The woman reportedly wanted to sit next to her husband, who was seated two rows ahead, but the blogger declined to switch seats. Tomiko Harvey shared her experience in a now-viral Instagram post this week, describing the incident on a long-haul flight from Istanbul to Washington, DC. A US travel blogger’s refusal to give up her aisle seat on a 10-hour flight allegedly left a fellow passenger crying for three hours.
Harvey said she was returning home after travelling from Kazakhstan following her father’s death when the encounter took place.
In the video, Harvey is seen sitting beside a visibly distressed woman. “What is wrong with people that they feel they can ask a stranger to switch seats, especially on a long-haul flight? Is it rude to refuse to switch seats on a plane? If you want to sit together, book together or pay for seat selection,” she asked. None of those sound like your problem. A fourth user stated, “I’m so happy you didn’t give it up. And if they really wanted to sit together they would have booked as such, but they wanted to save money. Then to cry like a toddle thinking she could get her way.”
They both had middle seats which means they paid the lowest fare. A third user added, “Can’t survive a 10 hour flight without her husband but also won’t pay to seat together.
The passenger repeatedly cried after she refused to give up her aisle seat so the woman could sit closer to her husband, according to the travel blogger. The blogger said the woman’s husband was seated in a middle seat two rows ahead and appeared to be sleeping with his headphones on for much of the flight.
