He Tried to Steal My Seat—I Taught Him the Meaning of Instant Karma

Airline travel, be it domestic or international, may have shrunk the world and made even far-off places more accessible, but it comes with its own set of problems. Namely, people and their sense of entitlement, which leads to airline seat disputes. Here’s one such story about a woman who faced up to some rude co-travelers, and taught them a lesson (story is edited for clarity).

“He tried to take my airline seat, and lost.”

I was travelling to Las Vegas to meet up with some friends. I pre-booked my seat with more legroom due to my disability, at an extra cost. With this airline, they charge extra for certain seats. I chose a window seat, which cost me an additional $45.

When I boarded, there was a surprise. There was a man in my seat. Another man sat in the aisle seat, while the middle was empty. To be sure, I checked my seat number, and the man was sitting in my seat.

I politely asked him to move. I am fairly small, and both men were about 6 feet tall and over 200 lbs. When they opened their mouths, it definitely appeared like they were used to using their size to get their way. The man in the aisle immediately told me that the man at the window didn’t have to move, and I could sit in the middle.

That’s when he stood up, towering over me. The man in my seat didn’t move. His friend tried to physically intimidate me. But here is the thing...I worked in front line healthcare. I am used to men attempting to use their size and mouth to intimidate, and this behavior does not work with me. I’m petite, but big men don’t scare me.

He said, I shouldn’t make a scene about it. That really irritated me, but I didn’t raise my voice, and was very polite. I said I wasn’t making a scene, but was asking nicely for the seat I paid for.

I decided to change tactics. I turned my head to the man in my seat and told him that I would make him a deal. He gives me $50 cash, and I will give him my seat. I told him I paid an additional $45 for the seat, and with tax it should be around $50. He gives the money, and the seat would be his.

This is when he turned to me in shock and said, “You want me to pay you $50 for your seat?” I answered, “So you are admitting that you knew this wasn’t your seat. I am going to call the airline staff, and they can take you to your seat. After all, I booked this seat due to me having a disability (which is true), and you are trying to steal it.”

Everyone around us turned to look at him, and they did not have kind looks on their faces. He turned 14 shades of red, and moved to the middle seat. He pulled his hoodie over his head, and sulked the rest of the flight. His friend did the same.

The moral of this story is simple. Do not use size and gender to intimidate others. It may just backfire on you, and make your next flight a lot less comfortable.

Everyone supported the boss move.

• “You don’t want to make a scene.” Oh, ho ho ho. I’ve been waiting all my life to make a scene. You’re just giving me the reason. © Plutos_A_Planet2024 / Reddit
• You handled that fantastically. You rock. I hope you had a great trip. © TigerGrizzCub78 / Reddit
• I swear to god, I better never encourage this situation because I will fight to the death if anyone tries to steal my paid-for window seat. I’m sick of these ignorant and rude passengers that think they’re free to just choose any seat they like. I am ready to embarrass them, loudly, in front of everyone. © ArcticTraveler2023 / Reddit
• I would not even bother to engage after he verbally refused to move. I would have just leaned over the aisle guy and hit the call button or approached a FA if nearby for assistance.
  I’d rather alert the FA to a problematic passenger than handling it on my own. What if they continue to cause problems during the flight? I’d rather the FA be aware and watching them throughout the flight. © delsoldeFlorida / Reddit
• The most frustrating thing about this story is that you not only have to justify taking a seat you booked, you also had to pay for it as you needed to accommodate your disability. Then you had to announce you had a disability on a plane full of people just to get the seat you paid for. Those men should be ashamed of themselves. © Usual-Worry8412 / Reddit

Several other women shared their travel horror stories as well.

• I am currently 7 months pregnant and had to travel for work. So, having a baby push on my bladder, I booked an aisle seat because I knew I would have to use the bathroom multiple times over a 4 1/2 hour flight.
  I sit down and the guy next to me asks if I would switch with his wife who is in a middle seat and I decline. Someone else does switch with them, and his wife sits in the window. As soon as she sits he starts complaining about how I wouldn’t switch but at least it’s settled right? Wrong.
  Turns out neither of them was even assigned to my row at all, so now the person who is assigned comes down the aisle. Turns into a 10-minute argument/flight attendants trying to figure out who is in what seat, so in the end they’re back to not sitting together, and I get the grumpy guy next to me for the full flight. © answeris4286 / Reddit
• Just had a situation on a flight where a guy was in my first class seat. I booked it and upgraded on purpose. The guy tries telling me I’m wrong and quickly shows me his phone that shows my seat, but I noticed it was a screenshot and not the actual thing. I call the FA over and the guy shows her the same thing, and she immediately cut into him with, “Show me your actual ticket, I’ve seen this many times before”. 32F.
  “Oh, uh, I must have shown a different ticket, not sure how that happened.” Yeah, sure buddy, from 32 to first class is absolutely deliberate, get to the back. And this is why it angers me whenever I read stories on Reddit of people being non-confrontational. If you paid for it, you get to be confrontational within reason. Don’t let them get away with it. © Reggaeton_Historian / Reddit
• My fiancé and I were flying back home from Vegas, and when we boarded, my window seat was open, but a man and his wife were in the middle and aisle in that row. My fiancé was supposed to have the middle seat next to me.
  This couple absolutely refused to move. They insisted these were their seats. They wouldn’t show their boarding passes, saying they KNEW they had the correct seats.
  Finally, the FA comes over, gets them to show their passes — they then claimed that “Oh, we had been looking at our first flight to Vegas, not the flight home.” They grumbled a bit, but finally moved (they were sitting back a few rows, both on aisle seats across from each other). I was just so surprised how adamant they were about not showing their passes and insisting on staying in the wrong seats. Some people! © AwkwarsLunchladyHugs / Reddit

While this was all about an airline seat dispute, the woman who faced the situation was clearly fearless. Just like these real-life adventurers, who face some rather scary situations.