'I don't care if refusing to move plane seats for a child makes me a bad person...' UPDATED
"I don't care if refusing to move plane seats for a child makes me a bad person..."
I was asked to move from a row of two so a parent and child could sit together and I don't feel guilty for declining, no matter how much the flight attendant and the parent tried to guilt me. I wasn't going to take a downgrade to economy. But even if I was asked to change to a seat in the same class I would refuse.
When I have to fly, I choose the seat that I want. Or in rare cases when there are no assigned seats, I choose the best seat that's available. I'm not moving just because someone else is a parent. If someone is traveling with a small child they need to plan better.
I don't need advice, I just needed to rant because while I did complain to the airline about 1) being asked to downgrade to economy without a refund or any compensation [I still wouldn't have moved but being told I should help without getting a refund was upsetting] and...
2) being guilted by the flight attendants because I refused I don't expect a response. In Canada the airline is legally required to give a refund [not a voucher or anything else] if you are downgraded so being told I wouldn't be compensated at all if I changed seats was wrong.
I don't know what ended up happening but the seat next to me was empty during the flight and I got to sit alone. Just because I'm not a parent doesn't mean I should have to move. I don't care if not moving makes me a bad person.
Here's what people had to say to OP:
crankyvet said:
They asked my wife and I to move out of a pod to premium economy so a family could sit together. I actually broke out laughing…loudly.
No_Interest6092 said:
Totally valid! especially if you're being asked to downgrade, I believe in order to be fair there needs to be some sort of compensation for being put out of a more expensive seat. idk why they wouldn't ask the person sitting next to the kid if they would like to switch and get a free upgrade so the kid and parent can be together.
Sneakys2 said:
If it was important for parent and child to fly together, I bet they could have found someone in the child’s row that would be ecstatic to get a free upgrade to first class.
Lost_Independence871 said:
As a parent, but an organized traveler, I would never expect anyone to move for me or my family.
YouHaveAFriend said:
You are 100% correct. I'm a parent of 4. Their poor planning isn't your problem.
7148675309 said:
Why would any parent fly without making sure all their seats were together?????????? This blows my mind!
UPDATE:
So I never thought I would have an update for this. I just posted so I could vent/complain and figured that would be the end of it. I had filed a complaint with the airline but I didn't think I would get a response so I was posting here to vent. The airplane did respond.
They acknowledged that the law in Canada entitles me to a refund if my seat is downgraded and even though I had refused to move seats the airline offered me a voucher. I'll take it. I wasn't expecting anything so I was surprised the airline actually replied.
(As I said in my last post, I don't care if refusing to move seats so a parent and their kid can sit together makes me a bad person. Some people may think I'm an asshole and that's fine with me. In this case I was asked to give up my seat in a row of two for a downgraded seat in economy because a father had the seat beside me but his kid had a seat in economy.
The flight attendants and the father all tried to guilt me into moving, and the flight attendants even said I wouldn't get a refund for taking the downgrade and should just "help." I refused and I don't know what happened but the seat beside me was empty during the flight. I don't know why they didn't offer someone from economy an upgrade so the father and his kid could sit together.
Maybe they did and someone else didn't want to move or be separated from their family. I honestly don't know. I would never move seats, even if it was in the same class and not a downgrade. It's not my responsibility to make sure a kid and a parent get to sit together. Call me a bad person, a jerk etc. if you want but I'm not moving).