Support truly
independent journalism
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
A passenger offered a honeymoon-bound couple their seat on the plane at a cost they weren’t willing to pay.
Wondering if they were in the wrong for charging the newlyweds, the passenger asked Reddit users what they thought, detailing the situation in the popular confession forum, Am I The A**hole. The Reddit writer prefaced the story by admitting their flight was from Melbourne to Dubai, a 13-hour and 50-minute flight non-stop.
Because the Redditor knew the travel time would be long, they splurged on a premium economy seat for comfort purposes. The passenger assigned to the seat over was the newlywed husband, who received an upgrade.
“They asked if I could switch seats with their wife as they had just gotten married and were on their honeymoon,” the orignal poster explained. “I congratulated him on his nuptials and asked where his wife was sitting.” Her seat wasn’t anywhere close to them.
To the Reddit user’s disappointment, the wife was assigned an economy seat much closer to the back of the plane. At first, the Redditor politely declined, but upon further push back, they agreed to swap seats for a price.
“I offered to switch if he paid the difference between the seats,” the Reddit user. “It is a goodly amount. I had been lucky to get mine at a decent price.”
According to the original poster, the couple would have had to pay $1,000 AU or $676 US to switch. While the Redditor thought the offer was more than generous, the newlyweds didn’t bite because of the strict budget they had set for their trip.
So, when they ultimately turned down the price, the Reddit user congratulated them on their nuptials and popped in earbuds, which didn’t please the husband in the slightest.
“He muttered that I was an a**hole. I said he was a pr*** for taking the upgrade instead of either sitting with his wife or giving it to her,” the Redditor confessed. “I told my wife about the incident, and she thinks I should have done the nice thing.” Yet, the Reddit user doesn’t believe their wife would have switched if she was in the same position.
The majority of readers disagreed with the Redditor’s wife, arguing the newlyweds were at fault, specifically the husband.
One supporter said: “If he really wanted to sit with his wife? I’m sure the person sitting beside her would have loved an upgrade to premium economy. He was essentially asking you to pay for his wife’s upgrade.”
“Him trying to guilt trip you by telling you he was on his honeymoon was supposed to mean what exactly? Why were he and his wife entitled to a $1,000 gift from a stranger at the last minute?” another reader added.
A third wrote: “Their lack of planning is not your fault. The sheer entitlement of some people is laughable.”
“As I’ve flown back and forth between US and Sydney, I totally get why you want the better seats,” an experienced flyer confessed. “Being newlyweds doesn’t entitle you to special treatment.”
