s0ssos

She didn't "politely" ask to swap. She took his seat, knowing she was in the wrong seat, then pretended to ask. She ALREADY took it, she didn't ask for it first.
There is a difference between taking a candy from the jar first, without asking, then saying "Oh, would you mind if I took a piece" versus actually asking. The former could be conceived as thievery.

s0ssos

I don't think the poster meant dim-witted in the way you mean it. I think it is an adjective form of "dim-wit"

Recondite

I'll agree to the last part. An aisle seat is infinitely more valuable than a window seat (to me!!).

MissJoeyDFW

I have had this happen more than a few times. I politely ask them to move after showing them my ticket. If that didn't work I push the call button, which works most of the time. Sometimes the flight attendant trying the path of least resistance encourages me to change seats and I just reply no, that's okay I selected this seat weeks ago. I prefer my seat on my boarding pass. It has worked all but a couple of times. That whole family wants to sit together excuse was hard to overcome if the flight attendant was sympathetic.

I did have a man who had a middle seat intentionally spill his drink on the aisle seat he had tried to poach. Then he kindly offered to sit in the wet seat, until I pointed out to him cushions are easily switched. I had to jam my portfolio in between the two seats because his legs kept "drifting" into my space.

The_Bouncer

Absolutely! To me, there are two types of seat: aisle (tolerable) and non-aisle (awful). I consider a window seat in fact marginally inferior to a middle.

cdn1

People these days have become inconsiderate and try to get away with it everywhere.
It's really prevalent in NorthAmerica though, compared to other places.
These days I prefer the aisle compared to window, as these new thin cramped seats make you wanna get out and have a break from sitting.
It's bad on a 3x4x3 rather than a 2 x 3 or 2 x 4 config.

Tough situation on longhaul flights.

nmh1204

cbn42, she didn't ask politely, she stole it.

cbn42

Eating the candy without permission would be thievery. Taking it out of the jar, asking for permission, and then putting it back when told no would not be considered thievery.

If he had said "no thanks", he would have been able to sit in his assigned seat and that would have been the end of it. For some reason, he agreed to the swap and is now blaming her for it. She could have handled it differently, but at the end of the day, he consented.

kb9522

His misstep does not excuse the woman's action. You say she did nothing wrong, that is patently untrue.

OccasionalFlyerPerson

I've never had this happen to me as the only time there was someone sitting in my seat (before I was aware that this is a 'thing'), a FA swooped in and sorted it before I'd finished double checking which seat was mine.

If this happens to me, this is what I plan to do.

1. Ask the person asking me to swap to show me the other seat.

2. Upon seeing the seat, take it upon myself to pro-actively offer the seat that the pair has 'up front' (should this be the case) to someone 'down back'. E.g. "This couple would like to sit together. If you could swap your seat with this lady's seat up front, then they could sit together."

3. Then watch to see if there is some backpedalling once the 'solution' becomes one of the pair swapping a good seat for a worse one.

HMO

For OP, in this case, the window seat had infinitely more value for him

Proudelitist

Theft is taking control or possession of something that is not yours. You don't have to destroy it in the process or render it unreturnable to make it theft. The minute you take control or possession of it, it is theft.

You don't get out of a theft charge because you claim you borrowed it without permission and then gave it back when confronted. That doesn't wash.

She poached the seat. STOLE it.

nmh1204

I'm going to sit in your seat, then "ask" you to sit somewhere else. Doubt you'd be happy

Happened a couple of times on here, and they don't want to swap to a worse seat. Imagine that.

MrTemporal

No need to kick up a fuss. No need to explain yourself. Simply say " I reserved a window seat on purpose and I would like to make use of it.
You do not have to justify getting what you paid for.

MrTemporal

Agreed. I was in Jolly Olde England a few years ago when one fellow began a loud conversation on his cell phone in the quiet car of a train (cell usage was clearly marked as a no-no). Immediately, he was asked to stop and when he made excuses, at least 5 other people chimed in that it was the quiet car and he should go to another car if he wanted to talk on the phone. He left the quiet car. We in North America all to often get the behavior we tolerate. Even when we don't like it.