Neither the parent nor the aisle passenger were entitled to the middle seat.

But morally speaking, the aisle passenger was a jerk and should have allowed the parent or the child to use the middle seat, provided the child was well behaved and not get into the space of the aisle passenger.

I think it was inappropriate for the parent to assume that he/she had preemptive rights to the middle seat. As others have noted, it was shared space. Assuming that it should go to the parent who chose not to buy a separate seat for the lap-child is just one more expression of parental entitlement. Sorry, we're all equal on the big bus in the sky.

I think it is inappropriate to assume you know what was in the mind of the parent, and whether or not airline employees had told the parent that the parent would be allowed to use the empty seat for the child. It is common for them to tell parents with lap children that they may use empty seats if available, and it is the prerogative of the airline to dispose of unsold seats according to their protocol.

An empty seat is not inherently "shared space" and for the parent to have used it in no way deprives the aisle pax of a single thing that individual paid for; aisle seat paid for the use of one seat, and was entitled the use of one seat, not one and half.

You're both right.

It is, indeed, the prerogative of the airline. Nothing in the OP, however, suggested that this was the case.

Nor does the aisle passenger using the middle seat in any way deprive the parent of what he/she paid for. Why would you think having a lap child invests a parent in superior rights?

Why would it have been more "moral" for the aisle passenger to let the parent use the seat for the lap child?

I said nothing about superior rights, if you reread my post, I wrote about airline protocol. You were the one who presumed the parent was claiming superior rights when you said "just one more expression of parental entitlement" which seems to be an assumption without evidence concerning the parent's attitude.

OP has no way of knowing what the airline staff may have said to the parent, and based on what was posted, nothing was said within OP's hearing. However, that does not mean no offer was made to the parent about use of the empty seat prior to then. If the airline offered the seat to the parent, the aisle pax is not within his/her rights to deny it to the parent.

Just because the parent chose not to become confrontational does not mean the airline didn't offer parent & child use of the empty seat.

Major

+1^. Like who pissed in the guys' cornflakes? He who hurts little helpless children obviously has psychological problems. What goes around comes around especially with children.. treat them nice because they are helpless.. treat them bad, and you got the big guy upstairs to deal with.

And I would have called the FA over and had you moved right back to your assigned seat. If you want a seat for a child, BUY ONE. If you want to be cheap about it and go the lap child route, then the child stays in the lap.

So based on your logic, the aisle passenger should not use the open space either since he has been cheap and not purchased an extra seat. Correct?

The unoccupied seat is community space to be shared by the aisle/window passengers - it's the fair and appropriate way of handling that scenario for as long as I can remember and in every single case where I had an empty middle.

The parent could have used a kiosk to switch to the middle seat just before boarding and put his or her child in the now-empty window seat. Of course the risk is someone else will grab a BP for the window and the parent will be stuck in the middle, but if timed correctly it'd probably work.

I agree with the Aisle seat pax.

The child did not have a ticket for the seat, the child does not get the seat. The child was a lap child.

I agree that neither party in this equation has more "entitlement" than the other (in fact, neither are entitled at all.

However, to address the quote above, if the parent wants to access the overhead bin, use the seatback tray, or any of the rest, they need to plan accordingly and buy a seat for the child.

I am saying this as the parent of two little ones myself, one of whom is still lap-sitting age, and NOT as a disgruntled non-parent passenger.

I have read lately (on my online mom forums) of a lot of airlines forbidding parents from bringing car seats into the cabin if they haven't purchased a seat for their child, and I fully support this.

It's no different from buying a class of service in the plane. If you want comfort, you're going to have to pay for it and not look for a free lunch at the expense of others.

You can't blame the aisle passenger from seeking to avoid having a small child sit next to him. Honestly, I won't tolerate a bunch of crap from a non-paying passenger, either. We all know that we roll the dice as to who our seatmates are going to be every time we fly, but to be imposed upon by someone who isn't even paying isn't part of my equation.