'Was I in the wrong?': Tall angry dude insists that he deserves woman's airline seat that she paid for

Air travel creates opportunities for some interesting social interactions that you wouldn't find elsewhere in life. Part of that is people tend to be pretty stressed out, even long before they actually manage to get seated on the flight. What with waking up early to get to the airport with ample time with ample anxiety owing to the uncertainty of queue times that can range from mere minutes to hours depending on the day… Following, you have to get undressed for security, parting your belongings out into different bins while agents yell conflicting instructions at you. And this is before anything even goes wrong: long delays that cause you to miss connecting flights, which can add literal days to the length of your travel time; missing suitcases that turn up five days later looking like they've been through a warzone if they ever turn up at all.

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Author image for Brad Dickson Brad Dickson
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  • Yes, air travel is never an ideal situation for anyone. But if you haven't given it a shot, just try being tall with broad shoulders: knees crammed into the seat in front of you, not helped at all by the fact that the five-foot-nothing person in front of you reclined their seat fully before the plane had even reached cruising altitude; meanwhile, you silently battle the person next to you for shared control of the armrest, hoping to maintain enough real-estate that you don't have to spend the entire flight with your spine twisted into a pretzel.

    Usually, if given the chance, you'd plan ahead, booking seats with extra legroom or at least making sure you have an aisle seat. But, as we previously addressed with air travel, forward planning often goes wrong. All it takes is one missed flight due to a delay to lose all those seat selections that you already paid extra for… and, no, airlines don't reimburse you for them—looking at you, United.

    That being said, even if you're large and claustrophobic and in the worst seat in the world, you'd never be in the right for doing what this guy did when he insisted that a small woman seated in a better seat swap seats with him. 

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    Vehicle - 222
    via Suhyeon Choi
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    Font - AITA for refusing to give up my airplane seat to a tall person? Hey everyone! Bit of a weird situation and I'm not sure if I am TA or not. Happy to have my perspective challenged. Last week I was taking a 12 hour flight that I had booked months in advance. At the time of booking I paid extra to choose my seats. The seat I chose was
    via u/Such-Error-34
  • 03
    Font - $55 extra and right at the front of the plane (trying to arrive somewhere on time upon landing). The seat also happened to be an extra legroom seat and I am a 4′11 female. I check in, board, sit in my seat as usual, but as soon as the seatbelt sign was switched off I had a man come over and ask to change seats. The first time he asked politely saying that he is 6'4 and flying is painful for him can we please change seats. I was open to it until I saw
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  • 04
    Font - that his seat was way in the back of the plane and so I told him no sorry I paid extra to sit up front. He kind of got increasingly mad and wouldn't leave saying that there's no reason someone of my height needs extra legroom (I told him I paid to be upfront). I suggested that he ask the other people in those seats if they could swap but he refused saying that he wouldn't want to
    via u/Such-Error-34
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  • 05
    Font - bother other men or split up couples. He kept getting O and angry so I just called over a flight attendant who told him to go sit down. For the rest of the flight he would walk past for no reason slamming into me (I was sitting aisle). Was I in the wrong? Should I have swapped with him? ΤΙΑ
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    Font - Jedisilk015 So my brother is 6'6". You know what he does when he has to fly? He makes sure to get an emergency exit row or whatever row has the extra leg room. He usually has to pay for it. Any tall person with a lick of common sense KNOWS they have to do this for flights. This tall person knows they will need more leg room but chose to try to get out of paying for it by getting a person to switch. OP was totally in their right to say no ESPECIALLY AS THEY PAID EXTRA and tall person does
    via u/Such-Error-34
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    Font - MegC18 My mum was 4'11. She often found that guys thought because she was little, she could be easily intimidated. It was usually pretty entertaining watching them try: she was the master of the quick putdown. I suspect this guy picked you because he thought he could intimidate you. He could easily have paid to upgrade 3.8k Reply Share
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  • 08
    Font - cleaningmama Your goal in sitting in that seat was to ensure that you could get off the plane quickly to make your appointment. If he had agreed to switch seats back in the last hour of the flight so that you could get off the plane quickly, and if he had paid you the difference it cost you, then that might have been a nice compromise. However, the way that he bullied you after you refused was not nice. He tried to make his situation your problem, like it was your fault somehow? he wouldn
    via u/Such-Error-34
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    Font - MarramTime Every time he slammed into you, you should have called the flight attendant again to report the assault. Someone who repeatedly assaults another passenger should be blacklisted permanently by the airline. NTA. 630 Reply Share
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    Font - AbleRelationship6808. Tall person here. If I want more leg room, I can pay for it like everyone else. I don't pay for the cheapest seat possible and then try to get someone shorter to give me the more expensive seat that they purchased for free. You aren't allowed ask someone in business or first class seating to switch to a cheap seat. Wt do they think they can do it in coach? NTA 253 Reply Share
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    Font - Mikasa Audrey NTA. You had your own reason that you needed to sit there. If he wanted a specific seat for a specific reason he should have paid for it. Also wt He didn't wanna bother other men? So he walked over and proceeded to harass a 4'11 female instead? If anyone was to be determined TA it would be him for such a terrible comment. 179 Reply Share
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