to move to your own seats as you have not paid for these seats."
Really taking it one step further, the old couple then asked the member of staff if they could 'have an upgrade' following the whole ordeal upon which they were informed it was a 'full flight' and 'not possible'.
Understandably, the old couple were disappointed and gave what the Reddit user refers to as 'Pikachu face' which is basically an internet meme depicting an expression that looks the farthest thing from chuffed.
"I got some stink eyes from other people on the flight," he concluded.
"I paid for the extra leg room and I need it."
What do you make of it?
Rhiannon Ingle