Empty Middle Seat
 

Observed and overheard the following on a flight. A parent with a lap child was seated in the window seat and a passenger in the same row in the aisle seat while the middle seat was empty. Shortly after take off the parent asked the other passenger, who was sprawled out taking up part of the middle seat, to move so that the child could be placed in the middle seat. The aisle seat passenger declined stating to the effect that the empty middle seat was a community/common area and that the parent didn't have the right to sole use of it and should have bought a ticket for the child if it was important for the child to have their own seat. The parent didn't pursue the matter after the response.

What's your thoughts on how the aisle seat passenger handled this?

His/Her choice. Sounds good to me.

Seems like a lap child should be small enough to fit in half a middle seat. Was the window pax taking up the lion's share of the space?

As a father of 2 little ones, I will agree with the aisle person. He may have worked the seat maps for weeks (like we all do) to make sure he had the best chance of comfort. It is communal space...the kid can use it, but cannot occupy his half.

The aisle seat passenger was taking up slightly less than half the middle seat.

It's sort of like the shared under-seat storage on UAs 752s. Sounds like the guy in the aisle handled this pretty well. ^

When I was travelling with my daughter when she was small enough to need to use a lap belt, the cabin crew usually encouraged me to use the seat next to me for her if it was empty, and if it wasn't either found me a pair together or offered the passenger in the middle seat a move if possible (an offer which was usually accepted with alacrity on their part!). All of this was offered by the crew without me asking for any preferential treatment by the way! I don't think I ever had to have her on my knee for the entire duration of the flight - just take off and landing and the occasional cuddle when needed.

In this situation - as neither passenger had paid for exclusive use of the seat, both had an equal entitlement to use the space, but IMHO it was churlish of the aisle passenger to actively discourage the mother from using the seat - after all - its impossible for someone with a child on their lap to use their tray table or get to the overhead or even under the seat in front of them if supplies were needed.

Most reasonable people would have had some consideration for the comfort of both the mother and the child - after all the child wouldn't have been invading the aisle passengers paid for space or fighting for the armrest like say a passenger of size - or even any other adult would.

I completely agree with your comments. Just wanted to point out that no gender information was presented by the OP.

If I was the mother/father I would have just moved my self to the middle seat, told the unhappy aisle guy that I lost the boarding pass as proof my assigned seat is the middle, then put my child in the window seat free and clear. Tough shiit now for the aisle guy that now gets no extra room and has to now fight me for the arm rest.

My Bad!! You are quite correct they didn't - but as a mum myself

1. I don't think my darling hubby would have EVER volunteered to travel alone with our daughter when she was a babe in arms ...... if nothing else he has trouble fitting in an economy seat himself due to his size....

2. I have a feeling that a man wouldn't have taken the "poke off!" type of answer given as meekly as the "parent" in the OP's story!

Me - I would have put my daughter in the remaining space in the middle seat - but not have been terribly assiduous in making sure she didn't bother the aisle pax for the rest of the trip - and would have made sure I needed to get stuff from my carryon bag in the overhead several times....... and needed to get out to go and and change her nappy frequently or even nicer - delayed in changing a smelly nappy :D.

Mums can be very sneaky.....

Heh very true - that's a comment you could apply to most fathers! :D

LOL!:D

I'd have put the lap child on the remaining half of the middle seat - as said it doesn't 'belong' to either, so I would have shared.

Both had just as much claim to the empty seat as neither had purchased it.

The parent should have moved quicker, it was pretty much a matter of who got there first.

Though I do think the guy was being a jerk about it, I would never taken up an empty seat with somebody with a lap child next to me.

The parent should have started practicing what ever repetitive super annoying song the kid has learned in the last few days.

Aisle pax was wrong on several levels. If there is any empty seat on a plane, it doesn't become "community/common area" just because someone wants it. By that logic, if the seat in front of me was empty, I could dump my coat, bag, etc. in it because it was fair game.

There's also the issue that airlines often deliberately seat pax w/ lap children next to empty seats as a courtesy to the parent and often tell parents with lap children that they will be able to use the empty seat for their child. Did anybody tell that to the aisle pax? "Dear Aisle Pax, we've left this seat empty for your comfort today."

So what if aisle pax spent weeks staring at the online seating charts just to nab a row with an empty middle? Doesn't belong to him/her, and may have been offered to the parent by an authorized employee of the airline.

Would be curious to know the age of such an entitled pax.