On the 20th episode of the 10th season of Family Guy, Meg gets kidnapped in Paris, so Brian and Stewie fly to Europe to save her. On the plane, they are approached by a mother holding a kid in her arms, asking if they can switch seats so that she can travel with her husband — a fellow passenger on their left.
But Stewie replies, “Your poor planning doesn’t constitute an emergency for me.” Recently, Reddit user Appropriate-Yam-8141 found herself in a very similar situation and, just like Stewie, the woman refused to accommodate the request.
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This pregnant woman booked a premium seat for her flight, but a fellow passenger asked if they could swap
She refused, but it didn’t fly well with the man and his wife
Travel etiquette experts say you are perfectly within your rights to decline seat-swapping requests
As the comments to the now-viral story suggest, many travelers aren’t open to seat swapping. And, according to etiquette, they don’t have to be. This practice can even make your trip more dangerous both for you and others onboard. Every flight has a manifest with information about each passenger, including allergies, special meals, and connecting flights. So you very well might end up with someone else’s meal or a reaction to a nearby pet.
On smaller planes, a seat switch can also affect the safety of the entire aircraft — before each flight, the crew checks to ensure it is properly balanced. If you move, you could shift the scale in the wrong direction, making it harder for the pilot.
But most commonly, switching seats leads to unnecessary face-offs. Rosalinda Oropeza Randall, an etiquette expert, believes you don’t have to play along. “If someone asks you to …, you are not obligated to do so or even consider it,” she says. “You have the right to decline – politely, of course.”
Rosalinda’s pro tip: if the other passenger wants to know why you won’t move, consider showing them your determination by replying with a firm phrase like “I prefer to stay where I am.” She says you don’t have to give them a reason.
Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and founder of The Protocol School of Texas, agrees that passengers are entitled to their assigned seats. According to Gottsman, the only acceptable scenario is when a parent or guardian has found “there is no possible way” through pre-planning that they could have been seated next to their child, at which point “of course, it’s understandable” to ask someone to swap.
However, Gottsman notes that, even in a case involving a young kid, “it’s always best to ask a ticket agent or someone from the travel company if there is a possibility of changing or switching seats before you board the plane,” as “asking a fellow passenger puts the person you are asking in an awkward position.” In the story that we just read, it sounds like the man’s son already had his mother to take care of him.
“Wanting to sit next to a friend, or preferring a window seat rather than an aisle, is not a good enough reason” to ask, Gottsman adds. “If you and your spouse are separated, it simply means you booked late or did not plan in advance to book seats together.”
