Man Refuses To Give Up His Upgraded Seat To A Person With A Disability, Feels Guilty About It Later On

"It's just a respect thing for someone with a disability"

Maryjane

• Published in Interesting
• November 19, 2023

It frequently feels like winning the lottery when you have a comfortable seat during a lengthy flight. It is one of the reasons some people choose to spoil themselves and reserve one in advance, which is not surprising.

The original poster of today's story had an early morning return flight where he paid extra money for a seat. The seat was the 2nd from the front, and it was one of about 5 different seats that was the only seat in their row.

When the OP was about to board, the first agent said she was going to give his seat to someone else who needed wheelchair assistance. The OP went further to say:

I fly pretty often and see people needing wheelchair assistance all the time and are seated through various parts of the plane. I was immediately shocked because the agent didn't ask IF I would give up my seat but just matter of factly explained that she will be assigning me another seat.

The OP asked if he would get a comparable seat and was told no. Of course, that wasn't acceptable to the OP, and they argued back and forth until one of the agents went into the plane to make other arrangements.

The OP is a disabled veteran but does not require wheelchair assistance. He took to the Reddit community to know if he was an AH for not giving up his seat.

Here's the headline

The first agent told the OP that she was going to give his seat to someone else

The person requiring wheelchair assistance was given the seat directly in front of the OP

OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the a-hole:

The fact that I did not give up my seat for someone requiring wheel chair assistance should be judged. Not giving up my seat to someone who required wheelchair assistance might make me an AH.

And the comments roll in...

Preplanning is important

It needs to be dismantled

It's the airline's responsibility

The OP reveals more info in the comments

I am happy to be home now, took the day off just so me and my wife can lay in bed and catch up on some tvs shows and intimacy. Crazy thing about that scenario is that the chose my seat(2A) when there were 5 others that were similar. The guy ended up in 1A. The whole time I was thinking WTF didn't they start with 1A to begin with? I just think it was a lazy worker who didn't want to maneuver through the plane. My last flight had 3 different people needing wheelchair assistance and were seated just fine.

The airline just can't reassign seats

They would have asked first

Their focus is on profit

Many factors are not clear

The seat is reserved

Some Redditors could see why there is an overbooking, but it still unfairly burdens the affected people. In the event that this becomes necessary, travelers ought to receive compensation for any resulting hardships.

It is especially wrong for a disabled passenger who paid extra to reserve a particular seat to be left out in the cold. Still, the OP was declared not the AH, and that's where we draw the curtain.

Maryjane