On my last trip there was a mother and her deaf son. Mom had an aisle seat and center seat near the front of the plane. Mom was so over-weight she had purchased two seats for herself, and she needed the two seats. Son had window seat more to the middle of the plane.

FA asked seat companion next to deaf boy as well as seat companion next to Mom to switch seats so Mom and Son could be together.

Both seat companions refused. The Son had a very difficult time on the flight. He made many trips up to his mother. He was afraid and insecure and worried. He also blocked the aisle and made things much more difficult for the FAs. A couple of times he came up and sat on the floor near his Mom.

My husband and I tried to figure out what we could do to help. We had window and center seat and our aisle seat was occupied by a stranger. We decided that stranger could take Mom's seat. I would take Son's seat leaving my seat unoccupied for Mom, and my husband could take center seat previously reserved for Mom's over-splll. The jerk in the aisle seat would have only had to move up one row, and he refused.

I know that people have no obligation to switch seats, but really......? How difficult would it have been to unbuckle a seat belt and move up one row to eliminate all the anxiety from the deaf son?

Oh.....Mom and Son had been unable to get three seats in a row because they booked last minute tickets to attend funeral of grandfather. I suppose one could argue that if Mom were not over-weight she could have put Son in seat next to her. Unfortunately there was not enough time between death and funeral for Mom to lose the extra weight. She did pay for two seats so she did not invade the space of the person next to her. I have been sitting by people who were much more over-weight and did not feel obligated to purchase an extra seat. I think she was very socially responsible.

The jerk sitting in the window seat on Mom's row really had the benefit of a nearly empty center seat, and I am positive that is why he would not move. Even though Mom bought the seat, he had his briefcase and laptop spread out ten minutes after take-off.

I was embarrassed for my fellow man on that day, until we arrived at our mid-point. At that point two businessmen, wearing suits and ties gave their seats in First Class to two young men wearing Army fatigues.

Some people will make large sacrifices, and other refuse to make small ones. On some days flying is not as fun as it once was.

Hi, I'm new here. I have lived on both sides of this issue. For my career, I have been a management consultant who lived on airplanes and planned my seat to a T. I am also married to a man with MS, and he now uses a wheelchair full-time.

Here's what I wonder: why wouldn't the FA's have made an announcement in the FC cabin that they need someone to volunteer to give up an aisle seat so that the Dad could sit next to his daughter? Surely someone would have been willing to do it. I understand the need, but it does feel rather unfortunate that this one passenger in 6B had to be put on the spot.

I also wonder why that family didn't claim the bulkhead row? We have never had a problem asking for and getting the bulkhead seats.

I agree the other passengers were inconsiderate, but I wonder a couple things: If Mom didn't really need all of the extra seat, why not place son there? Most kids don't mind being "uncomfortably close" to their Moms. Also, if, as it appears, you are a family member, wouldn't it have been better to switch with the child and put him next to one of you as a last resort?

Amen!

The problem seems to be that they wanted one specific person to move from an aisle to a window. Your solution would allow any one person with an aisle to volunteer to take the window.

I really hate windows, and I consider LAX-ORD to be a long flight, but I'd probably give a fake smile and move if needed. I'd spend the whole flight making my aisle seat mate let me out. However, it seems like it would be better for all if someone who was less annoyed at sitting in a window seat could volunteer.

I don't see where the poster said Mom or Son was family. "There was a Mother and her son." She used pronouns like Mom/Son to make it clear who she was talking about. Second, the mother paid for two seats for herself (thank you!), and a third for her son. She should get all three seats. What was more likely was the jerk in the third seat liked not having an entire seat taken up next to him. There is a time I will not switch seats, but this certainly would not have been one of them.

^^^ and major karma points to your kid!

It is entirely possible, and plausible, that the child in question had disabilities beyond the physical. Perhaps mental or emotional impairment that could to some degree be soothed by having BOTH parents within eyesight during a potentially stressful and confusing experience like a flight.

