Excuse Me, But You’re In My Seat

We All HATE This Situation, and How We Handle It Is Our Choice to Make

Most of us have been in this situation; you board the plane and lo and behold, someone is sitting in your assigned seat. Usually the person has misread the row numbers and feels semi-embarrassed by their gaffe. Could I even write a story about that situation? Gosh, it would tough, so let’s look at one that challenged me a bit deciding what to do.

The Situation

In my working days I flew numerous times between Phoenix and Orange County, CA (SNA). I always sat in 13F for the hour-long flight. Why that seat? I was fairly successful in having the middle seat next to me vacant most of the time. My assumption was that given a choice people would prefer to avoid row 13 and any bad luck associated with that number. But I digress…

I board the plane and there’s an elderly lady sitting in my seat, so I say the ordinary, “I have 13F, you’re in my seat”. She just looks at me without saying anything, but shows me her boarding pass for 14E, and the elderly gentleman next to her shows me his 13E.

I assume they’re married and the best they could do was middle seats one row apart.

What To Do?

As always, this was the end of a long work week, I was tired and just wanted to go home. I didn’t ask for this, I was a bit annoyed and felt I was being taken advantage of, which I probably was.

Obviously, the time to resolve this took a lot less time than it’s taking me to type this. My mind was trying to figure out the best path: insist on the lady move, or something else.

My Decision

I sat in 14E.

This was only an hour flight. I’ll admit, had it been longer the decision would’ve been more difficult, because I’m a bit portly. If I have the window or the aisle I only infringe on one person, though I try my best to be a good seat neighbor.

The main factor here was that this couple was at least in their 80s, possibly 90s, and they should be able to sit next to each other. They’ve earned it. Could they have taken their original seats and asked someone to switch with one of them? Sure, but they didn’t, so I was saddled with the choice of being the good guy or the bad guy.

The Aftermath

The couple gave me a “God bless you”, and those around me all told me I was a good guy for switching seats. Fair enough. Miraculously (lol) I survived the flight, the couple thanked me again while deplaning, and I headed for home to enjoy the weekend before heading back to SoCal in a couple days.

As I quickly approach their age, I hope there are others out there who, given the choice I had to make, do the “right thing” regarding dealing with the elderly, whatever that choice may be.

My money says there are.

Love each other.