I am disabled (minor to me, but then I was born with it. Others view my congenital birth defect as being pretty significant). I have yet to be on any, repeat any intracontinental flight within NA or Europe where I truly cared about my seat. Except middle seats. Hate middle seats in Y. Now, on TATL or TPAC flights, it is another deal entirely. I have extremely specific seat needs that just cannot be reliably dealt with via a travel agent or even airline staff. I have yet to deal with anyone while booking who can definitively answer extremely specific hardware question like "are the seat controls on the right or left on this aircraft?" Once I am familiar with a particular aircraft typically used by airline XYZ on a given T-oceanic route, I can deal with it. However, there are times I must request a change after boarding. I will usually ask a pax in a "desirable seat" nearby, and offer an explanation. Sometimes the pax responds viscerally, at which time I apologize and get an FA involved to help without impacting the disturbed pax. In those cases, if the exchange has been overheard by others nearby, the visceral pax usually starts getting a tongue lashing from others, WHICH I UNIVERSALLY PUT TO A STOP. I have always been able to reasonbly re-seat. The disturbed pax usually ends up apologizing, 9 times out of 10.

Now, on the other hand, I have also been asked to move by FAs to accomodate others. Sometimes not even asked, just unilaterally moved. I generally accede, but do what the aggrieved gentleman in the OP failed to do. I clearly and concisely state my requirement for my new seat to the FA, and make sure they understand why said requirements must be met. This has on occasion created a chain reaction of shifted pax, but if it truly is necessary to accomodate a realistically needy party (the one that bumped me), then the FA gets it done. If the aggrieved pax in the OP (or other posters to this thread for that matter) truly NEED an aisle seat, politely stand your ground while being reasonably willing to help an obviously needful pax. There's no evil in spreading the pain to others in the cabin if it helps someone less fortunate.

All that being said, if it's just because two buddies want to sit together, then they can pucker up and decide which of my nether cheeks to kiss.

Finally. To all who think they are too important to help a disabled kid (save those who have their own private disabilities, which could be dealt with as described above), shame on you. Especially for a measly NA transcon. Trust me, the 4 hours of pique and potential discomfort you might face pale in comparison to the lifetime that kid faces. I certainly hope nobody you care for is ever stricken so. Instead of thinking how important you are for once, think of how a relatively minor sacrifice on your part might be the best part of someone else's day, or week, or month, or year. It does eventuaally pay back, either way.

I am conscious that I follow many others in this thread and do not wish to take their comments out of context.

In the end, it is each person's individual choice whether or not they wish to assist another person, in seat allocation as in all other aspects of life. Each person on the aircraft will have a different set of needs and values, and they will consider the request weighing those needs according to their values. And as each person's values are different, there will always be those whose values we profoundly disagree with.

Speaking personally, I can invisage occasions where I would say no to a seat swap (if it's so two friends can sit together and I have to give up an aisle seat for an economy middle seat and they're not very nice in asking) but I can imagine very many more situations where I would happily swap rows and aisles/windows (even in economy) to assist others who were not happily accommodated. Like many others in this forum who are blessed with being able-bodied, moving for this family would be an instinctive and immediate yes from me (unless I were travelling with a disabled family member myself).

The old saying 'before you criticise a man, walk a mile in his shoes' appears to be most apposite here. I wish that the 'non-swappers' had a greater sense of the difficulties and challenges facing that family - every single aspect of air travel is likely to be more difficult for them. Perhaps until you travel with a disabled family member it is not possible to appreciate their hardships and their courage. If the 'non-swappers' understood this, they would be in a better position to weigh their own needs with those of this family - not all of them would decide to move, but I feel confident that many of them would feel more inclined to sacrifice some of their own comfort if they fully understood the challenges faced by that family.

I am still in wonder that rows 5 and 6 are in F. *sigh* We don't do it that way at US.

I would not have switched, either. I select my seat because I want that seat. Since the mother was next to the kid, I would not have even considered a switch.

Another question: Would people be so quick to switch from aisle to window if they were not in F?

Amen!